Alexander

1. Alexander
   

   Emperor of Greece and Constantinople, husband of Tantalis and thus the father of Alis and Alexander.

   He allowed his son Alexander to travel to Britain to earn renown at the court of Arthur. When he died, his sons jointly succeeded him to the throne after some fraternal strife.

   
   

2. Alexander
   

   Son of the above Emperor Alexander and Tantalis, husband of Soredamor and father of Cligés. [More]

   
   

3. Alexander
   

   A knight captured and imprisoned, along with his brother Floris, by Eskilabon of Belamunt. He was rescued by his uncle, Gilan, and Arthur's Sir Garel. In reward, he fought alongside Garel in a war against King Ekunaver of Kanadic. His father was Duke Retan of Pergalt.

   
   

4. Alexander
   

   Son of the King of India who was changed, along with his brothers, into a variety of 'canine creature' by his stepmother. Alexander himself was turned into a creature known as the Crop-Eared Dog.

   
   

5. Alexander's Shirt
   

   Guenevere gave this garment to Alexander when her husband dubbed him knight. It was of white silk, sewn entirely with gold or silver thread, except that Soredamors, who helped sew it, had worked some golden hairs from her own head in beside the metallic threads to see if she could ever find a man able to tell the difference. The metallic gold threads eventually tarnished as Sir Alexander wore the shirt, while the hair became lovelier.

   At length Guenevere, making a conversation piece of the shirt while Alexander was wearing it one evening in company with her, Soredamors, and his own companions, divined the love between him and her handmaiden, whom she prodded to reveal her part in making the shirt.

   When Alexander learned this, the garment became infinitely more valuable to him than before, and he treated it as a wonderful relic. While having no other special properties, it helped lead to the lovers' brief but happy marriage.

   
   

6. Alexander the Great
   

   The French Perceforest presents the famed Macedonian king (356-323 BC) as an ancestor of Arthur. A storm drove him to Britain, where he quelled the war-torn island and established secure rulers. He loved Sebille, then the Lady of the Lake.

   Alexander is only one of many historical and legendary people connected to the Arthurian cycle in various texts. The association was to be expected, given the similarities between the legend of Alexander and the myth of Arthur: both were historical figures to whom fabulous legends were attached; both grew up away from the royal court; both became rulers following the assassinations of their fathers; both endured a period of rebellion before securing the throne; both experienced problems with neighboring barbarians; both conquered most of the known world; both were deified by their countrymen; both had their thrones usurped while leading military expeditions in foreign lands; both were rumored to have died; both returned to their homelands and killed the rebels; both left their countries in anarchy after their deaths; and, finally, both were said to be living in otherwordly kingdoms.

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   See also
   Gog and Magog | The Legend of King Arthur
   
   
   

7. Alexander the Orphan
   Alexander Le Orphelin, Alisander, Alisandre

   Son of Prince Bodwyne (Boudwin) and Angledis (Anglides), and nephew of King Mark of Cornwall.

   When Mark murdered his father, Angledis and Alexander fled to Sussex to escape Mark's reach. Alexander was raised by Berengier the Constable in the Castle Magance (Magouns). Upon receiving his knighthood, his mother charged him to avenge his father's death.

   He soon won fame at a tournament thrown by King Caradoc, and by saving a maiden from the evil Sir Malagrin. King Mark had put a price on Alexander's head, and it wasn't long before he ran afoul of the minions of Morgan le Fay, Mark's ally. After defeating several of her knights, he eventually ended up, wounded, in her care, at the castle Fair Guard.

   Though he rejected her advances, he was forced to pledge to remain at Fair Guard for a year, as a condition of Morgan's succor. This oath stood even after the castle's owner, the Count of the Pass, burned it to the ground, and Alexander found himself guarding an empty lot. A passing maiden, Alice la Belle Pilgrim, heard of his oath, and offered herself to any knight who could defeat him. Many rose to the challenge, but none succeeded.

   At the end of the year, Alexander left Britain for Benoic, married Alice, and had a son named Bellangere. According to Palamedes, he was killed by a knight named Helin, but Malory says that King Mark eventually caught up with him and killed him, and that Bellangere avenged the deaths of his father and grandfather.