De Coster, Charles Théodore Henri

De Coster, Charles Théodore Henri

(də kŏs`tər, Fr. shärl tāōdôr` äNrē` də kôstĕr`), 1827–79, Belgian author, b. Munich. His collected legends from Flemish folklore (1857), written in old French style, gained him note as a medievalist. His Contes brabançons (1861) was followed by his widely known La Légende d' Ulenspiegel (1868, tr. 1918, 1922). This remarkable tale, written in archaic style and recounting the fabulous exploits of Till EulenspiegelEulenspiegel, Till
[Ger.,=owl-mirror, hence English Owlglass], a north German peasant clown of the 14th cent. who was immortalized in chapbooks describing his practical jokes on clerics and townsfolk. The first Till chapbook (c.
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, has been compared with the Gargantua of Rabelais. However, the book derives more directly from the medieval satiric allegory on Reynard the Fox, apparently originally fashioned in Flanders.