Fortibus, Hawise's son by her second husband, was established
by King John in the territories of the countship of Albemarle,
and in 1215 the whole of his mother's estates were formally
confirmed to him. He is described by Bishop Stubbs as ``a
feudal adventurer of the worst type,'' and for some time was
actively engaged in the struggles of the Norman barons against
John and Henry III. He was one of the twenty-five executors
of the Great Charter; but in the war that followed sided with
John, subsequently changing sides as often as it suited his
policy. His object was to revive the independent power
of the feudal barons, and he co-operated to this end with
Falkes de Breaute (q.v.) and other foreign adventurers
established in the country by John. This brought him into
conflict with the great justiciar, Hubert de Burgh, and in
1219 he was declared a rebel and excommunicated for attending
a forbidden tournament. In 1220 matters were brought to a
crisis by his refusal to surrender the two royal castles of
Rockingham and Sauvey of which he had been made constable in
1216. Henry III. marched against them in person, the garrisons
fled, and they fell without a blow. In the following year,
however, Albemarle, in face of further efforts to reduce his
power, rose in revolt. He was now again excommunicated by
the legate Pandulph at a solemn council held in St Paul's,
and the whole force of the kingdom was set in motion against
him, a special scutage-the ``scutagium de Bihan''---being
voted for this purpose by the Great Council. The capture
of his castle of Bytham broke his power; he sought sanctuary
and, at Pandulph's intercession, was pardoned on condition
of going for six years to the Holy Land. He remained in
England, however, and in 1223 was once more in revolt with
Falkes de Breaute, the earl of Chester and other turbulent
spirits. A reconciliation was once more patched up; but it
was not until the fall of Falkes de Breaute that Albemarle
finally settled down as an English noble. In 1225 he witnessed
Henry's third re-issue of the Great Charter; in 1227 he went
as ambassador to Antwerp; and in 1230 he accompanied Henry on
his expedition to Brittany. In 1241 he set out for the Holy
Land, but died at sea, on his way there, on the 26th of March
1242. By his wife Avelina of Montfichet, William left a
son, also named William, who married (1) Christina (d.
1246), daughter and co-heiress of Alan, lord of Galloway,
(2) in 1248 Isabella de Redvers (1237-1292-3), daughter of
Baldwin de Redvers, earl of Devon and lord of the Isle of
Wight. He played a conspicuous part in the reign of Henry
III., notably in the Mad Parliament of 1258, and died at
Amiens in 1260. His widow, Isabella, on the death of her
brother Baldwin, 8th earl of Devon, in 1261, cailed herself
countess of Devon. She had two children, Thomas, who died
in 1269 unmarried, and Avelina, who married (1269) Edmund
Plantagenet, earl of Lancaster, and died without issue in
1274. The ``Honor of Albemarle'' was claimed, in 1278, by
John de Eston, or Aston, as heir of Amicia, younger daughter
of William le Gros; but he released his right to the earldom of
Albemarle to the crown in exchange for certain lands in Thornton.
The title of Albemarle, thus extinguished, was several times
revived before it became attached to the family of its present
holders. In 1385 Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester,
was summoned to padiament as ``duke of Albemarle,'' but he
seems never subsequently to have used the title. In any
case this creation became extinct with the death of his son
Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, in 1399. In 1411 Thomas
Plantagenet, second son of Henry IV., was created earl of
Albemarle and duke of Clarence, but at his death at the
battle of Beauge (March 22, 1421) these honours became
extinct. That of Albemarle was, however, soon revived (c.
1423) in favour of Richard de Beauchamp, earl of Warwick,
whose title of earl of Aumerle, however, died with him.
In 1660 Charles II. bestowed the title of duke of Albemarle on
General Monk (q.v..) Monk's hereditary claim to this semiroyal
peerage was a very shadowy one, being based--as was also his
subordinate style of Baron Beauchamp---on his descent from the
youngest of the three co-heiresses of Richard, earl of Warwick,
and, with yet more remote applicability, on that from Arthur
Plantagenet, a natural son of Edward IV. The title became extinct
in 1688, on the death of Christopher, 2nd duke of Albemarle.
Finally, as mentioned above, the title of earl of Albemarle was
bestowed by William III., without any shadow of hereditary claim,
on his Dutch favourite Arnold Joost van Keppel (see below), by
whose descendants it is still held. The motive for choosing this
title was probably that, apart from its dignified traditions,
it avoided the difficulty created by the fact that the Keppels
had as yet no territorial possessions in the British Islands.
ARNOLD JOOST VAN KEPPEL, 1st earl of Albemarle, and lord of
Voorst in Gelderland (c. 1670-1718), son of Oswald van Keppel
and his wife Anna Geertruid van Lintello, was born in Holland
about 1670. He became page to William III., accompanied him
to England in 1688, and was made groom of the bed-chamber and
master of the robes in 1695. On the 10th of February 1696f7
he was created earl of Albemarle, Viscount Bury and Baron
Ashford. In 1700 William gave him lands of enormous extent
in Ireland, but parliament obliged the king to cancel this
grant, and William then bestowed on him L. 50,000. The same
year he was made a knight of the Garter. Meanwhile he had
served both with the English and Dutch troops, was major-general
in 1697, colonel of several regiments and governor of
Bois-le-Duc. Of handsome person and engaging disposition,
he rivalled Portland, whose jealousy he aroused in the royal
favour, possessed William's full confidence and accompanied him
everywhere. In February 1702 he was sent by William. then
prostrated with his last illness, to Holland to arrange
the coming campaign, and only returned in time to receive
William's last commissions on his deathbed. After the death
ofthe latter, who bequeathed to him 200,000 guilders and some
lands, he returned to Holland, took his seat as a noble in the
states-general, and was made a general of horse in the Dutch
army. He joined the forces of the allies in 1703, was
present at Ramillies in 1706 and at Oudenarde in 1708, and
distinguished himself at the siege of Lille. He commanded
at the siege of Aire in 1710, led Marlborough's second line
in 1711, and was general of the Dutch forces in 1712, being
defeated at Denain after the withdrawal of Ormonde and the
English forces and taken prisoner. He died on the 30th of
May 1718, aged 48. He married Geertruid, daughter of Adam
van der Denijn, by whom, besides a daughter, he had a son,
William Anne, who succeeded him as 2nd earl of Albemarle.
Of the later earls mention need only be made of the sixth,
GEORGE THOMAS KEPPEL (1799--1891), British general,
second son of the fourth earl, born on the 13th of June
1799. Educated at Westminster School he entered the army as
ensign, 14th Foot, in 1815. He joined his regiment in Belgium
and took part in the Waterloo campaign and the march to Paris,
joined the second battalion in Corfu, and was transferred to
the 22nd Foot, with which he served in Mauritius and at the
Cape, returning home in 1819, when he was appointed equerry
to the duke of Sussex. Promoted to a lieutenancy in the
24th Foot, he was transferred to the 20th Foot, and went to
India, where he was aide-de-camp to the marquess of Hastings
until his resignation in 1823, when Keppel returned to
England, travelling overland through Persia, Moscow and St
Petersburg. He published in 1825 an account of his travels,
entitled Journey from India to England. He was aide-de-camp
to the Marquess Wellesley, lord-lieutenant of Ireland, for
two years, was promoted captain in the 62nd Foot, studied
in the senior department of the Royal Military College at
Sandhurst, and in 1827 obtained a half-pay unattached
majority. He did not again serve on full pay, but rose to be a
general. In 1829 he visited the seat of the Russo-Turkish
war and was with the British fleet in Turkish waters. In 1832
he was returned in the Whig interest to the first reformed
parliament as member for East Norfolk and sat until 1835. He
was private secretary to the premier, Lord John Russell, in
1846, and M.P. for Lymington from 1847 to 1849. He succeeded
to the title on the death of his brother in 1851. He died in
1891 and was buried at Quidenham, Norfolk. He wrote an account
of a Journey across the Balkans, Memoirs of the Marquis of
Rockingham, and an autobigraphy entitled Fifty Years of My Life.
See G. E. C(ockayne), Complete Peerage, 8 vols. (London,
1887). For the two Williams de Fortibus, see s.v.
Prof. T. F. Tout's articles in the Dict. of Nat. Biog.
1 The name was derived from Fors, a commune in the canton of
Prahecq in Poitou. It is spelt Forz in a deed of 1233, and the best
vernacular form is, according to Thomas Stapleton (Preface to the
Liber de Antiquitate, Camden Soc., 1846, p. xxxiv. note), de Fortz.
ALBENGA, a town and episcopal see of Liguria, Italy, on
the N.W. coast of the Gulf of Genoa, in the province of
Genoa, 521 m. S.W. of Genoa by rail. Pop. (1901) 6248.
Albenga is the ancient Album Ingaunum or Albingaunum,
the chief town of the Ingauni, one of the most important
of the Ligurian tribes, whose territory reached as far as
Genoa. Under the empire it was a municpium; an inscription
records the restoration of the walls, forum, harbour, &c.,
by Constantius A.D. 354. A little way outside the town to
the E. is a well-preserved Roman bridge nearly 500 ft. long
and 11 1/2 ft. wide, with IO arches, each with a span of 37
ft. It belonged to the coast road and is now known as Ponte
Lungo. To the S. of the town is a conspicuous monument, 27
ft. high, in the form of a rectangular pillar, resembling
a tomb; but as there is no trace of a door to a sepulchral
chamber it may be a shrine. In the town itself there are
no Roman remains; but there is a good Gothic cathedral in
brick, and an interesting octagonal baptistery, attributed to
the 8th or oth century, the arches being supported by ancient
columns, and the vaulting decorated with mosaics. Some of
the medieval palaces of Albenga have lofty brick towers.
See A. d'Andrade in Relazione dell' Ufficio Regionale per la Conservazione
dei monumenti del Piemonte e della Liguria (Turin, 1899), 114 seq.
ALBERONI, GIULIO (1664-1752), Spanish--Italian cardinal and
statesman, was born near Piacenza, probably at the village
of Fiorenzuola, on the 31st of May 1664. His father was a
gardener, and he himself became first connected with the church
in the humble position of verger in the cathedral of Piacenza.
Having gained the favour of Bishop Barni he took priest's
orders, and afterwards accompanied the son of his patron to
Rome. During the war of the Spanish succession Alberoni laid
the foundation of his political success by the services he
rendered to the duke of Vendome, commander of the French
forces in Italy; and when these forces were recalled in 1706 he
accompanied the duke to Paris, where he was favourably received
by Louis XIV. In 1711 he followed Vendome into Spain as his
secretary. Two years later, the duke having died in the
interval, Alberoni was appointed consular agent for Parma at
the court of Philip V. of Spain, being raised at the same time
to the dignityof count. On his arrival at Madrid he found
the princesse des Ursins all but omnipotent with the king,
and for a time he judged it expedient to use her influence
in carrying out his plans. In concert with her he arranged
the king's marriage with Elizabeth Farnese of Parma. The
influence of the new queen being actively exerted on Alberoni's
behalf, he speedily rose to high position. He was made a
member of the king's council, bishop of Malaga, and in 1715
prime minister, and was raised to the dignity of cardinal in
1717. His internal policy was exceedingly vigorous. The
main purpose he put before.himself was to produce an economic
revival in Spain by abolishing internal custom-houses,
throwing open the trade of the Indies and reorganizing the
finances. With the resources thus gained he undertook to
enable King Philip V. to carry out an ambitious policy both in
Italy and in France. The impatience of the king and his wife
gave the minister no time to mature his plans. By provoking
England, France, Holland and the Empire at once it brought
a flood of disaster on Spain for which Alberoni was held
responsible. On the 5th of December 1719 he was ordered to
leave Spain, Elizabeth herself having taken an active part
in procuring the decree of banishment. He went to Italy, and
there had to take refuge among the Apennines, Pope Clement XI.,
who was his bitter enemy, having given strict orders for his
arrest. On the death of Clement, Alberoni boldly appeared at
the Conclave, and took part in the election of Innocent XIII.
(1721), after which he was for a short time imprisoned by the
pontiff on the demand of Spain. At the next election (1724)
he was himself proposed for the papal chair, and secured ten
votes at the Conclave which elected Benedict XIII. Benedict's
successor, Clement XII. (elected 1730), named him legate of
Ravenna, in which capacity he incurred the pope's displeasure
by the strong and unwarrantable measures he adopted to reduce
the little republic of San Marino to subjection to Rome. He
was consequently replaced by another legate in 1740, and soon
after he retired to Piacenza. Clement XII. appointed him
administrator of the hospital of San Lazzaro at Piacenza in
1730. The hospital was a medieval foundation for the benefit of
lepers. The disease having disappeared from Italy, Alberoni
obtained the consent of the pope to the suppression of the
hospital, which had fallen into great disorder, and replaced
it by a college for the education of seventy poor boys for the
priesthood, under the name of the Collegio Alberoni, which it
still bears. He died on the 16th of June 1752, leaving a sum
of 600,000 ducats to endow the seminary he had founded, and the
residue of the immense wealth he had acquired in Spain to his
nephew. Alberoni left a large quantity of manuscripts;
but the genuineness of the Political Testament, published
in his name at Lausanne in 1753, has been questioned.
