ALEXANDER, ALISANDRE, ALISAUNDRE, ALIXANDRE, ALYSAUNDRE. Alexander III, the Great (356-323 B.C.), was the son of Philip II of Macedon and Olympias of Epirus. Philip invited Aristotle to be Alexander's tutor; Aristotle accepted and stayed in Macedonia until 336 B.C., the year his pupil set out to conquer the world. First Alexander invaded Persia and defeated the Persian army, but he did not remain to consolidate the conquest. In 331 he conquered Egypt, then returned to Persia to inflict the final defeat on Darius. After Darius's death Alexander assumed the title "The Great King," or Basileus; he married the Sogdian princess Roxanne, then set off on further conquest. By 325 he had subdued India and overrun the Punjab. On the way back to Greece, he died of a fever at the age of thirty-three. Arrian's Anabasis describes his life and conquests.
The ultimate source for the life of Alexander during the medieval period is the romance-biography by one Pseudo-Callisthenes. D.J.A. Ross lists 120 derivatives, the last one, The Wars of Alexander, dating from the early fifteenth century. The romances appear not only in European vernaculars (English, French, German, Greek [Byzantine], Italian, Old Bulgarian, Serbian, Spanish), but also in oriental languages (Ethiopian, Hebrew, Persian, Syriac), both in verse and in prose. The most important derivative work is the Latin version by Julius Valerius, Res Gestae Alexandri Macedonis, written in the early fourth century A.D., from which most European redactions descend. During the twelfth century several important French redactions appear: Roman d'Alexandre, by Pfaffe Lamprecht; Le Roman d'Alexandre, Fuerre de Gadres by Eustache; Le Roman d'Alexandre, by Lambert le Tort of Chateaudun, which emphasizes the marvels and monsters of the East, Le Roman d'Alexandre, by Alexandre de Paris, including the Candace episode that gives the hero a romantic experience. Le Roman de Toute Chevalerie (1174-1182), by Thomas of Kent, presents Candace in the antifeminist tradition, and this work forms the basis of the Middle English Kyng Alisaunder (thirteenth century). The most popular romance of the fourteenth century is Les Voeux du Payon, by Jacques de Longuyon, written for Thibaut de Bar, Bishop of Liège, in 1312. Here Alexander appears as one of the Nine Worthies. He is also one of the Nine in the alliterative Parlement of the Thre Ages, 332-404 (c. 1352), in the monologue of Old Age. Romances telling of revenge for Alexander's death also appear during the twelfth century. The most important are the anonymous Venjance Alixandre and the Venjement Alixandre, by Gui de Cambrai. In addition, there are romances describing Alexander's celestial and submarine voyages.
The Monk tells a short life of Alisaundre, MkT 2631-2670. The anecdote told of Alisaundre, MancT 226-234, may have come from the Gesta Romanorum 146, or from Higden's Polychronicon III.19. The worthiness of Alysaundre is a medieval commonplace, BD 1059-1060. Alixandre Macedo is a celestial voyager, HF II.914-915. The goddess Fame wears the armor of Alexander and Hercules, HF III.1407-1413. [Aristotile: Candace: Darius2]
The variants are Old French. Alexander occurs once, HF III.1413; Alisandre occurs once medially, MkT 2658; Alisaundre occurs in medial position, MkT 2631; MancT 226; BD 1026; Alixandre occurs once in medial position, HF II.915; Alysaundre, a spelling variant, occurs medially, BD 1059.