Mythic Subordination

"The Storming of the Bastille", Visible in the center is the arrest of Bernard René Jourdan, marquis de Launay (1740-1789) via Wikipedia

Mythic Subordination is a term introduced by Joseph Campbell.

Campbell says that Egyptian cultural beliefs about a ruler’s relation to God or the gods progress through several historical stages, each with its own characteristics.

In the third stage of mythic subordination, the pharaoh is no longer envisioned as a flawless incarnation of God or the gods. Unlike the previous two stages, he is neither sacrificed for the good of the community (mythic identification), nor is he shameless tyrant, unaccountable to his subjects (mythic inflation).

Instead, his ego is regarded as an instrument of the divine will; but at the same time, royal decrees are now subject to some form of societal approval or censure.

Although Campbell applies this idea to the ancient world, it is relevant to the development and increasing powers of the early parliamentary system within thirteenth-century Britain, and to the French Parliament which from the Middle Ages until the French Revolution questioned royal injunctions.

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