An Histoire du Cardinal Alberoni up to 1719 was published by
Jean Rousset de Missy at the Hague in 1719. A laudatory life,
Storia del Cardinale Giulio Alberoni, was published by Stefano
Bersani, a priest educated at his college, at Piacenza, in
1861. Giulio Alberoni e il suo secolo, by Giovanni Bianchi
(1901), is briefer and more critical. See also Lettres
intimes de J. Alberoni, edited by M. E. Bourgeois (1892).
ALBERT (1522-1557), prince of Bayreuth, surnamed THE WARLIKE,
and also ALCIBIADES, was a son of Casimir, prince of Bayreuth,
and a member of the Franconian branch of the Hohenzollern
family. Born at Ansbach on the 28th of March 1522, he lost
his father in 1527 and came under the guardianship of his uncle
George, prince of Ansbach, a strong adherent of the reformed
doctrines. In 1541 he received Bayreuth as his share of
the family lands, and as the chief town of his principality
was Kulmbach he is sometimes referred to as the margrave of
Brandenburg-Kulmbach. His restless and turbulent nature
marked him out for a military career; and having collected
a small band of soldiers, he assisted the emperor Charles
V. in his war with France in 1543. The peace of Crepy in
September 1544 deprived him of this employment, but he had won
a considerable reputation, and when Charles was preparing to
attack the league of Schmalkalden, he took pains to win Albert's
assistance. Sharing in the attack on the Saxon electorate,
Albert was taken prisoner at Rcchlitz in March 1547 by John
Fredeack, elector of Saxony, but was released as a result
of the emperor's victory at Muhlberg in the succeeding
April. He then followed the fortunes of his friend Maurice,
the new elector of Saxony, deserted Charles, and joined the
league which proposed to overthrow the emperor by an alliance
with Henry II. of France. IIe took part in the subsequent
campaign, but when the treaty of Passau was signed in August
1552 he separated himself from his allies and began a crusade
of plunder in Franconia. Having extorted a large sum of
money from the burghers of Nuremberg, he quarrelled with his
supporter, the French king, and offered his services to the
emperor. Charles, anxious to secure such a famous fighter,
gladly assented to Albert's demands and gave the imperial
sanction to his possession of the lands taken from the bishops
of Wurzburg and Bamberg; and his conspicuous bravery was of
great value to the emperor on the retreat from Metz in January
1553. When Charles left Germany a few weeks later, Albert
renewed his depredations in Franconia. These soon became so
serious that a league was formed to crush him, and Maurice
of Saxony led an army against his former comrade. The
rival forces met at Sievershausen on the 9th of July 1553,
and after a combat of unusual ferocity Albert was put to
flight. Henry II., duke of Brunswick, then took command of
the troops of the league, and after Albert had been placed
under the imperial ban in December 1553 he was defeated by Duke
Henry, and compelled to fly to France. He there entered the
service of Henry II., and had undertaken a campaign to regain
his lands when he died at Pforzheim on the 8th of January 1557.
See J. Voigt, Morkgraf Albrecht Alcibiades
von BrandenburgKulmbach (Berlin, 1852).
ALBERT I. (c. 1100-1170), margrave of Brandenburg, surnamed
THE BEAR, was the only son of Otto the Rich, count of
Ballenstedt, and Eilika, daughter of Magnus Billung, duke of
Saxony. He inherited the valuable Saxon estates of his father
in 1123, and on his mother's death, in 1142, succeeded to
one-half of the lands of the Billungs. About 1123 he received
from Lothair, duke of Saxony, the margraviate of Lusatia,
and, after Lothair became German king, accompanied him on the
disastrous expedition to Bohemia in 1126, when he suffered
a short imprisonment. In 1128 his brother7in-law, Henry
II., margrave of the Saxon north mark, died, and Albert,
disappointed at not receiving this fief, attacked Udo, the
succeeding margrave, and was consequently deprived of Lusatia by
Lothair. In spite of this, he went to Italy in 1132 in the
train of the king, and his services there were rewarded,
in 1134, by the investiture of the north mark, which was
again without a ruler. For three years he was occupied in
campaigns against the Wends, and by an arrangement made with
Pribislaus, duke of Brandenburg, Albert secured this district
when the duke died in 1150. Taking the title margrave of
Brandenburg, he pressed the warfare against the Wends, extended
the area of his mark, did much for the spread of Christianity
and civilization therein, and so became the founder of the
margraviate of Brandenburg. In 1137 his cousin, Henry the
Proud, had been deprived by King Conrad III. of his Saxon
duchy, which was given to Albert. After meeting with some
success in his efforts to take possession, he was driven from
Saxony, and also from his mark by Henry, and compelled to
take refuge in South Germany, and when peace was made in 1142
he renounced the Saxon dukedom and received the counties of
Weimar and Orlamunde. It was possibly at this time that
Albert was made arch-chamberlain of the Empire, an office
which afterwards gave the margraves of Brandenburg the
rights of an elector. A feud with Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony,
was followed, in 1158, by a pilgrimage to the Holy Land,
and in 1162 Albert accompanied the emperor Frederick I.
to Italy, and distinguished himself at the storming of
Milan. In 1164 he joined a league of princes formed against
Henry the Lion, and peace being made in 1169, Albert divided
his territories among his six sons, and died on the 13th
of November 1170, and was buried at Ballenstadt. His
personal qualities won for him the surname of ``the Bear,''
and he is also called by later writers ``the Handsome.''
See L. von Heinemann, Albrecht der Bar (Darmstadt, 1864).
ALBERT III. (1414--1486), elector of Brandenburg, surnamed
ACHILLES because of his knightly qualities, was the third
son of Frederick I. of Hohenzollern, elector of Brandenburg,
and was born at Tangermunde on the 9th of November 1414.
After passing some time at the court of the emperor Sigismund,
he took part in the war against the Hussites, and afterwards
distinguished himself whilst assisting the German king, Albert
II., against the Poles. On the division of territory which
followed his father's death in 1440, Albert received the
principality of Ansbach; and although his resources were
very meagre he soon took a leading place among the German
princes, and was especially prominent in resisting the attempts
of the towns to obtain self-government. In 1443 he formed
a league directed mainly against Nuremberg, over which town
members of his family had formerly exercised the rights of
burgrave. It was not until 1448, however, that he found a
pretext for attack, and the war which lasted until 1453 ended
in a victory for the Nurembergers, and the recognition of their
independence. He supported the emperor Frederick III. in his
struggle with the princes who desired re-forms in Oiermany,
and in return for this loyalty received many marks of favour
from Frederick, including extensive judicial rights which
aroused considerable irritation among neighbouring rulers. In
1457 he arranged a marriage between his eldest son John, and
Margaret, daughter of William III., landgrave of Thuringia,
who inherited the claims upon Hungary and Bohemia of her
mother, a granddaughter of the emperor Sigismund. The attempt
to secure these thrones for the Hohenzollerns through this
marriage failed, and a similar fate befell Albert's efforts
to revive in his own favour the disused. title of duke of
Franconia. The sharp dissensions which existed among the
princes over the question of reform culminated in open warfare
in 1460, when Albert was confronted with a league under the
leadership of the elector palatine, Frederick I., and Louis
IX. (the Rich), duke of Bavaria-Landshut. Worsted in this
struggle, which was concluded in 1462, Albert made an alliance
with his former enemy, George Podebrad, king of Bohemia, a
step which caused Pope Paul II. to place him under the ban.
In 1470 Albert, who had inherited Bayreuth on the death of his
brother John in 1464, became elector of Brandenburg owing to the
abdication of his remaining brother, the elector Frederick II.
He was soon actively engaged in its administration, and by the
treaty of Prenzlau in 1472 he brought Pomerania also under his
supremacy. Having established his right to levy a tonnage on
wines in the mark, he issued in February 1473 the important
dispositio Achillea, which decreed that the mark of Brandenburg
should descend in its entirety to the eldest son, while the
younger sons should receive the Franconian possessions of the
family. After treating in vain for a marriage between one
of his sons and Mary, daughter and heiress of Charles the
Bold, duke of Burgundy, Albert handed over the government of
Brandenburg to his eldest son John, and returned to his Franconian
possessions. In 1474 he married his daughter Barbara to Henry
XI., duke of Glogau, who left his possessions on his death in
1476 to his widow with reversion to her family, an arrangement
which was resisted by Henrv's kinsman, John II., duke of
Sagan. Aided by Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary, John invaded
Brandenburg, and the Pomeranians seized the opportunity to
revolt. Under these circumstances Albert returned to
Brandenburg in 1478, compelled the Pomeranians to own his
supremacy, and after a stubborn struggle secured a part
of Duke Henry's lands for his daughter in 1482. His main
attention was afterwards claimed by the business of the Empire,
and soon after taking part in the election of Maximilian as
king of the Romans he died at Frankfort on the 11th of March
1486. He left a considerable amount of treasure. His first
wife was Margaret of Baden, by whom he had six children;
and his second was Anne of Saxony, by whom he had thirteen.
Albert was a man of relentless energy and boundless ambition,
who by reason of his physical and intellectual qualities
was one of the most prominent princes of the 15th century.
See Das kaiserliche Buch des Markgrafen Albrecht Achilles,
Ferkurfurstliche Periode, 1440-1470, edited by C. Hofler
(Bayreuth, 1850); Kurfurstliche Periode, edited by J.
von Minutoli (Berlin, 1850); Quellensammlung zur Geschichte
des Hauses Hohenzollern, Band I., edited by C. A. H.
Burkhardt (Jena, 1857); O. Franklin, Albrecht Achilles
und die Nuremberger, 1444-1453 (Berlin, 1866); Politische
Korrespondenz des Kurfursten Albrecht Achilles, 1486,
edited by F. Priebatsch (Leipzig, 1894-1898); J. G. Droysen,
Geschichte der preussischen Politik (Berlin, 1835-1886).
ALBERT (FRANCIS CHARLES AUGUSTUS ALBERT EMMANUEL) (1819-1861),
prince-consort of England, was born at Bosenau on the 26th
of August 1819. He was the second son of the hereditary duke
of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (belonging to the Ernestine or elder
branch of the royal family of Saxony) by his first wife, the
princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (d. 1831), from
whom the duke was separated in 1824. His father's sister
married the duke of Kent, and her daughter, afterwards Queen
Victoria of England, Prince Albert's wife, was thus his first
cousin. They were born in the same year. Albert and his
elder brother, Ernest, were close companions in youth, and
were educated under the care of Consistorialrath Florschutz,
subsequently proceeding to the university of Bonn. There
Prince Albert devoted himself especially to natural science,
political economy and philosophy, having for teachers such
men as Fichte, Schlegel and Perthes; he diligently cultivated
music and painting, and excelled in gymnastic exercises,
especially in fencing. The idea of a marriage between him
and his cousin Victoria had always been cherished by their
uncle, King Leopold I. of Belgium, and in May 1836 the duke of
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and his two sons paid a visit to Kensington
Palace, where Princess Victoria, as she then was, lived, for
the purpose of making acquaintance for the first time. The
visit was by no means to the taste of King William IV., who
disapproved of the match and favoured Prince Alexander of
Orange. But Leopold's plan was known to Princess Victoria,
and William's objections were fruitless. Princess Victoria,
writing to her uncle Leopold (May 23, 1836), said that Albert
was ``extremely handsome''; and (June 7) thanked him for the
``prospect of great happiness you have contributed to give
me in the person of dear Albert. He possesses every quality
that could be desired to render me perfectly happy.', No
formal engagement was entered into, but the situation was
privately understood as one which in time would naturally
develop. After the queen came to the throne, her letters show
her interest in Albert's being educated for the part he would
have to play. In the winter of 1838-1839 the prince travelled
in Italy, accompanied by Baron Stockmar, formerly Leopold's
doctor and private secretary, and now the queen's confidential
adviser. On the 10th of October 1839 he and Ernest went again
to England to visit the queen, with the object of finally
settling the marriage. Mutual inclination and affection at
once brought about the desired result. They became definitely
engaged on the 15th of October, and on the 10th of February 1840
the marriage was celebrated at the chapel-royal, St James's.
The position in which the prince was placed by his marriage,
while it was one of distinguished honour, was also one
of considerable difficulty; and during his lifetime the
tactful way in which he filled it was very inadequately
appreciated. The public life of the prince-consort cannot
be separated from that of the queen, and it is unnecessary
here to repeat such details as are given in the article
on her (see VICTORIA, QUEEN.) The prejudice against
him, on account of what was regarded as undue influence in
politics, was never fully dissipated till after his death.
