“Todos los servidores de la casa lo calumnian con murmuraciones”: el rumor como leitmotiv en el Roman de Thèbes

The mise en roman of Greco-Latin classical texts —carried out as part of the political and cultural plan of the Plantagenets (12th-13th Centuries)— has been studied by critics in its different aspects of content and form, among which stands out the medievalization of the classical tradition. The particularities of this involve a series of narrative mechanisms and strategies that sought to bring the stories of Homer, Virgil and Statius to the audience of medieval courts. This is noticeable with the medievalization of the goddes Fame, who is materialized in the social phenomenon of rumor. So I observe it in the Roman de Thèbes, whose anonymous author uses rumor as a leitmotiv that, in addition to allowing logical changes in the plot, offers an imporant lesson to its audience, especially to those holding the power: the principle is not allow that the rumor may transgress the order destabilizing the political hierarchy. In order to demostrate the latter I offer three model examples of the text where I underline the narratological significance of the rumor like leitmotiv and its socio-political implications.