CANDACE is the Ethiopian queen of the Alexander romances. The name was the hereditary title of the queen-mother of Meroë, capital of ancient Nubia, sometimes called Ethiopia. Classical writers used Candace as a personal name for the queen of Ethiopia (Strabo, Geography 17.1.54). In the romance of Julius Valerius, Res gestae Alexandri Macedonis (c. A.D. 320-330), there is no love affair between Alexander and Candace. The French romances of the twelfth century develop a love affair between the queen and Alexander. Thomas of Kent, in his Anglo-Norman Roman de Toute Chevalerie (1174-1182), presents Candace in the antifeminist tradition, inserting several verses on the falsity of women, including Eve and Potiphar's wife. Froissart (c. 1337- c. 1400) celebrates Candace because she had the foresight to have a portrait made of Alexander, by which she recognized him when he visited her in disguise, L'Espinette Amoureuse 1798-1803.

Candace is one of love's martyrs, PF 288. Twelfth-century versions, such as the Venjance Alixandre (before 1181), present Candace as a love-sick queen, mourning the hero's death. The poet's lady is as fickle as Candace, Dalida, and Criseyde, Against Woman Unconstant, 16. Lists of women who have overcome men in one way or another are commonplaces in medieval antifeminist literature, such as Jankin's "Book of Wikked Wyves" in The Wife of Bath's Tale. In Kyng Alisaundre (before 1330), 7700-7710, Candace mentions Dalida in her list of perfidious women. [Alisaundre: Dalida: Sampson]

Candace appears medially, PF 288, and in final rhyming position, Wom Unc 16.