His co-operation with the queen in dealing with the political
responsibilities which devolved upon the sovereign represented
an amount of conscientious and self-sacrificing labour which
cannot easily be exaggerated; and his wisdom in council
could only be realized, outside a very small circle, when in
later years the materials for the history of that time became
accessible. He was indeed a man of cultured and liberal
ideas, well qualified to take the lead in many reforms which
the England of that day sorely needed. He was specially
interested in endeavours to secure the more perfect application
of science and art to manufacturing industry. The Great
Exhibition of 1851 originated in a suggestion he made at a
meeting of the Society of Arts, and owed the greater part of
its success to his intelligent and unwearied efforts. He had
to work for its realization against an extraordinary outburst
of angry expostulations. Every stage in his project was
combated. In the House of Peers, Lord Brougham denied the
right of the crown to hold the exhibition in Hyde Park; in
the Commons, Colonel Sibthorp prophesied that England would
be overrun with foreign rogues and revolutionists, who would
subvert the morals of the people, filch their trade secrets
from them, and destroy their faith and loyalty towards their
religion and their sovereign. Prince Albert was president of
the exhibition commission, and every post brought him abusive
letters, accusing him, as a foreigner, of being intent upon
the corruption of England. He was not the man to be balked by
talk of this kind, but quietly persevered, looking always to
the probability that the manufacturing power of Great Britain
would be quickened by bringing the best manufactured products
of foreign countries under the eyes of the mechanics and
artisans. A sense of the artistic was at this time almost
wholly wanting among the English people. One day the prince
had a conversation with a great manufacturer of crockery,
and sought to convert him to the idea of issuing something
better than the eternal willow-pattern in white with gold,
red or blue, which formed the staple of middle and lower class
domestic china. The manufacturer held out that new shapes
and designs would not be saleable; but he was induced to
try, and he did so with such a rapid success that a revolution
in the china cupboards of England was accomplished from that
time. The exhibition was opened by the queen on the 1st of May
1851, and was a colossal success; and the realized surplus
of L. 150,000 went to establish and endow the South Kensington
Museum (afterwards renamed ``Victoria and Albert'') and to
purchase land in that neighbourhood. Similar institutions,
On a smaller scale but with a kindred aim, always found in
him warm advocacy and substantial support. It was chiefly at
meetings in connexion with these that he found occasion for
the delivery of addresses characterized by profound thought and
comprehensiveness of view, a collection of which was published in
1857. One of the most favourable specimens of his powers
as a speaker is the inaugural address which he delivered as
president of the British Association for the Advancement of
Science when it met at Aberdeen in 1859. The education of his
family and the management of his domestic affairs furnished
the prince with another very important sphere of action, in
which he employed himself with conscientious devotedness.
The estates of the duchy of Cornwall, the hereditary appanage of
the prince of Wales, were so greatly improved under his father's
management that the rent-roll rose from L. 11,000 to L. 50,000 a
year. Prince Albert, indeed, had a peculiar talent for the
management of landed estates. His model farm at Windsor was in
every way worthy of the name; and the grounds at Balmoral and
Osborne were laid out entirely in conformity with his designs.
A character so pure. and a life so useful and well-directed in
all its aims, could scarcely fail to win respect among those
who were acquainted with the facts. As the prince became better
known, public mistrust began to give way. In 1847, but only
after a significantly keen contest with Earl Powis, he was
elected chancellor of the university of Cambridge; and he was
afterwards appointed master of the Trinity House. In June
1857 the formal title of prince-consort was conferred upon
him by letters patent, in order to settle certain difficulties
as to precedence that had been raised at foreign courts.
But in the full career of his usefulness he was cut off.
During the autumn of 1861 he was busy with the arrangements
for the projected international exhibition, and it was just
after returning from one of the meetings in connexion with
it that he was seized with his last illness. Beginning at
the end of November with what appeared to be influenza, it
proved to be an attack of typhoid fever, and, congestion of
the lungs supervening, he died on the 14th of December. The
grief of the queen was overwhelming and the sympathy of the
whole nation marked a revulsion of feeling about the prince
himself which was not devoid of compunction for earlier want of
appreciation. The magnificent mausoleum at Frogmore, in which
his remains were finally deposited, was erected at the expense
of the queen and the royal family; and many public monuments to
``Albert the Good'' were erected all over the country, the most
notable being the Albert Hall (1867) and the Albert Memorial
(1876) in London. His name was also commemorated in the queen's
institution of the Albert medal ( 1866) in reward for gallantry
in saving life, and of the order of Victoria and Albert (1862).
By the queen's authority, her secretary, General Grey, compiled
The Early Days of the Prince Consort, published in 1867; and
The Life and Letters of the Prince Consort (ist vol., 1874;
2nd, 1880) mas similarly edited by Sir Theodore Martin. A volume
of the Principal Specches and Addresses of Prince Albert,
with an introduction by Sir Arthur Helps, was published in
1862. See also the Letters of Queen Victoria (ioo7). (H. CH.)
ALBERT I. (c. 1250-1308), German king, and duke of Austria,
eldest son of King Rudolph I., the founder of the greatness
of the house of Habsburg, was invested with the duchies of
Austria and Styria, together with his brother Rudolph, in
1282. In 1283 his father entrusted him with their sole
government, and he appears to have ruled them with conspicuous
success. Rudolph was unable to secure the succession to
the German throne for his son, and on his death in 1291, the
princes, fearing Albert's power, chose Adolph of Nassau as
king. A rising among his Swabian dependants compelled Albert
to recognize the sovereignty of his rival, and to confine
himself to the government of the Habsburg territories.
He did not abandon his hopes of the throne, and, in 1298,
was chosen German king by some of the princes, who were
dissatisfied with Adolph. The armies of the rival kings
met at Gollheim near Worms, where Adolph was defeated and
slain, and Albert submitted to a fresh election. Having
secured the support of several influential princes by extensive
promises, he was chosen at Frankfort on the 27th of July
1298, and crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle on the 24th of August
following. Albert sought to play an important part in European
affairs. He seemed at first inclined to press a quarrel with
France over the Burgundian frontier, but the refusal of Pope
Boniface VIII. to recognize his election led him to change his
policy, and, in 1299, a treaty was made between Albert and
Philip IV., king of France, by which Rudolph, the son of the
German king, was to marry Blanche, a daughter of the French
king. He afterwards became estranged from Philip, and, in
1303, was recognized as German king and future emperor by
Boniface, and, in return, admitted the right of the pope
alone to bestow the imperial crown, and promised that none
of his sons should be elected German king without the papal
consent. Albert had failed in his attempt to seize Holland and
Zealand, as vacant fiefs of the Empire, on the death of Count
John I. in 1299, but in 1306 he secured the crown of Bohemia
for his son Rudolph on the death of King Wenceslaus III. He
also renewed the claim which had been made by his predecessor,
Adolf, on Thuringia, and interfered in a quarrel over the
succession to the Hungarian throne. His attack on Thuringia
ended in his defeat at Lucka in 1307, and, in the same year,
the death of his son Rudolph weakened his position in eastern
Europe. His action in abolishing all tolls established on
the Rhine since 1250, led to the formation of a league against
him by the Rhenish archbishops and the count palatine of the
Rhine; but aided by the towns, he soon crushed the rising.
He was on the way to suppress a revolt in Swabia when he was
murdered on the 1st of May 1308, at Windisch on the Reuss, by
his nephew John, afterwards called ``the Parricide,'' whom he
had deprived of his inheritance. Albert married Elizabeth,
daughter of Meinhard IV., count of Gorz and Tirol, who bore
him six sons and five daughters. Although a hard, stern
man, he had a keen sense of justice when his selfish interests
were not involved, and few of the German kings possessed so
practical an intelligence. He encouraged the cities, and
not content with issuing proclamations against private war,
formed alliances with the princes in order to enforce his
decrees. The serfs, whose wrongs seldom attracted notice
in an age indifferent to the claims of common humanity,
found a friend in this severe monarch, and he protected
even the despised and persecuted Jews. The stories of his
cruelty and oppression in the Swiss cantons first appear
in the 16th century, and are now regarded as legendary.
See G. Droysen, Albrechts I. Bemuhungen um die Nachfolge
im Reich (Leipzig, 1862); J. F. A. Mucke, Albrecht
I. von IIabsburg (Gotha, 1865); A. L. J. Michelsen,
Die Landgrafschaft Thuringen unter den Konigen
Adolf, Albrecht, und Heinrich VII. (Jena, 1860).
ALBERT II. (1397-1439), German king, king of Bohemia and
Hungary, and (as Albert V.) duke of Austria, was born on the
10th of August 1397, the son of Albert IV. of Habsburg, duke of
Austria. He succeeded to the duchy of Austria on his father's
death in 1404. After receiving a good education, he undertook
the government of Austria in 1411, and succeeded, with the
aid of his advisers, in adding the duchy of the evils which
had arisen during his minority. He assisted the German king,
Sigismund, in his campaigns against the Hussites, and in
1422 married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sigismund,
who designated him as his successor. When the German king
died in 1437, Albert was crowned king of Hungary on the
1st of January 1438, and although crowned king of Bohemia
six months later, he was unable to obtain possession of the
country. He was engaged in warfare with the Bohemians and
their Polish allies, when on the 18th of March 1438 he was
chosen German king at Frankfort, an honour which he does
not appear to have sought. Afterwards engaged in defending
Hungary against the attacks of the Turks, he died on the
27th of October 1439 at Langendorf, and was buried at
Stuhlweissenburg. Albert was an energetic and warlike prince,
whose short reign gave great promise of usefulness lor Germany.
ALBERT (1490-1545), elector and archbishop of Mainz, and
archbishop of Magdeburg, was the younger son of John Cicero,
elector of Brandenburg, and was born on the 28th of June
1490. Having studied at the university of Frankfort-on-the-Oder,
he entered the ecclesiastical profession, and in 1513 became
archbishop of Magdeburg and administrator of the diocese of
Halberstadt. In 1514 he obtained the electorate of Mainz,
and in 1518 was made a cardinal. Meanwhile to pay for
the pallium of the see of Mainz and to discharge the other
expenses of his elevation, Albert had borrowed a large sum of
money from the Fuggers, and had obtained permission from Pope
Leo X. to conduct the sale of indulgences in his diocese to
obtain funds to repay this loan. For this work he procured
the services of John Tetzel, and so indirectly exercised a
potent influence on the course of the Reformation. When the
imperial election of 1519 drew near, the elector's vote was
eagerly solicited by the partisans of Charles (afterwards
the emperor Charles V.) and by those of Francis I., king of
France, and he appears to have received a large amount of
money for the vote which he cast eventually for Charles.
Albert's large and liberal ideas, his friendship with Ulrich
von Hutten, and his political ambitions, appear to have raised
hopes that he would be won over to the reformed faith; but
after the Peasants' War of 1525 he ranged himself definitely
among the supporters of Catholicism, and was among the princes
who met to concert measures for its defence at Dessau in July
1525. His hostility towards the reformers, however, was
not so extreme as that of his brother Joachim I., elector of
Brandenburg; and he appears to have exerted himself in the
interests of peace, although he was a member of the league
of Nuremberg, which was formed in 1538 as a counterpoise to
the league of Schmalkalden. The new doctrines nevertheless
made considerable progress in his dominions, and he was
compelled to grant religious liberty to the inhabitants
of Magdeburg in return for 500,000 florins. During his
latter years indeed he showed more intolerance towards the
Protestants, and favoured the teaching of the Jesuits in his
dominions. Albert adorned the Stiftiskirche at Halle and
the cathedral at Mainz in sumptuous fashion, and took as his
motto the words Domine, dilexi decorem domus tuae. A generous
patron of ait and learning, he counted Erasmus among his
friends. He died at Aschaffenburg on the 24th of September 1545.
See I. H. Hennes, Albrecht von Brandenburg, Erzbischofvon
Mbinz und Magdeburg (Mai1iz, 1858); i. May, Der
Kuriurst, Kardinal, und Erzbischof Albrecht II. von Mainz
unid Mogdeburg (Munich, 1865--1875ai co. Schum, Kardinal
Albrecht von Mainz und die Erfurter Kirchenreformation
(Halle, 1878); P. Redlich, Kardinal Albrecht von
Brandenburg, und das neue Stift zu Halte (Mainz, 1900).
ALBERT (1490-1568), Grand Master of the Teutonic Order,
and first duke of Prussia, was the third son of Frederick of
Hohenzollern, prince of Ansbach and Bayreuth, and Sophia,
daughter of Casimir IV., king of Poland. Born at Ansbach
on the 16th of May 1490, he was intended for the church, and
passed some time at the court of Hermann, elector of Cologne,
who appointed him to a canonry in his cathedral. Turning
to a more active life, he accompanied the emperor Maximilian
I. to Italy in 1508, and after his return spent some time in
Hungary. In December, Frederick, grand master of the Teutonic
Order, died, and Albert, joining the order, was chosen as his
successor early in 1511 in the hope that his relationship to
Sigismund I., king of Poland, would facilitate a settlement
of the disputes over east Prussia, which had been held by the
order under Polish suzerainty since 1466. The new master,
however, showed no desire to be conciliatory, and as war
appeared inevitable, he made strenuous efforts to secure
allies, and carried on tedious negotiations with the emperor
Maximilian I. The ill-feeling, influenced by the ravages of
members of the order in Poland, culminated in a struggle which
began in December 1519. During the ensuing year Prussia was
devastated, and Albert consented early in 1521 to a truce for four
years. The dispute was referred to the emperor Charles V.
and other princes, but as no settlement was reached the master
continued his efforts to obtain help in view of a renewal of the
war. For this purpose he visited Nuremberg in 1522, where
he made the acquaintance of the reformer, Andreas Osiander,
by whose influence he was won over to the side of the new
faith. He then journeyed to Wittenberg, where he was advised
by Martin Luther to cast aside the senseless rules of his
order, to marry, and to convert Prussia into an hereditary
duchy for himself. This proposal, which commended itself to
Albert, had already been discussed by some of his relatives;
but it was necessary to proceed cautiously, and he assured
Pope Adrian VI. that he was anxious to reform the order
and punish the knights who had adopted Lutheran doctrines.
