Héroes míticos de la literatura medieval: tipología e imágenes

Abstract

Taking into account the three-fold division of matters —that of France, that of Rome and the matter of Britain— which characterises medieval literature, the archetypal features of the mythic hero and their artistic-literary enactment have been studied. The mythic process throughout which these heroes are formed and evolve into different archetypes presents many of them still keeping the secular traits of the original models in a temporal sequence that changes according to the social needs required by each period. In this process the literary myth is rendered and moulded into diverse plastic arts, and the reverse is also possible when artistic objects conveying a symbolic mythological tradition are integrated in literary works.