The Noble Outlaw or Krafkerl is the main hero of many of the masterpieces belonging to the Sturm und Drang and the early romantic period, but whereas this character is easily recognisable within German literature, he is not so in Italian literature, or at least, many pages thereof have never been studied with this character in mind. An excellent example is given by Vittorio Alfieri's Saul. This tragedy bases itself on the biblical story of the Hebrew king (I Samuel , 8--31), but focuses on the last hours of the protagonist, which makes it very difficult to identify Saul as a Krafkerl. Yet this is exactly the purpose of our study, which will begin by examining the critical history of the main character spanning nearly two centuries, then give the main characteristics of the Noble Outlaw as he appears in German literature, and conclude by showing how the character of Alfieri's Saul meets the profile of this protoromantic hero type; all this to strengthen the historical, albeit totally coincidental ties that bind Alfieri to his contemporaries of the Sturm und Drang preestablished at the beginning of our century by Benedetto Croce.

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