Luther for his part did not stop at the suggestion, but in
order to facilitate the change made special efforts to spread
his teaching among the Prussians, while Albert's brother,
George, prince of Ansbach, laid the scheme before Sigismund of
Poland. After some delay the king assented to it provided that
Prussia were held as a Polish fief; and after this arrangement
had been confirmed by a treaty made at Cracow, Albert was
invested with the duchy by Sigismund for himself and his heirs
on the 10th of February 1525. The estates of the land then
met at Konigsberg and took the oath of allegiance to the new
duke, who used his full powers to forward the doctrines of
Luther. This transition did not, however, take place without
protest. Summoned before the imperial court of justice, Albert
refused to appear and was placed under the ban; while the order,
having deposed the grand master, made a feeble effort to recover
Prussia. But as the German princes were either too busy or
too indifferent to attack the duke, the agitation against
him soon died away. In imperial politics Albert was fairly
active. Joining the league of Torgau in 1526, he acted inunison
with the Protestants, and was among the princes who banded
themselves together to overthrow Charles V. after the issue
of the Interim in May 1548. Forvarious reasons, however,
poverty and personal inclination among others, he did not take a
prominent part in the military operations of this period. The
early years of Albert's rule in Prussia were faidy prosperous.
Although he had some trouble with the peasantry, the lands
and treasures of the church enabled him to propitiate the
nobles and for a time to provide for the expenses of the
court. He did something for the furtherance of learning by
establishing schools in every town and by giving privileges
to serfs who adopted a scholastic life. In 1544, in spite
of some opposition, he founded a university at Konigsberg,
where he appointed his friend Osiander to a professorship in
1549. This step was the beginning of the troubles which clouded
the closing years of Albert's reign. Osiander's divergence
from Luther's doctrine of justification by faith involved him
in a violent quarrel with XIelanchthon, who had adherents in
Konigsberg, and these theological disputes soon created an
uproar in the town. The duke strenuously supported Osiander,
and the area of the quarrel soon broadened. There were no longer
church lands available with which to conciliate the nobles,
the burden of taxation was heavy, and Albert's rule became
unpopular. After Osiander's death in 1552 he favoured a preacher
named John Funck, who, with an adventurer named Paul Scalich,
exercised great influence over him and obtained considerable
wealth at the public expense. The state of turmoil caused by
these religious and political disputes was increased by the
possibility of Albert's early death and the necessity in that
event for a regency owing to the youth of his only son, Albert
Frederick. The duke was consequently obliged to consent to a
condemnation of the teaching of Osiander, and the climax came
in 1566 when the estates appealed to Sigismund II., king of
Poland, who sent a commission to Konigsberg. Scalich saved
his life by flight, but Funck was executed; the question of
the regency was settled; and a form of Lutheranism was adopted,
and declared binding on all teachers and preachers. Virtually
deprived of power, the duke lived for two years longer, and
died at Tapiau on the 20th of March 1568. In 1526 he had
married Dorothea, daughter of Frederick I., king of Denmark,
and after her death in 1547, Anna Maria, daughter of Eric
I., duke of Brunswick. Albert was a voluminous letterwriter,
and corresponded with many of the leading personages of the
time. In 1891 a statue was erected to his memory at Konigsberg.
See J. Voigt, Briefwechsel der beruhmtested Gelehrten des
Zeitalters der Reformation mit Herzog Albrecht von Preussen
(Konigsberg, 1841); E. Joachim, Die Politik des letzten
Hochmeisters in Preussen, Albrecht von Brandenburg (Leipzig,
1892); K. Lohmeyer, Herzog Albrecht von Preussen (Danzig, 1890).
ALBERT III. ( 1443-1500), duke of Saxony, surnamed ANIMOSUS
or THE COURAGEOUS, younger son of Frederick II., the Mild,
elector and duke of Saxony, was born on the 27th of January
1443, and after escaping from the hands of Kunz von Kaufungen,
who had abducted him together with his brother Ernest, passed
some time at the court of the emperor Frederick III. in
Vienna. In 1464 he married Zedena, or Sidonia, daughter of
George Podebrad, king of Bohemia, but failed to obtain the
Bohemian Crown on the death of George in 1471. After the
death of the elector Frederick in 1464, Albert and Ernest ruled
their lands together, but in 1485 a division was made by the
treaty of Leipzig, and Albert received Meissen, together,with
some adjoining districts, and founded the Albertine branch of
the family of Wettin. Regarded as a capable soldier by the
emperor, Albert, in 1475, took a prominent part in the campaign
against Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, and in 1487 led
an expedition against Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary,
which failed owing to lack of support on the part of the
emperor. In 1488 he marched with the imperial forces to free
the Roman king Maximilian from his imprisonment at Bruges, and
when, in 1489, the king returned to Germany, Albert was left
as his representative to prosecute the war against the rebels.
He was successful in restoring the authority of Maximilian
in Holland, Flanders and Brabant, but failed to obtain any
repayment of the large sums of money which he had spent in these
campaigns. His services were rewarded in 1498 when Maximilian
bestowed upon him the title of hereditary governor (potestat)
of Friesland, but he had to make good his claim by force of
arms. He had to a great extent succeeded, and was paying
a visit to Saxony, when he was recalled by news of a fresh
rising. Groningen was captured, but soon afterwards the duke
died at Emden, on the 12th of September 1500. He was buried at
Meissen. Albert, who was a man of great strength and considerable
skill in feats of arms, delighted in tournaments and knightly
exercises. His loyalty to the emperor Frederick, and the expenses
incurred in this connexion, aroused some irritation among his
subjects, but his rule was a period of prosperity in Saxony.
See F. A. von Langenn, Herzog Albrecht der Beherzte,
Stammvater des koniglichen IIauses Sachsen (Leipzig,
1838); O. Sperling, Herzog Albrecht der Beherzte
von Sachsen als Gubernator Frieslands (Leipzig, 1892).
ALBERT, FREDERICK AUGUSTUS, king of Saxony (18281902), was
born on the 23rd of April 1828, being the eldest son of Prince
John, who succeeded to the throne in 1854. His education
was, as is usual with German princes, to a great extent
military, but he attended lectures at the university of
Bonn. His first experience of warfare was in 1849,'when he
served as a captain in the campaign of Schleswig-Holstein
against the Danes. When the war of 1866 broke out, the
crown-prince was placed in command of the Saxon forces
opposing the Prussian army of Prince Frederick Charles. No
attempt was made to defend Saxony; the Saxons fell back into
Bohemia and effected a junction with the Austrians. They
took a prominent part in the battles by which the Prussians
forced the line of the Iser and in the battle of Gitchin. The
crown-prince, however, succeeded in effecting the retreat in
good order, and in the decisive battle of Koniggratz (see
SEVEN WEEKS' WAR) he held the extreme loft of the Austrian
position. The Saxons maintained their post with great
tenacity, but were involved in the disastrous defeat of their
allies. During these operations the crown-prince won the
reputation of a thorough soldier; after peace was made and
Saxony had entered the North German confederation, he was
placed in command of the Saxon army, which had now become
the XII. army corps of the North German army, and in this
position carried out the necessary reorganization. He was a
firm adherent of the Prussian alliance. On the outbreak of
war in 1870 he again commanded the Saxons, who were included
in the 2nd army under Prince Frederick Charles, his old
opponent. At the battle of Gravelotte they formed the extreme
left of the German army, and with the Prussian Guard carried out
the attack on St Privat, the final and decisive action in the
battle. In the reorganization of the army which accompanied
the march towards Paris the crown-prince was given a separate
command over the 4th army (army of the Meuse) consisting of
the Saxons, the Prussian Guard corps and the IV. (Prussian
Saxony) corps. He was succeeded in command of the XII. corps
by his brother Prince George, who had served under him in
Bohemia. He took a leading part in the operations which
preceded the battle of Sedan, the 4th army being the pivot
on which the whole army wheeled round in pursuit of Macmahon;
and the actions of Buzancy and Beaumont on the 29th and
30th of August were fought under his direction; in the
battle of Sedan itself, with the troops under his orders,
he carried out the envelopment of the French on the east and
north. His conduct in these engagements won for him the
complete confidence of the army, and during the siege of Paris
his troops formed the north-east section of the investing
force. After the conclusion of the armistice he was left in
command of the German army of occupation, a position which
he held till the fall of the Commune. On the conclusion
of peace he was made an inspector-general of the army and
field-marshal. On the death of his father on the 29th of October
1873 he succeeded to the throne. His reign was uneventful,
and he took little public part in politics, devoting himself
to military affairs, in which his advice and experielice
were of the greatest value, not only to the Saxon corps but
to the German army in general. In 1897 he was appointed
arbitrator between the claimants for the principality of
Lippe. King Albert married in 1853 Carola, daughter of Prince
Gustavus of Vasa, and granddaughter of the last king of Sweden
of the house of Holstein. He died on the 19th of June 1902.
ALBERT, surnamed THE DEGENERATE (c. 1240-1314),
landgrave of Thuringia, was the eldest son of Henry III.,
the Illustrious, margrave of Meissen. He married Margaret,
daughter of the emperor Frederick II., in 1254, and in 1265
received from his father Thuringia and the Saxon palatinate.
His infatuation for Kunigunde of Eisenberg caused his wife to
leave him, and after her death in 1270 he married Kunigunde,
who had already borne him a son, Apitz or Albert. He wished
to make Apitz his successor in Thuringia, a plan which was
resisted by his two elder sons, and a war broke out which
lasted until 1307, when he abandoned Thuringia, in return for
a yearly payment, but retained the title of landgrave (see
THURINGIA.) Albert, who had married Elizabeth, daughter
of Hermann III., count of Orlamunde, after the death of
his second wife in 1286, died on the 13th of November 1314.
See F. X. Wegele, Friedrich der Friedige, Markgraf von
Meissen, und die Wettiner seiner Zeit (Nordlingen,
1820); F. W. Tittmann, Geschichte Heinirich des
Erlauchten Markgraven zu Meissen (Leipzig, 1863).
ALBERT (FRIEDRICH RUDOLF ALBRECHT), ARCHDUKE (1817-1895),
Austrian field-marshal, was the eldest son of the archduke Charles
(Karl Friedrich), and was born on the 3rd of August 1817 at
Vienna. After being educated under the careful superintendence
of his father, he entered the Austrian (H.K.) army as a colonel
of infantry in 1837, and was transferred to the cavalry arm in
1839, becoming a major-general in 1840. A brief period of
leave in this year he spent at the great n:an0-uvres in Italy,
to learn the art of troop-leading from the first soldier in
Europe, Radetzky. He then took over the command of a brigade
of all arms at Graz. In 1844 he married Trincess Hildegarde of
Bavaria. He had been made a lieutenant field-marshal in the
previous year, and was now placed in command of the forces
in Upper and Lower Austria. In this position he did much to
maintain and improve the efficiency of the troops under his
command, at a time when nearly all armies in Europe, with
the exception of Radetzky's in Italy, had sunk to the lowest
level. The influence of Radetzky over the young archduke
was indeed remarkable. At this time the Austrian generals
and staff officers had committed themselves blindly to the
strategical method of the archduke Charles, the tradition of
whose practical soldiership survived only in Radetzky and a few
others. Albert chose to follow the latter, and was thus saved
from the pseudoscientific pedantry which brought defeat to the
Austrian arms in 1359 and in 1866. His first serious service
came in March 1848, when it became his duty, as district
commander, to maintain order in Vienna by force, and at the
outbreak of revolution in Vienna during the month of March he
was in command of the troops who came into collision with the
rioters. Owing to the collapse of the government it was
impossible to repress the disturbances, and he was relieved
from a post which brought much unpopularity and was not suitable
to be held by a member of the imperial family. He went at
once to the seat of war in Italy, and fought under Radetzky
as a volunteer throughout the campaign of 1848, being present
at the action of bastrengo and the battles of Santa Lucia and
Custozza. In the following campaign he applied for and
obtained the command of a division in the II. corps (FZM.
d'Aspre), though his previous grade had been that of a general
commanding-in-chief. The splendid fighting of the corps at
Novara was decisive of the war, and Radetzky named d'Aspre,
Count Thurn, and the archduke as the general officers
worthy of the greatest rewards. The field-marshal indeed
recommended, and almost insisted, that Albert should receive
the much-prized order of Maria Theresa. In 1850 he became a
general of cavalry, and in 1851 military and civil governor of
Hungary. In this important and difficult position he
remained until 1860, when he was relieved at his own request.
