Abstract
Abstract: The Middle English romance Kyng Alisaunder , often considered a positive exemplum of kingship, criticizes the conqueror's brutal treatment of conquered cities, incorporating references to the Aeneid and to Troy to heighten the horror of war and to connect Alexander clearly to Britain's foundation myth. Alexander's interactions with Queen Candace and her family also present him as an anti-Aeneas. Cities including Troy frame considerations of morality and justice, for Alexander as well as for his parents. The romance's date, language, and descriptive details all associate the romance with London, such that its late thirteenth-century urban audience would likely read the critique of Alexander as indirect censure of Edward I, who was identified with Alexander and had a contentious relationship with London. At the same time, the romance's concern with right rule continues to speak to readers in later decades, when the text was copied into three significant manuscripts, annotated, and printed.
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