«La vida de un ciudadano, más que suya, es de la patria»: en torno al héroe del reformismo ilustrado español

Abstract

In the following pages we consider the reconfiguration of heroism in the last decades of the Spanish Ancien Régime. These changes were related to the political propaganda sponsored by Charles III and Charles IV in accordance with their absolutist and reformist agenda. We find a hero whose cause is the fatherland and whose role model is the so-called «hombre de bien». From this perspective, important characters in the Pantheon of these times, such as the patriotic king or the hero of the common good are analyzed.

Keywords

• enlightenment
• heroism
• reformism
• neoclassicism
• romanticism
• economic societies of friends of the country
• royal academies
• charles iii of spain
• charles iv of spain