Shortly afterwards he was appointed to succeed Radetzky as
commander-in-chief in Italy, and in 1863 he was promoted
field-marshal. In the following year the archduke lost his
wife, soon after the marriage of their elder daughter to
Duke Philip of Wurttemberg. In 1859 and 1864 he was sent on
important military and diplomatic missions to Berlin. When
war became imminent in 1866, the archduke took command of
the field army in Italy. The story of the campaign of 1866
in Italy will be found under ITALIAN WARS (1848-1870); the
operations of the archduke, who disposed of greatly inferior
forces, were crowned with success in the brilliant victory of
Custozza (June 23), and his reputation as a general-in-chief
was firmly established by only eight days of field
operations, though it is possible that his chief of staff,
Lieut. Field-Marshal von John, contributed not a little to
the success of the Austrian arms. The result of Custozza was
the retreat and complete immobilization of the whole Italian
army, so that Albert was able to despatch the greater part of
his troops to reinforce the Bohemian army, when, after being
defeated by the Prussians, it fell back on Vienna. On the 10th
of July the archduke was summoned to Vienna to take supreme
command of the forces which were being collected to defend the
capital, but peace was made before further hostilities took
place. From this time, under various titles, he acted as
inspector-general of the army. Like his father, and with
better fortune, he was called upon to reorganize the military
system of his country on an entirely new pian, learned, as
before, by defeat. The principle of universal short service,
and the theory of the armed nation, were necessarily the
groundwork of the reforms, and the consequent preparation
of all the national resources for their task in war, by
the superintendence of peace administration, by the skilful
conduct of man0-uvres, was thenceforward the task of his
lifetime. In 1870 he conducted the military negotiatio:1s
preparatory to an alliance with France, which, however, was
not concluded. The tragic death of his daughter, Princess
Mathilde, in 1867, and the death of his brother, Archduke Karl
Ferdinand, in 1874, narrowed still further his family circle,
and impelled him to even greater activity in his military duties,
and to effective participation in the work of many military
charities. IUe retained personal control of the army until his
last illness, which he contracted at the funeral of his nephew
Francis, ex-king of Naples. His only remaining brother, the
archduke Wilhelm, had died a few months before, as the result
of an accident. He himself died on the 18th of February
1895. His only son died in childhood, and his nephew Archduke
Frederick (born 1856) inherited his great possessions, including
the Albertina, a famous collection of books, manuscripts,
engravings and maps, founded by Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen.
Amongst the military works of the Archduke Albert may be
named Uber die Verantworllichkeil im Kriege (a work which
created a great sensation, and was translated into English
and French), Gledanken uber dem Militargeist, Uber die
hohere Heitung im Kriege, and Kritische Betrachtunger
uber den Feldzug 1866 in Italien. He also was the
principal editor of the military works of his father.
See Duncker, F. M. Erzherzog Albrecht (Vienna and Prague,
189; Mathes v. Bilabruck, ``Gedenkrede auf Weiland Sr. K.
u. K. H. Erzh. Albrecht,'' Mil.-Wissenschaftl. Verein, 1895;
Teuber, F. M. Erzh. Albrecht, ein Lebensbild (Vienna, 1895).
ALBERT, MADAME (c. 1805-1846), French actress, whose
maiden name was Theresc Vernet, was born of a family of
players. She first appeared in children's and ingenile
parts, and in comic opera, and it was not until 1827, two
years after her Paris debut, that her great talents
were seen and appreciated. In Caleb Valentine, Henry
V., Madame Dubarry, Catherine II., Leontine,, Un duel sous
le cardinal de Richelieu, and many other plays, her grace,
beauty and distinction of manner made her the idol of Paris,
and her circle of admirers was widened by long tours of the
provinces and abroad. Ill-health compelled her to retire in
1846. She was twice married, about 1825 to Albert Rodrigues,
an actor who played under his Christian name, and in 1846
to Eugene Bignon (1812-1858), the actor and playwright.
ALBERT OF AIX (fl. c. A.D. 1100), historian of the first
crusade, was born during the later part of the 11th century,
and afterwards became canon and custos of the church of
Aix-la-Chapelle. Nothing else is known of his life except
that he was the author of a Historia Hierosolymitanae
expeditionis, or Chronicon Hierosolymitanum de bello
sacro, a work in twelve books, written between 1125 and
1150. This history begins at the time of the council of
Clermont, deals with the fortunes of the first crusade and
the earlier history of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, and
ends somewhat abruptly in 1121. It was well known during the
middle ages, and was largely used by William, archbishop of
Tyre, for the first six books of his Belli sacri historia.
In modern times its historical value has been seriously
impugned, but the verdict of the best scholarship seems
to be that in general it forms a true record of the events
of the first crusade, although containing some legendary
matter. Albert never visited the Holy Land, but he appears
to have had a considerable amount of intercourse with
returned crusaders, and to have had access to valuable
correspondence. The first edition of the history was published
at Helmstadt in 1584, and a good edition is in the Recueil
des historiens des croisades, tome iv. (Paris, 1841-1887).
See F. Krebs, Zur Kritik Alberts von Aachen (Munster,
1881); B. Kugler, Albert von Aachen (Stuttgart, 1885);
M. Figeonneau, Le Cycle de la croisade et de la famine
de Bouillon (Paris, 1877); H. von Sybel, Geschichte des
ersten Kreuzzuges (Leipzig, 1881): F. Vercruysse, Essai
critique sur la chronique d'Albert d'Aix (Liege, 1889).
ALBERTA, a province of western Canada, established in
1905. Area 260,000 sq. m. It is bounded S. by the United
States boundary line, 49 deg. N.; E. by 110 deg. W., vhich divides
it from the province of Saskatchewan; N. by 60 deg. N., which
separates it from the North-West Territories; and W. by
the line of peaks of the Rocky Mountains range, vhich runs
northwesterly, and divides it from British Columbia. A
fertile province, in the eastern and southern portions
its surface consists chiefly of plains almost entirely
treeless. As the slopes of the Rocky Mountains to the west
are reached 1rore trees are found, until in the foot-hills of
the mountains bcdies of forest timber occur. Trees become more
numerous also northward in the province, until in the region
north of the North Saskatchewan river forests are again met
with.. From the southern boundary line for two and a half
degrees north the prairie is dry, but of good soil, which
grows excellent crops when irrigated. North of this region
the surface of the province is of itost fertile soil, the
ordinary rainfall sufficing for agriculture. The appearance
of the prairie section of the province is that cf undulating
meadows, with rounded sloping ridges covered with shorter .
grasses, which serve for the support of great herds of cattle and
horses. The.wooded portions of the terrain are dotted with
clumps and belts of trees of moderate size, giving them a
parklike appearance. In winter the snowfall is very light,
and even this is frequently removed by warm winds from the
west. Within a hundred miles of the mountains there is
constanlly in view, in clear weather, the beautiful line
of snowy peaks along the western horizon. This continues
for hundreds of miles north-westward. The Rocky Mountains,
vhich give its charm to Alberta, are ascended by a gradual
approach from the east, but are exceedingly abrupt on their
transalpine slope in British Columbia. The peaks of these
mountains are 1rajestic, many of them reaching a height of
more than two niles above the sea. Among the more notable
of these are Lcbscn peak, 13,700 ft.; Athabasca, 13,700;
Assiniboine, 11,8s0; Fyell, 12,000; Mummery, 12,000;
Temple, 11,658; and Geikie, 11,000. Mt. Brown reaches 9050.
Through these Rocky Mountains the explorers and furtraders, by
ascending the streams running down the eastern declivities of
the mountains, and crossing by short portages to the streams
of the western slope, have succeeded in discovering passes
by which the mountain chain can be crossed, the range rarely
exceeding 60 m. in breadth. The most noted of the Alberta
passes are (1) the Crow's Nest Pass, near the southern boundary
line, through which a branch of the Canadian I,acific'
railway runs; (2) the Kicking Horse Pass, through which the
main line of the Canadian Pacific railway is built; 80 m.
from the eastern end of this pass is the Rocky Mountains
Park, with the famous watering-place of Banff as its centre;
(3) the Yellow Head Pass, running west from the northern
branch of the Saskatchewan river; this pass was discovered by
Capt. Pallise1 (1858), was crossed by Lord Milton and Dr
W. B. Cheadle (1861), and by Sandford Fleming (1871-1872) in
the Ocean to Ocean expedition; (4) Peace River Pass. By this
pass Alexander Mackenzie made his celebrated voyage. There
are other minor passes, and no doubt more to be discovered.
With the exception of the southern section, the province of
Alberta may be said to be well watered. Rising from numerous
valleys on the Alberta declivity of the Rocky Mountains between
the international boundary line and 52 deg. N. are streams which
unite to form the Belly river, and farther north the Bow
river. Running eastward these two rivers unite about 112 deg.
W;, and flow on under the name of the South Saskatchewan
river. North of 52 deg. N. many small streams unite to form
the Red Deer river, which flowing south-eastward joins the
South Saskatchewan near 110 deg. W. Between 52 deg. and 53 deg. N.
rises the great river, the North Saskatchewan. It receives
a southern tributary, the Battle river, which joins it
about 108 deg. W. Pursuing their courses eastward the North
and South Saskatchewan rivers unite in the Saskatchewan
(Cree, rapid-flowing river), which finds its way to Lake
Winnipeg, and thence by way of Nelson river to Hudson
Bay. It is one of the mightiest rivers of the continent.
Between 53 deg. and 54 deg. N. begins the height of land running
north-easterly, north of which all the waters of Alberta flow
toward the Arctic Sea. In northern Alberta, on the northern
slope, gathering its tributaries from rills in the Rocky
Mountains, the river Athabasca runs north and empties into
Lake Athabasca near 58 deg. N. North of 56 deg. N. flows through and
from the Rocky Mountains the Peace river. After descending
north-eastward to within a few miles of Lake Athabasca, it
is met by a stream emerging from that lake. The united river
carrying down the waters of the Athabasca slope is called
the Slave river, which, passing through Great Slave Lake,
emerges as the great Mackenzie river, which falls into the
Arctic Sea. Alberta thus gives rise to the two great rivers
Saskatchewan and Mackenzie. While a number of fresh-water,
or in some cases brackish, lakes each less than 100 sq. m.
in extent are situated in Alberta, two of more considerable
size are found. These are Lake Athabasca, 3085 sq. m. in
extent, of which a part is in the province of Saskatchewan,
and the other Lesser Slave Lake some 600 sq. m. in area.
Climate.--As Alberta extends for 750 m. from north to
south---as great a distance as from Land's End in England
to the north of the Shetland Isles--it is natural that the
climate should vary considerably between parallels of 40 deg.
and 60 deg. N.. and also between 110 deg. and 120 deg. W. It is also
further influenced by the different altitudes above the
sea of the several parts of the province. Dividing the
province into three equal parts of 250 m. each from north to
south, these may be called (A) the south, (B) the centre,
(C) the north. The following data may be considered:--
CLIMATIC TABLE
Climate Places Above the Sea Mean Winter Temp
(A) Moderate and Medicine Hat, 2171 ft. 14.3 deg. F.
changeable lat. 50 deg. N.
Calgary, lat. 51 deg. 3432 " 15.4 deg. "
Banff, lat. 51 1/2 deg. 4515 " 15.9 deg. "
(B) Steady Edmonton, lat. 53 1/2 deg. 2210 " 10.3 deg. "
(C) Severe Fort Chipewyan, lat. 600 " 7.2 deg. "
lat. 59 deg. N.
Climate (A) allows, in what is a great ranching district,
cattle and horses to run at large through the whole
winter. Through the mountain passes come at times dry winds
from the Pacific coast, which lick up the snow in a few
hours. These winds are known as Chinook winds. While
elevating the temperature they bring more moisture into
the air and produce a change not entirely desirable.
Climate (B) is the steady winter climate of Edmonton
district. This while averaging a lower temperature than
(A) is not so subject to change; it retains the snow for
sleighing, which is a boon to the farmer. This climate
is much less influenced by the Pacific winds than (A).
Climate (C), that of Fort Chipewyan, having a mean winter
temperature of 22.6 deg. lower than Calgary, is a decidedly
sub-arctic climate. It is the region in winter of constant
ice and snow, but its lower altitude gives it a summer
climate with a mean temperature of only 1.6 deg. less than
Calgary, and 1.8 deg. less than Edmonton. It will thus be seen
that the agricultural capabilities of the Athabasca and Peace
river districts, not yet fully known, are full of promise.
Fauna.--The three climatic regions of Alberta have naturally
a varying fauna. The south and central region was the land
of the bison, its grasses affording a great pasture ground
for tens of thousands of ``buffaloes.'' They were destroyed
by whites and Indians in 1870-1882 on the approach of the
Canadian Pacific railway. Grizzly, black and cinnamon bears
are, found in the mountains and wooded districts. The
coyote or small wolf, here and there the grey wolf, the fox
and the mountain lion (panther) occur. The moose and red
deer are found in the wooded regions, and the jumping deer
and antelope on the prairies. Wild sheep and goats live
in the Rocky Mountains. The lynx, wolverine, porcupine,
skunk, hare, squirrel and mouse are met. The gopher is a
resident of the dry plains. District (C) is the fur-trader's
paradise. The buffalo is replaced by the mountain buffaloes,
of which a few survive. The musk-ox comes in thousands
every year to the great northern lakes, while the mink,
marten, beaver, otter, ermine and musk-rat are sought by the
fur-trader. Fort Chipewyan was long known in Hudson's Bay
Company history as the great depot of the Mackenzie river
district. Northern Alberta and the region farther north
is the nesting-ground of the migratory birds. Here vast
numbers of ducks, geese, swans and pelicans resort every
year. Cranes, partridges and varieties of singing birds
abound. The eagle, hawk, owl and crow are plentiful. Mosquitoes
and flies are everywhere, and the wasp and wild bee also. In
the rivers and lakes pike, pickerel, white fish and sturgeon
supply food for the natives, and the brook trout is found in
the small mountain streams. The turtle and frog also appear.
