Ivanhoe

Ivanhoe

by

Walter Scott

Reginald Front-de-Boeuf Character Analysis

Reginald Front-de-Boeuf is a Norman baron who supports Prince John’s usurpation of the English throne and who is friends with Prior Aymer, Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert, Philip de Malvoisin, Ralph de Vipont, and Hugh de Grantmesnil. Earlier in his life, Ulrica convinced him to murder his own father, which allowed him to take over control of the castle of Torquilstone. Front-de-Boeuf is a huge man and a furious fighter, against whom few knights can prevail. His treatment of Isaac—threatening the man with torture and death in an attempt to extort money from him—demonstrates his coldhearted cruelty. Grievously wounded by King Richard in disguise as the Black Knight, Front-de-Boeuf dies in his bed when Ulrica sets his castle on fire.

Reginald Front-de-Boeuf Quotes in Ivanhoe

The Ivanhoe quotes below are all either spoken by Reginald Front-de-Boeuf or refer to Reginald Front-de-Boeuf. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Merits of Chivalry Theme Icon
).
Volume 1, Chapter 1 Quotes

“By St Dunstan,” answered Gurth, “thou speakest but sad truths; little is left to us but the air we breathe, and that appears to have been reserved with much hesitation, clearly for the purpose of enabling us to endure the tasks they lay upon our shoulders. The finest and fattest is for their board; the loveliest is for their couch; the best and bravest supply their foreign masters with soldiers, and whiten distant land with their bones, leaving few here who have either will or power to protect the unfortunate Saxon. God’s blessing on our master Cedric, he hath done the work of a man in standing in the gap; but Reginald Front-de-Boeuf is coming down to this country in person, and we shall soon see how little Cedric’s trouble will avail him.”

Related Characters: Gurth (speaker), King Richard (the Black Knight), Cedric, Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, Wamba, Lawrence Templeton
Page Number: 21
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 7 Quotes

“It may be so […] but I cannot look on that stained lattice without its awakening other reflections than those which concern the passing moment, or its privations. When that window was wrought, my dear friend, our hardy fathers knew not the art of making glass, or of staining it—The pride of Wolfganger’s father brought an artist from Normandy to adorn his hall with this new species of emblazonment, that breaks the golden light of God’s blessed day into so many fantastic hues. The foreigner came here, poor, beggarly, cringing, and subservient, ready to doff his cap to the meanest native of the household. He returned pampered and proud, to tell his rapacious countrymen of the wealth and the simplicity of the Saxon noble—a folly, oh Athelstane, foreboded of old, as well as foreseen, by those descendants of Hengist and his hardy tribes who retained the simplicity of their manners.

Related Characters: Cedric (speaker), King Richard (the Black Knight), Wilfred of Ivanhoe (the Palmer, the Disinherited Knight), Athelstane of Coningsburgh, Maurice de Bracy, Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, Prince John
Page Number: 176-177
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 15 Quotes

“Glory?” continued Rebecca; “alas, it is the rusted mail which hangs as a hatchment over the champion’s dim and mouldering tomb—is the defaced sculpture of the inscription with which the ignorant monk can hardly read to the inquiring pilgrim—are these sufficient rewards for the sacrifice of every kindly affection, for a life spent miserably that ye make others miserable? Or is there such virtue in the rude rhymes of a wandering bard, that domestic love, kindly affection, peace and happiness are so wildly bartered, to become the hero of these ballads which vagabond minstrels sing to drunken churls over their evening ale?”

[…] “Thou speakest, maiden of thou knowest not what. Thou wouldst quench the pure light of chivalry, which alone distinguishes the noble from the base, the gentle knight from the churl and the savage; which rates our life far, far beneath the pitch of our honor […].”

Related Characters: Rebecca (speaker), Wilfred of Ivanhoe (the Palmer, the Disinherited Knight) (speaker), King Richard (the Black Knight), Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert, Cedric, Locksley/Robin Hood (The Yeoman Archer), Maurice de Bracy, Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, Rowena, Cleric of Copmanhurst
Page Number: 249
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Ivanhoe LitChart as a printable PDF.
Ivanhoe PDF

Reginald Front-de-Boeuf Quotes in Ivanhoe

The Ivanhoe quotes below are all either spoken by Reginald Front-de-Boeuf or refer to Reginald Front-de-Boeuf. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Merits of Chivalry Theme Icon
).
Volume 1, Chapter 1 Quotes

“By St Dunstan,” answered Gurth, “thou speakest but sad truths; little is left to us but the air we breathe, and that appears to have been reserved with much hesitation, clearly for the purpose of enabling us to endure the tasks they lay upon our shoulders. The finest and fattest is for their board; the loveliest is for their couch; the best and bravest supply their foreign masters with soldiers, and whiten distant land with their bones, leaving few here who have either will or power to protect the unfortunate Saxon. God’s blessing on our master Cedric, he hath done the work of a man in standing in the gap; but Reginald Front-de-Boeuf is coming down to this country in person, and we shall soon see how little Cedric’s trouble will avail him.”

Related Characters: Gurth (speaker), King Richard (the Black Knight), Cedric, Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, Wamba, Lawrence Templeton
Page Number: 21
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 7 Quotes

“It may be so […] but I cannot look on that stained lattice without its awakening other reflections than those which concern the passing moment, or its privations. When that window was wrought, my dear friend, our hardy fathers knew not the art of making glass, or of staining it—The pride of Wolfganger’s father brought an artist from Normandy to adorn his hall with this new species of emblazonment, that breaks the golden light of God’s blessed day into so many fantastic hues. The foreigner came here, poor, beggarly, cringing, and subservient, ready to doff his cap to the meanest native of the household. He returned pampered and proud, to tell his rapacious countrymen of the wealth and the simplicity of the Saxon noble—a folly, oh Athelstane, foreboded of old, as well as foreseen, by those descendants of Hengist and his hardy tribes who retained the simplicity of their manners.

Related Characters: Cedric (speaker), King Richard (the Black Knight), Wilfred of Ivanhoe (the Palmer, the Disinherited Knight), Athelstane of Coningsburgh, Maurice de Bracy, Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, Prince John
Page Number: 176-177
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 15 Quotes

“Glory?” continued Rebecca; “alas, it is the rusted mail which hangs as a hatchment over the champion’s dim and mouldering tomb—is the defaced sculpture of the inscription with which the ignorant monk can hardly read to the inquiring pilgrim—are these sufficient rewards for the sacrifice of every kindly affection, for a life spent miserably that ye make others miserable? Or is there such virtue in the rude rhymes of a wandering bard, that domestic love, kindly affection, peace and happiness are so wildly bartered, to become the hero of these ballads which vagabond minstrels sing to drunken churls over their evening ale?”

[…] “Thou speakest, maiden of thou knowest not what. Thou wouldst quench the pure light of chivalry, which alone distinguishes the noble from the base, the gentle knight from the churl and the savage; which rates our life far, far beneath the pitch of our honor […].”

Related Characters: Rebecca (speaker), Wilfred of Ivanhoe (the Palmer, the Disinherited Knight) (speaker), King Richard (the Black Knight), Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert, Cedric, Locksley/Robin Hood (The Yeoman Archer), Maurice de Bracy, Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, Rowena, Cleric of Copmanhurst
Page Number: 249
Explanation and Analysis: