Impressive though they are, the monuments to heroic greatness dating from the Baroque period leave us very much in the dark about the actual nature of their subject, at least in political terms. As embodiments of things held to be universally valid, heroes did of course fulfill an important legitimizing function. But in a time of increasing political differentiation, the assertion of a form of integrity transcending individual interests was rapidly losing its convincement potential. Accordingly, 'political' strategies were compelled to trade on the moral superiority of the heroic principle. This made heroism part of a form of political psychology centered on competition and one-upmanship. The book sets out to demonstrate this with reference to ethical works, political writings, courtly manuals, heroic novels, and genealogical literature.