Flora.--In central and northern Alberta the opening spring
brings in the prairie anemone, the avens and other early
flowers. The advancing summer introduces many flowers of the
sunflower family, until in August the plains are one blaze of
yellow and purple. The southern part of Alberta is covered
by a short grass, very nutritive, but drying up in the middle
of summer until the whole prairie is brown and unattractive.
The trees in the wooded sections of the province are seen
in clumps and belts on the hill sides. These are largely
deciduous. On the north side of the Saskatchewan river
forests prevail for scores and even hundreds of miles. They
contain the poplar Or aspen (Populus tremuloides), balsam
poplar (Populus balsamifera), and paper or canoe birch
(Fetula papyrifera.) The Coniferae are found northward
and in the mountain valleys. Some of these are: Jack pine
(Pinus Banksiana), Rocky Mountain pine (Pinus flexilis),
black pine (Pinus Murrayana), white spruce (Picea alba),
black spruce (Picea nigra), Engelman's spruce (Picea
Engelmanni), mountain balsam (Abies subalpina), Douglas fir
(Pseudotsuga Douglasii), mountain larch (Larix Lyallis.)
Population.--By the census of 1906 the population
of Alberta was found to be 185,412. It has grown from
73,022 in 1901 (the area of Alberta being then slightly
different). The basis of the population is Canadian, and
the immigration has been chiefly from (1) the British Isles,
(2) United States, (3) continent of Europe (chiefly Austria,
Hungary and Russia). Of the population in 1901, 17,245
had immigrated thither from the three mentioned sources.
The following table shows the percentages of origins:--
1901.
Canadian and native born . . . 54 %
The British Isles . . . . . 6.8%
United States . . . . . . 16.6%
Continent of Europe . . . . 24.4%
Of the Indian and Indian half-breed population there were in
1901, 14,669 of the former and 11,635 of the latter. The Indians
of central Alberta are chiefly plain Crees, a tribe of Algonquin
stock. In southern Alberta are several thousands of Indians on
reserves south and west of Calgary, consisting of the Blackfoots
of Algonquin stock, Sarcees, Piegans and a few Assiniboins.
The chief cities and towns of Alberta are Edmonton (11,167), Calgary
(i1,967), Medicine IIat (3020), Lethbiidge (2948) and Strathcona (2927).
Industries.--- The chief industries of the people are
farming and ranching. Cattle, horses and sheep are largely
reared in the southern prairie region on ranches or smaller
holdings. In this region irrigation is widely used. Red
winter wheat is now produced to a considerable degree. In the
town of Raymond is a large beet sugar manufactory, and in the
vicinity great quantities of beets are grown by irrigation.
In central Alberta coarse grains---oats and barley----and some
wheat are grown, in conjunction with mixed farming. While
washing out the sands of the North Saskatchewan for gold is
still somewhat resorted to, the only real mining in Alberta
is that for coal. Vast beds of coal are found extending for
hundreds of miles, a short distance below the surface of the
plains. The coal belongs to the Cretaceous beds, and while
not so heavy as that of the Coal Measures is of excellent
quality. In the valley of the Bow river, alongside the Canadian
Pacific railway, valuable beds of anthracite coal ale worked, and
the coal is carried by railway as far east as Winnipeg.
The usual coal deposits of Alberta are of bituminous or
semi-bituminous coal. These are largely worked at Lethbridge
in southern Alberta and Edmonton in the centre of the
province. Many other parts of the province have pits for private
use. The Athabasca river region, as well as localities far
north on the Mackenzie river, has decided indications of
petroleum, though it is not yet developed. Natural gas has
been found at several points. The most notable gas discovery
is that at Medicine Hat, which has wells with unlimited
quantities. The gas is excellent, is used for lighting
the town, supplies light and fuel for the people, and a
number of industries are using the gas for manufacturing.
Communications.---For transportation the North Saskatchewan is
to some extent depended on for carrying freight by steamboats,
but railways are widespread in the province. The Canadian
Pacific railway has its main line running from east to west
chiefly between 50 and 51 deg. N. Over this line passesanenormous
trade from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean---the railway
with its ``Empress'' steamers on the Pacific and also on the
Atlantic Ocean claiming to have as its termini Liverpool and
Yokohama. A branch line of the Canadian Pacific railway runs
from Medicine Hat between 49 deg. and 50 deg. N., passing through
the Crow's Nest Pass of the Rocky Mountains and carrying on
trade with British Columbia. Another branch from Calgary runs
southward to Macleod, and to Lethbridge there comes from the
south a branch cf the Great Northern railway of the United
States, connecting with the state of Montana. From Calgary
to Edmontonnorthward runs a line under the control of the
Canadian Pacific railway. From this railway also run, eastward
from Lacombe and Wetaskiwin, branch lines to complete the
system. In 1906 tue new line of the Canadian Northern
railway was opened, connecting Winnipeg, 1000 m. to the
east, along the NUrth Saskatchewan river, with Edmonton.
The Grand Trunk Pacific railway, backed by the Canadian
government, forms a new transcontinental line; the prairie
section from Winnipeg to Edmonton was in 1908 under contract.
Administration, &c.---The local government of Alberta is
carried on by a provincial organization resembling that of
the other Canadian provinces. The capital of the province
is Edmonton, and here reside the lieutenant-governor and
cabinet. The legislature consists of one house---the Legislative
Assembly----of twenty-five members. Responsible government after
the British model is followed, and the revenue is chiefly derived
from grants from the Dominion government. Alberta has a system
of municipal government similar to that of the other provinces.
Education is given by a public-school system, which, while nominally
providing for separate schools for Catholics and Protestants,
makes it practically impossible at most points to carry on such
schools. A normal school is situated at Calgary. There is a
college for secondary education in Calgary and another in Edmonton.
The following are the leading denominations in Alberta:--
1901.
Roman Catholics . . . . 12,957
Presbyterians . . . . 10,655
Methodists . . . . . 9,623
Church of England . . . 8,888
Lutherans . . . . . 5,810
Greek Church . . . . 4,618
Mormons . . . . . . 3,212
Baptists . . . . . 2,722
The Mormons of Alberta are in the most southerly part of the
province, and are a colony from the Mormon settlements in Utah,
U.S. On coming to Canada they were given lands by the Dominion of
Canada. The organization adopted in Utah among the Mormons
is found also in Alberta, but the Canadian Mormons profess
to have received a later revelation condemning polygamy.
History.---The present province of Alberta as far north as the
height of land (53 deg. N.) was from the time of the incorporation
of the Hudson's Bay Company (1670) a part of Rupert's Land.
After the discovery of the north-west by the French in 1731
and succeeding years the prairies of the west were occupied by
them, and Fort La Jonquiere was established near the present
city of Calgary (1752). The North-West Company of Montreal
occupied the northern part of Alberta district before the
Hudson's Bay Company succeeded in coming from Hudson Bay to
take possession of it. The first hold of the Athabasca region
was gained by Peter Pond, who, on behalfofthe North-West
Company of Montreal, built Fort Athabasca on river La Biche in
1778. Roderick Mackenzie, cousin of Sir Alexander Mackenzie,
built Fort Chipewyan on Lake Athabasca in 1788. By way of
the North Saskatchewan river Alexander Mackenzie crossed the
height of land, and proceeding northward discovered the river
which bears his name, and also the Arctic Sea. Afterward
going westward from Lake Athabasca and through the Peace
river, he reached the Pacific Ocean, being the first white
man to cross the North American continent, north of Mexico.
As part of the North-West Territories the'district of
Alberta was organized in 1875. Additional privileges and
a locallegislature were added from time to time. At length
in 1905 the district of Alberta was enlarged and the present
province formed by the Dominion parliament. (G. BR.)
ALBERT EDWARD NYANZA, a lake of Central Africa, the
southern of the two western reservoirs of the Nile. It lies
in the Albertine rift-valley between 0 deg. 8' and 0 deg. 40' S.
and 29 deg. 28' and 29 deg. 52' E., at an elevation of 3004 ft.
above the sea. It is roughly oval in shape and has no deep
indentations. On its N.E. side it is connected by a winding
channel, 25 m. long and from a quarter of a mile to a mile
wide, flowing between high banks, with a smaller sheet of
water, Lake Dweru, which extends north of the equator.
Albert Edward Nyanza has a length of 44 m. and a breadth of
32 m. (maximum measurement) . Dweru is about 20 m. long and
10 across at its widest part. The area of the two lakes is
approximately 820 sq. m., or about the size of Leicestershire,
England. A swampy plain, traversed by the Ruchuru and other
rivers, extends south of the Nyanza and was once covered
by its waters. The plain contains several salt-pans, and
at the S.E. corner are numerous geysers. Along the eastern
shore the low land extends to Kamarangu, a point about
midway between the south and north ends of the lake, a
considerable stretch of ground intervening between the wall
of the rift-valley and the water, two terraces being clearly
defined. The euphorbia trees and other vegetation on the
lower terrace are of small size and apparently of recent
origin. At some distance from the lake runs a belt of
forest. North of Kamarangu the wall of the valley approaches
the water in a series of bluffs some 300 to 350 ft. high.
At the N.E. end the hills again recede and the plain widens
to ioclude Dweru. On the west side of the Nyanza the wall of
the rift-valley runs close to the lake shore and at the N.W.
corner the mountains close in on the water. North of the
lake a high alluvial plain stretches to the southern slopes
of the Ruwenzori mountains. From Ruwenzori a subsidiary
range, known as the Kipura mountains, runs due south to the
lake shore, where it ends in a low rounded hill. In general,
the plain rises above the lake in a series of bold bluffs,
a wide margin of swamp separating them from the water. The
Semliki, the only outlet of the lake, issues from its N.W.
end. Round the north-eastern shore of the lake are numerous
crater lakes, many salt, the most remarkable being that of
Katwe. This lake lies west of the Dweru channel and is separated
from Albert Edward Nyanza by a ridge of land, not more than 160
ft. in breadth. The sides of this ridge run down steeply to
the water on either side. The waters of the Katwe lake have
a beautiful rose colour which becomes crimson in the shadows.
The salt is highly prized and is exported to great distances.
The main feeder of Albert Edward Nyanza, and western head-stream
of the Nile, the Ruchuru, rises on the north side of the
volcanoes north of Lake Kivu (see MEUMBIRO.) On reaching the
level plain 15 m. from the lake its waters become brackish, and
the Vegetation on its banks is scanty. The reedy marshes near
its mouth form a retreat for a primitive race of fishermen.
Lake Dweru, the shores of which are generally high, is fed by
the streams from the eastern slopes of the Ruwenzori range.
One of these, the Mpango, is a larger river than the Ruchuru.
The outlet of the Nyanza, the Semliki, and the part plaved
by the lake in the Nile system are described under ALBERY NYANZA.
A feature of Lake Albert Edward Nyanza is the thick haze which
overhangs the water during the dry season, blotting out from
view the mountains. In the rains, vhen the sky is clear, the
magnificent panorama of hills encircling the lake on the west
and north-west is revealed. The lake water is clear of a light
green colour, and distinctly brackish. Fish abound, as do
waterfowl, crocodiles and, in the southern swamps, hippopotami.
In the rainy season the lake is subject to violent storms.
The entire area of Albert Edward Nyanza was found, by the
work of the Anglo-German Boundary Commission of 1902-1904,
to lie within the limits of the sphere of influence of the
Congo Free State as defined in the agreement of the 12th
of May 1894 between that state and Great Britain. Dweru
was discovered in 1875 by H. M. Stanley, then travelling
westward from Uganda, and by him was named Beatrice Gulf in
the belief that it was part of Albert Nyanza. In 1888-1889
Stanley, approaching the Nile region from the west, traced the
Semliki to its source in Albert Edward Nyanza, which lake he
discovered, naming it after Albert Edward, prince of Wales,
afterwards Edward VII. Stanley also discovered the connecting
channel between the larger lake and Dweru. The accurate
mapping of the lake was mainly the work of British officials
and travellers, such as Scott Elliott, Sir F. D. Lugard, Ewart
Grogan, J. E. Moore and Sir H. Johnston; while Emin Pasha
and Franz Stuhlmann, deputygovernor (1891) of German East
Africa, explored its southern shores. (See ALBERT NYANza and
NIRE, and the authorities there quoted.) (W. E. G.; F. R. C.)
ALBERTI, DOMENICO (c. 1710-1740), Italian musician, is
known in musical history as the writer of dozens of sonatas
in which the melody is supported from beginning to end by
an extremely familiar formula of arpeggio accompaniment,
consequently known as the Alberti bass. He thus shows
how advanced was the decay ofpolyphonic sensibility (as a
negative preparation for the advent of the sonata-style)
already during the lifetime of Bach. His works have no
other special qualities, though it is probable that Mozart's
first violin sonatas, written at the age of seven, were
modelled on Alberti in spite of their superior cleverness.
ALRERTI, LEONE BATTISTA (1404-1472), Italian painter,
poet, philosopher, musician and architect, was born in
Venice on the 18th of February 1404. He was so skilled in
Latin verse that a comedy he wrote in his twentieth year,
entitled Philodoxius, deceived the younger Aldus, who
edited and published it as the genuine work of Lepidus.
