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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
According to a popular legend in the Middle Ages, toads were used as the arms of the king of France before Clovis's conversion to Christianity. This paper follows the evolution of these symbolic toads in literary, juridical, and historical texts, as they adapt to changing political environments in the Renaissance. In general, the toads were used to compare negatively with the virtuous lilies during the Middle Ages in France. As monarchical power became more absolute, writers tried to adapt the toads to this new political context, but the toads tended to disappear in France while they flourished in other countries, such as the Spanish Netherlands, where they were sometimes exploited as part of a polemic against the French.
I would like to thank the many people who helped me research and edit this article. First and foremost, the late Myra Orth provided clues and references without which the project would not have got off the ground. Thanks also to Sue Farquhar, Elizabeth McCartney, Violet Halpert, and Anthony Di Battista for reading drafts and making suggestions to improve it. Thanks also to J.H.M. Salmon and to an anonymous reader at RQ for their detailed and most pertinent comments. All verse citations refer to the edition's page number followed by line numbers (e.g., 97.93-1 00 means page 97, lines 93-1 00). Unless otherwise noted, all translations are my own.