The Crescentia cycle features women who suffer trials and misfortunes, similar to those of Emaré, Constance, and Griselda, stock characters in chivalric romance.
[3] It is distinguished among them by the story's opening with her brother-in-law approaching her with offers of love and ending with her fame as a healer bringing all her persecutors together; there are more than a hundred versions from the twelfth to the nineteenth century.
[9] The tale also appears to be influenced the romance The King of Tars, where the heroine's kingdom is also attacked by a rebuffed suitor.
[11] While Emaré suffers because of her wicked mother-in-law accusing her of bearing animals, her tale has many common points with Florence's: both women are noted for their beauty and magnificent clothing, both are taken as evil for it, and both suffer not for their own instruction, being models of virtue, but to demonstrate God's providence.
[13] The story itself been traced to the Old English The Wife's Lament; however, because the woman herself complains only of malevolent relatives, not the specific brother-in-law, it is impossible to confirm that it is the source.