In music he was reputed one of the first organists of the
age. He held the appointment of canon in the metropolitan
church of Florence, and thus had leisure to devote himself to
his favourite art. UIe is generally regarded as one of the
restorers of the ancient style of architecture. At Rome he
was employed by Pope Nicholas V. in the restoration of the
papal palace and of the foundation of Acqua Vergine, and in
the ornamentation of the magnificent fountain of Trevi. At
Mantua he designed the church of Sant' Andrea and at Rimini
the celebrated church of San Francesco, which is generally
esteemed his finest work. On a commission from Rucellai he
designed the principal facade of the church of Santa Maria
Novella in Florence, as well as the family palace in the Via
della Scala, now known as the Palazzo Strozzi. Alberti wrote
works on sculpture, Della Statua, and on painting, De .
Pictura, which are highly esteemed; but his most celebrated
treatise is that on architecture, De Re Aedificaloria,
which has been translated into Italian, French, Spanish and
English. Alberti died at Rome in the April of 1472.
See Passerini, Gli Alberti di Firenze (1869, 1870); Mancini, Vrita
de Alberti (Firenze, 1882); V. Hoffmann, Studien zu Leon Battista
Alberti's zehn Buchern: De Re Aedicatoria (Frankenberg, 1883).
ALBERTINEILI, MARIOTTO (1474-1515), Italian painter,
was born in Florence, and was a fellow-pupil and partner
of Fra Bartolommeo, with whom he painted many works. His
chief paintings are in Florence, notably his masterpiece,
the ``Visitation of the Virgin'' (1503) at the Uffizi.
ALRERTITE, a variety of asphalt found in Albert county, New
Brunswick. It is of jet-black colour and brilliant pitch-like
lustre. Its percentage chemical composition is:--
C. H. O. N. S. Ash.
86.04 8.96 1.97 2.93 trace 0.10
It softens slightly in boiling water, but only fuses
imperfectly when further heated, and it is less
soluble than ordinary asphalt in oil of turpentine.
ALBERT LEA, a citynnd the county-seatof Freeborn county,
Minnesota, U.S.A., about 97 m. S. of St Paul. Pop. (1890) 3305;
(1900) 4500; ( 1905, state census) 5657, 1206 being foreign-born
(461 Norwegians, 411 Danes, 98 Swedes); (1910, L. S. census)
6192. It is served by two branches of the Lhicago, Milwaukee
& St Paul, by the main line and one branch of the Chicago,
Rock Island & Pacific, by the Illinois Central, by the Iowa
Central, and by the Minneapolis & St Louis railways. It is
attractively situated between Fountain Lake and Albert Lea
Lake, and is a summer resort. It has a public library and
the Freeborn County Court House, and is the seat of Albert
Lea College (Presbyterian, for women), founded in 1884, and of
Luther Academy ( Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran), founded in
1888. Albert Lea is a railway and manufacturing centre of
considerable importance, has grain elevators and foundries
and machine shops, and manufactures bricks, tiles, carriages,
wagons, flour, corsets, refrigerators and woollen goods. The
city is also the centre of large dairy interests, and there
are many creameries in the county. Sumerous artesian wells
furnish the city with an ample supply of water of unusual
excellence. Albert Lea was settled in 1855 and received a
city charter in 1878. The city and the lake were named in
honour of Lieutenant Albert Miller Lea (1808--1801), a West
Point graduate (1831) who, on behalf of the United States
government, first surveyed the region and described it in
a report published in 1836. He was a lieutenant-colonel
of engineers in the Confederate army during the Civil War.
ALBERT NYANZA, a lake of Central Africa, the northern of
the two western reservoirs of the Nile, lying in the western
(A!bertine) rift-valley, near its north end. The southern
reservoir is Albert Edward Nyanza (q.v..) Lake Albert lies
between 1 deg. 9' and 2 deg. 17' N. and 30 deg. 30' and 31 deg. 35' E.,
at an elevation of about 2000 ft. above the sea. Its greatest
length is about 100 m., its greatest width 22 m., its area
being approximately 1640 sq. m., about the size of Lancashire,
England. South of the lake is a wide plain, traversed by the
Seniliki river, which enters the Nyanza through a swamp of tall
weeds, chiefly ambach and papyrus. Both east and west the
walls of the rift-valley are close to the lake,the waterin
many places washing the base of the cliffs. Elsewhere the
narrowforeshore is thicklywooded. The ascent to the plateaus
is generally by three tiers of hills rising one behind the
other. On the west side the mountains present many pointed
and conical summits; on the east the cliffs rise abruptly
1000 to 2000 ft. On either coast wild gorges and ravines,
densely wooded, break the outline of the mountains. Through
these gorges dash magnificent cascades, others leaping the
escarpments of the plateaus in waterfalls of great volume and
depth. Towards the north the hills recede from the coast and
on both sides flats extend for distances varying from 5 to 15
m. On the eastern side, 92 m. from the southern end of the
Nyanza, the Victoria Nile enters the lake, here not more
than 6 m. across, through a wilderness of woods, the delta
of the Nile extending over 4 m. The mouth of the main stream
is obstructed by a bar of its own formation; the current is
sluggish; there are many side channels, and the appearance
of the lake gives no hint that a great river has joined its
waters. For 5 or 6 m. north of the junction of the Victoria
Nile the lake suffers no material diminution in width. Then,
however, the eastern and western shores approach each other,
and a current is perceptible flowing north. The lake has
become the Bahr-el-Jebel, or Mountain river, as this section
of the Nile is called. Throughout its extent Albert Nyanza
is shallow; at its southern end the water for a considerable
distance is not more than 3 ft. deep. The deepest soundings
give only 50 to 55 ft., the average depth being 30 to 40 ft.
The Alberline Basin of the Nile.---Albert Nyanza receives the
whole of the drainage of Albert Edward Nyanza and the Semliki
river, and with them and its own basin forms the ``Albertine'' Nile
system. Its waters, as stated above, mingle with those of the
Victoria Nile, their united volume flowing north towards the
Mediterranean. A study of the changes going on in the riftvalley
in which the lakes lie leads, however, to the belief that
the Albert Edward and Albert Nyanzas are drying up, a process
which the nature of the drainage areas is helping to bring
about. That the Albert Edward Nyanza once covered a much
larger area than it does at present is certain. At that
time, recent from a geological standpoint, the valley to the
north, through which now flows the Semliki river, was blocked.
The removal of the block led to the shrinkage of the lake and
the formation.of the Semhki, which found its way to the more
northern lake-Albert Nyanza. Gradually the Semliki eroded
its bed, and consequently the level of Albert Edward Nyanza
continued to fall. The process continues but is checked by
the existence of the rock barrier which stretches across the
Semliki. This stream leaves Albert Edward Nyanza at its
N.W. end in 0 deg. 8' 30q S., and after a course of about 160
m. enters Albert Nyanza in 1 deg. 9' N. In its upper and in its
lower course the river flows either through high alluvial
plains, in which it has scored a deep channel, or across swamp
land. In the middle section, which has a length of some 75
m., the river runs in a deep narrow valley -covered with
the densest forest. On the west this valley is bounded by
the Congo mountains, which form the wall of the rift-valley,
on the east by the mighty range of Ruwenzori, whose heights
tower over 16,000 ft. above sea-level. In this length
of 75 m. the river falls in cataracts and rapids over 800
ft. This rocky barrier acts as a regulator for the water
received from Albert Edward Nyanza snd, by checking the
erosion of the river bed, tends to maintain the level of the
lake. When this bar wears away Albert Edward Nyanza will, in
all probability, disappear as a lake and will become a river, a
continuation of its present most southern affiuentj the Ruchuru.
Albert Nyanza, on the other hand, is threatened in the
distant future with destruction from another cause--the
filling of its bed by the alluvium poured into it by the
Semliki, the Victoria Nile and, in a lesser degree, by other
streams. The Semliki receives directly or indirectly the
whole of the drainage of Ruwenzori, and also that of the
eastern face of the Congo mountains as well as the drainage
basin of Albert Edward Nyanza. The amount of alluvial matter
carried is enormous; from Ruwenzori alone the detritus is very
great. Charged with all this matter, the Semhki, as it
emerges from the region of forest and cataracts (in which,
often closely confined by its mountain barriers, the stream
is deep and rapid), becomes sluggish, its slope flattens
out, and its waters, unable to carry their burden, deposit
much of it upon the land. This process, continually going
on, has formed a large plain at the south end of Albert
Nyanza, which has seriously encroached upon the lake. At
the northern end of the lake the sediment brought down by the
Victoria Nile is producing a similar effect. Albert Nyanza
has indeed shrunk in its dimensions during the comparatively
few years it has been known to Europeans. Thus at the S.W.
end, Nyamsasi, which was an island in 1889, has become a
peninsula. Islands which in 1876 were on the east coast
no longer exist; they now form part of the foreshore. On
the other hand, the shrinkage of the lake level caused the
appearance in 1885 of an island where in 1879 there had been
an expanse of shallow water. It seems probable that, in a
period geologically not very remote, the ``Albertine'' system
will consist of one great river, extending from the northern
slopes of the Rivu range, where the Ruchuru has its rise, to
the existing junction of the Victoria Nile with Albert Nyanza.
The combined drainage area, including the water surface of
Albert Edward Nyanza, the Semhki and Albert Nyanza, is some
16,600 sq. m. Throughout this area the rainfall is heavy (40
to 60 in. or more per annum), the volume of water entering
Albert Nyanza by the Semliki when in flood being not less
than 700 cubic metres per second. Of the water received
by Albert Nyanza annually (omitting the Victoria Nile from
the calculation) between 50 and 60% is lost by evaporation,
whilst 24,265,000,000 cubic metres are annually withdrawn
by the Bahr-el-Jebel. The ``Albertine'' system plays a
comparatively insignificant part in the annual llood rise
of the White Nile, but to its waters are due the maintenance
of a constant supply to this river throughout the year.
Discovery and Exploration.---Albert Nyanza was first reached
by Sir Samuel Baker on the 14th of March 1864 near Vacovia,
a small village of fishermen and salt-makers on the east
coast. From a granitic cliff 1500 ft. above the water he
looked out over a boundless horizon on the south and south-west,
and towards the west descried at a distance of 50 or 60 m.
mountains about 7000 ft. high. Albert Nyanza was consequently
entered on his map as a vast lake extending about 380 m. But
the circumnavigation of the lake by Gessi Pasha (1876), and
by Emin Pasha in 1884, showed that Baker had been deceived as
to the size of the lake. By the end of the 19th century the
topography of the lake region was known with fair accuracy.
The lake forms part of the (British) Uganda Protectorate,
but the north-west shores were leased in 1894 to the (iongo
Free State during the sovereignty of king Leopold II. of
Belgium. Of this leased area a strip 15 m. wide, giving
the Congo State a passage way to the lake, was to remain in
its possession after the determination of the lease. - See
Nile; Sir W. Garstin's Report upon the Basin of the Upper
Loile (Egypt, No. 2, 1904); Capt. H. G. Lyons' The
Physiography oj. the River Nelc and its Basin (Cairo, 1906),
and the authorities quoted in those works. (W. E. G.; F. R. C.)
ALBERTUS MAGNUS (ALBERT OF COLOGNE.? 1206-1280), count of
Bollstadt, scholastic philosopher, was born of the noble
family of Bollstadt at Lauingen in Suabia. The date of his
birth, generally given as 1193, is more probably 1206. He was
educated principally at Padua, where he received instruction
in Aristotle's writings. In 1223 (or 1221) he became a member
of the Dominican order, and studied theology under its rules
at Bologna and elsewhere. Selected to fill the position of
lecturer at Cologne, where the order had a house, he taught for
several years there, at Regensburg, Freiburg, Strassburg and
Hildesheim. In 1245 he went to Paris, received his doctorate
and taught for some time, in accordance with the regulations,
with great success. In 1254 he was made provincial of his
order, and fulfilled the arduous duties of the office with
great care and efficiency. During the time he held this office
he publicly defended the Dominicans against the university of
Paris, commented on St John, and answered the errors of the
Arabian philosopher, Averroes. In 1260 the pope made him
bishop of Regensburg, which office he resigned after three
years. The remainder of his life he spent partly in preaching
throughout Bavaria and the adjoining districts, partly in
retirement in the various houses of his order; in 1270 he
preached the eighth Crusade in Austria; almost the last of
his labours was the defence of the orthodoxy of his former
pupil, Thomas Aquinas. He died in 1280, aged seventy-four.
He was beatified in 1622, and he is commemorated on the 16th of
November. Albert's works (published in twenty-one folios by
the Dominican Pierre Jammy in 1651, and reproduced by the Abbe
Borgnet, Paris, 1890, 36 vols.) sufficiently attest his great
activity. He was the most widely read and most learned man
of his time. The whole of Aristotle's works, presented in the
Latin translations and notes of the Arabian commentators, were
by him digested, interpreted and systematized in accordance
with church doctrine. Albert's activity, however, was rather
philosophical than theological (see SCHOLASTICISM.) The
philosophical works, occupying the first six and the last
of the twenty-one volumes, are generally divided according
to the Aristotelian scheme of the sciences, and consist of
interpretations and condensations of Aristotle's relative
works, with supplementary discussions depending on the
questions then agitated, and occasionally divergences from the
opinions of the master. His principal theological works are a
commentary in three volumes on the Books of the Sentences
of Peter Lombard (Magister Sententiarum), and the Summa
Theologiae in two volumes. This last is in substance a
repetition of the first in a more didactic form. Albert's
knowledge of physical science was considerable and for
the age accurate. His industry in every department was
great, and though we find in his system many of those gaps
which are characteristic of scholastic philosophy, yet the
protracted study of Aristotle gave him a great power of
systematic thought and exposition, and the results of that
study, as left to us, by no means warrant the contemptuous
title sometimes given him--the ``Ape of Aristotle.'' They
rather lead us to appreciate the motives which caused his
contemporaries to bestow on him the honourable surnames
``The Great'' and ``Doctor Universahs.'' It must, however,
be admitted that much of his knowledge was ill digested;
it even appears that he regarded Plato and Speusippus as
Stoics. Albertus is frequently mentioned by Dante, who made
his doctrine of free-will the basis of his ethical system.
