ABSTRACT
Alexander’s prestige is also revealed in the iconographic construction of the series of historical heroes known as the Nine Worthies invented by Jacques de Longuyon in his chanson de geste (song of heroic deeds) the Voeux du paon, which gained great popularity during the Early Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It consisted of a selection of nine paladins from the Classical world, biblical tradition and medieval chivalry and the legends of the crusades and it sought to summarise the heroic history of humanity: Hector of Troy, Alexander of Macedonia and Julius Caesar; Joseph, David and Judas Maccabeus; King Arthur, Charlemagne and Godfrey of Bouillon. These nine heroes have been represented in a range of artistic media, which are addressed in this chapter, and these were widely circulated in court circles from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries. Over the course of this chapter a focus is above all devoted to the image of Alexander the Great within the context of this group of heroes.
