Medieval Myths

Abstract: This iconographic study focuses on the representation of Emperor Heraclius (ca. 575-641) in Western Europe between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. In 614, the Persians – led by King Chosroes II – invaded Palestine, conquering the Holy City of Jerusalem and stealing the relic of the True Cross. In a successful counterattack, Heraclius defeated the Sassanids, retook the Holy Land and triumphantly escorted the relic back to Jerusalem (630). From a mythical-religious perspective, the story comes to its climax when Heraclius reaches the entrance of the Holy City – suddenly, stones block the Golden Gate and an angel appears above it. This is a messenger sent from God to tell the emperor he should dismount his horse and remove his imperial dress to enter Jerusalem, following the example of Christ. Upon recognizing his sin, the sovereign humbles himself in an imitatio Christi, only after which does he return the relic to the Holy Sepulcher. The renown of the basileus in western medieval society roots itself directly in the recovery of the True Cross, the Restitutio Crucis. In the Medieval West, Heraclius’ deeds took on a mythical flavor, with characterizations swinging between pride and humility – from the triumphant emperor to the imitator Christi in search of the Restitutio Crucis. In addition to this iconographic study, we will examine the qualities of this tradition’s founding text, the Reversio Sanctae Crucis, which served as inspiration for medieval artists.

Abstract: This research studies the manifestations of the myth of Emperor Heraclius (ca. 575-641) in medieval Norway (12th-14th centuries). Some episodes have profoundly marked the trajectory of this Byzantine sovereign, and stressed the importance of this theme: the victory against the Persian king Chosroes II, and the recovery of both the sacred city of Jerusalem and the True Cross (630). Along with the Feudal Europe, Norway was also a region that mythicized the history of Heraclius' deeds, whose characterizations swinging between pride and humility – from the triumphant emperor to the imitator Christi in search of the Restitutio Crucis. In this work we examine the textual evidence of the myth and compare it with the altar frontal of the church of Nedstryn (early 14th century), our main source which will be object of an iconographic analysis. Written during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the textual evidences are two: Historia de Antiquitate Regum Norwagiensium, by Theodoricus Monachus, and Gammelnorsk homiliebok. The study aims to explain the way by which the myth of Heraclius took form in Norwegian lands.

Medieval Latin historiography belongs to the textual genres in which the transmission, transformation and spreading of references to the Trojan war, the fall of Ilion and the migrations of the Trojans played an important role. In northern Italian historiography, the emphasis on Trojan origins of cities became a fairly widespread phenomenon from the late twelfth century. In order to highlight how this trend actually mirrors very different contexts, traditions and actors, this paper analyzes and contextualizes the Trojan passages of the Cronica written by Sicard of Cremona and Martin da Canal’s Les Estoires de Venise. By comparing these two cases and their diverse “ success ”, the general question of what might be considered favorable or unfavorable circumstances for the multiform and polyfunctional references to the “ knowledge ” about the Trojans in high Medieval communal backgrounds is also dealt with.

El mito medieval del caballero que aparece en la narrativa calviniana y su relación con el mito de Percival y los caballeros del Grial: aparentemente se trata de una subversión irónica del mito; más en profundidad, se relaciona con la función que el autor atribuye a la literatura y al lenguaje.