Dante places him with his pupil Aquinas among the great lovers
of wisdom (Spiriti Sapienti) in the Heaven of the Sun.
See Paget Toynbee, ``Some Obligations of Dante to Albertus
Magnus'' in Romania, xxiv. 400-412, and the Dante
Dictionary by the same author. For Albert's life see J.
Sighart, Albertus Magnus, sein Leben und seine Wissenschaft
(Regensburg, 1857; Eng. trans., Dixon, London, 1876); H. Finke,
Ungedruckte Dominikanerbriefe des 13. Jahrh. (Paderborn,
1891). For his philosophy A. Stockl, Geschichte d.
scholastischen Philosophie; J. E. Erdmann, Grundriss d. Ges.
d. Phil. vol. i. 8. The histories of Haureau, Ritter,
Prantl and Windelband may also be consulted. See also W.
Feiler, Die Moral d. A. M. (Leipzig, 1891); M. Weiss,
Ueber mariologische Schriften des A. M. (Paris, 1898); Jos.
Bach, Des A. M. Verhaltniss zu d. Erkenntnisslehre d.
Griechen, Romer, Araber u. Juden (Vienna, 1881); Herzog-Hauck,
Realencyk. (1897); Vacant, Dict. Theol. Cathol. (s.v.);
Ch. Jourdain in Dict. d. sciences philos. (s.v.); M. Joel,
Das Verhaltniss A. d. G. zu Moses Maimonides (Breslau, 1863).
ALBERUS, ERASMUS (c. 1500-1553), German humanist, reformer
and poet, was a native of the village of Sprendlingen near
Frankfort-on-Main, where he was born about the year 1500.
Although his father was a schoolmaster, his early education
was neglected. Ultimately in 1518 he found his way to the
university of Wittenberg, where he studied theology. He had
here the good fortune to attract the attention of Luther and
Melanchthon, and subsequently became one of Luther's most
active helpers in the Reformation. Not merely did he fight
for the Protestant cause as a preacher and theologian, but
he was almost the only member of Luther's party who was able
to confront the Roman Catholics with the weapon of literary
satire. In 1542 he published a prose satire to which Luther
wrote the preface, Der Barfusser Monche Eulenspiegel und
Alkoran, an adaptation of the Liber confermitatum of the
Franciscan Bartolommeo Albizzi of Pisa (Pisanus, d. 1401
), in which the Franciscan order is held up to ridicule. Of
higher literary value is the didactic and satirical Buch von
der Tugend und Weisheit (1550), a collection of forty-nine
fables in which Alberus embodies his views on the relations of
Church and State. His satire is incisive, but in a scholarly
and humanistic way; it does not appeal to popular passions
with the fierce directness which enabled the master of Catholic
satire, Thomas Murner, to inflict such telling blows. Several
of Alberus's hymns, all of which show the influence of his
master Luther, have been retained in the German Protestant
hymnal. After Luther's death, Alberus was for a time Diakonus
in Wittenberg; he became involved, however, in the political
conflicts of the time, and was in Magdeburg in 1550-1551,
while that town was besieged by Maurice of Saxony. In 1552
he was appointed Generalsuperintendent at Neubrandenburg
in Mecklenburg, where he died on the 5th of May 1553.
Das Buch von der Tugend und Weisheit has been edited by W.
Braune (1892); the sixteen Geistliche Lieder by C. W. Stromberger
(1857). Alberus' prose writings have not been reprinted in recent
times. See F. Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Erasmus Alberus (1894).
ALBERY, JAMES (1838--1889), English dramatist, was born in
London on the 4th of May 1838. On leaving school he entered
an architect's office, and started to write plays. After many
failures he at last succeeded in getting an adaptation--Dr
Davy --Produced at the Lyceum (1866). His most successful
piece, Two Roses, a comedy, was produced at the Vaudeville in
1870, in which Sir Henry Irving made one of his earliest London
successes as Digby Grant. He was the author of a large number
of other plays and adaptations, including Jingle (a version
of Pickwick), produced at the Lyceum in 1878, and Pink
Dominoes, the latter being one of a series of adaptations
from the French which he made for the Criterion theatre. At
that house his wife, the well-known actress, Miss Mary Moore,
played the leading parts. He died on the 15th of August 1889.
ALBI, a city of south-western France, capital of the
department of Tarn, 48 m. N. E. of Toulouse, on a branch
line of the Southern railway. Pop. (1906) 14,956. Albi
occupies a commanding position on the left bank of the
Tarn; it is united to its suburb of La Madeleine on the
right bank by a medieval and a modern bridge. The old town
forms a nucleus of narrow, winding streets surrounded by
boulevards, beyond which lie modern quarters with regular
thoroughfares and public gardens. The cathedral of Sainte
Cecile, a fine fortress-church in the Gothic style, begun
in 1277, finished in 1512, rises high above the rest of the
town. The exterior, flanked at the western end by a lofty
tower and pierced by high, narrow windows, is devoid of
ornament. Its general plainness contrasts with the elaborate
carving of the stone canopy which shelters the southern
portal. In the interior, which is without transepts or aisles,
the roodscreen and the choir-enclosure, which date from about
1500, are masterpieces of delicate sculpture; the vaulting
and the walls are covered with paintings of the 15th and 16th
centuries. The archbishop's palace to the north-east of the
cathedral is a fortified building of the 14th century. St
Salvi, the chief of the other churches of Albi, belongs
to the 13th and 15th centuries. A statue of the sailor La
Perouse (1741-1788) stands in the square named after him.
Albi is the seat of an archbishop, a prefect and a court of
assizes. It has tribunals of first instance and of commerce,
a board of trade-arbitrators, a chamber of commerce, a lycee
and training colleges. The industrial establishments of the
town include dye-works, distilleries, tanneries, glass-works
and important flour-mills. It is also a centre for hat-making,
and produces cloth-fabrics, lace, umbrellas, casks, chairs,
wooden shoes, candles and pastries. Trade is in wine and anise.
Albi (Albiga) was, in the Gallo-Roman period, capital of
the Albigenses, and later of the viscounty of Albigeois,
which was a fief of the counts of Toulouse. From the 12th
century onwards, its bishops, the first of whom appears
to have lived about the 3rd century, began to encroach
on the authority of the viscounts; the latter, after the
Albigensian war, lost their estates, which passed to Simon
de Montfort and then to the crown of France. By a convention
concluded in 1264 the chief temporal power in the city was
granted to the bishops. The archbishopric dates from 1678.
ALBIAN (Fr. Albion, from Alba = Aube in France), in
geology the term proposed in 1842 by A. d'Orbigny for that
stage of the Cretaceous System which comes above the Aptian
and below the Cenomanian (Pal. France. Cret. ii.). The
precise limits of this stage are placed somewhat differently
by English and continental geologists. In England it is
usual to regard the Albian stage as equivalent to the Upper
Greensand plus Gault, that is, to the ``Selbornian'' of
Jukes-Browne. But A. de Lapparent would place most of the
UPper Greensand in the Cenomanian. The English practice
is to commence the upper Cretaceous with the Albian; on
the other hand, this stage closes the lower Cretaceous
according to continental usage. It is necessary therefore,
when using the term Albian, to bear these differences in
mind, and to ascertain the exact position of the strata by
reference to the zonal fossils. These are, in descending
order, Pecten asper and Cardiaster fossarius, Schloen
bachia rostrata, Hoplites lautus and H. interruptus,
Douvilleiceras mammillalum. In addition to the formations
mentioned above, the following representatives of the Albian
stage are worthy of notice: the gaize and phosphatic beds of
Argonne and Bray in France; the Flammenmergel of North Germany;
the lignites of Iltrillas in Spain; the Upper Sandstones
of Nubia, and the Fredericksburg beds of North America.
See GAULT, GREENSAND, and CRETACEOUS. (J. A. H.)
ALBIGENSES, the usual designation of the heretics---and
more especially the Catharist heretics--of the south of
France in the 12th and 13th centuries. This name appears to
have been given to them at the end of the 12th century, and
was used in 1181 by the chronicler Geoffroy de Vigeois. The
designation is hardly exact, for the heretical centre was
at Toulouse and in the neighbouring districts rather than at
Albi (the ancient Albiga.) The heresy, which had penetrated
into these regions probably by trade routes, came originally
from eastern Europe. The name of Bulgarians (Bougres)
was often applied to the Albigenses, and they always kept
up intercourse with the Bogomil sectaries of Thrace. Their
dualist doctrines, as described by controversialists, present
numerous resemblances to those of the Bogomils, and still
more to those of the Paulicians, with whom they are sometimes
connected. It is exceedingly difficult, however, to form
any very precise idea of the Albigensian doctrines, as our
knowledge of them is derived from their opponents, and the
very rare texts emanating from the Albigenses which have
come down to us (e.g. the Rituel cathare de Lyon and the
Nouveau Testament en provencal) contain very inadequate
information concerning their metaphysical principles and moral
practice. What is certain is that, above all, they formed
an anti-sacerdotal party in permanent opposition to the Roman
church, and raised a continued protest against the corruption
of the clergy of their time. The Albigensian theologians and
ascetics, the Cathari or perfecti, known in the south of
France as bons hommes or bons chretiens, were few in
number; the mass of believers (credentes) were perhaps not
initiated into the Catharist doctrine; at all events, they were
free from all moral prohibition and all religious obligation,
on condition that they promised by an act called convenenza
to become ``hereticized'' by receiving the consolamentum, the
baptism of the Spirit, before their death or even in extremis.
The first Catharist heretics appeared in Limousin between
1012 and 1020. Several were discovered and put to death
at Toulouse in 1022; and the synod of Charroux (dep. of
Vienne) in 1028, and that of Toulouse in 1056, condemned
the growing sect. The preachers Raoul Ardent in 1101 and
Robert of Arbrissel in 1114 were summoned to the districts
of the Agenais and the Toulousain to combat the heretical
propaganda. But, protected by William IX., duke of Aquitaine,
and soon by a great part of the southern nobility, the
heretics gained ground in the south, and in 1119 the council
of Toulouse in vain ordered the secular powers to assist the
ecclesiastical authority in quelling the heresy. The people
were attached to the bons hommes, whose asceticism imposed
upon the masses, and the anti-sacerdotal preaching of Peter
of Bruys and Henry of Lausanne in Perigord. Languedoc and
Provence, only facilitated the progress of Catharism in those
regions. In 1147 Pope Eugenius III. sent the legate Alberic
of Ostia and St Bernard to the affected district. The few
isolated successes of the abbot of Clairvaux could not obscure
the real results of this mission, and the meeting at Lombers
in 1165 of a synod, where Catholic priests had to submit to
a discussion with Catharist doctors, well shows the power of
the sect in the south of France at that period. Moreover.
two years afterwards a Catharist synod, in which heretics
from Languedoc, Bulgaria and Italy took part, was held at St
Felix de Caraman, near Toulouse, and their deliberations were
undisturbed. The missions of Cardinal Peter (of St Chrysogonus).
formerly bishop of Meaux, to Toulouse and the Toulousain in
1178, and of Henry, cardinal-bishop of Albano (formerly
abbot ol Clairvaux), in 1180-1181, obtained merely momentary
successes. Henry of Albano attempted an armed expedition
against the stronghold of heretics at Lavaur and against
Raymond Roger. viscount of Beziers, their acknowledged
protector. The taking of Lavaur and the submission of Raymond
Roger in no way arrested the progress of the heresy. The
persistent decisions of the councils against the heretics
at this period--in particular, those of the council of Tours
(1163) and of the oecumenical Lateran council (1179)---had
scarcely more effect. But on ascending the papal throne,
Innocent III. resolved to suppress the Albigenses. At first
he tried pacific conversion, and in 1198 and 1199 sent into
the affected regions two Cistercian monks, Regnier and Guy, and
in 1203 two monks of Fontfroide, Peter of Castelnau and Raoul
(Ralph), with whom in 1204 he even associated the Cistercian
abbot, Arnaud (Arnold). They had to contend not only with
the heretics, the nobles who protected them, and the people
who listened to them and venerated them, but also with the
bishops of the district, who rejected the extraordinary
authority which the pope had conferred upon his legates, the
monks. In 1204 Innocent III. suspended the authority of the
bishops of the south of France. Peter of Castelnau retaliated
by excommunicating Raymond VI., count of Toulouse, as an
abettor of heresy (i207), and kindled in the nobles of the
south that animosity of which he was the first victim (1209).
As soon as he heard of the murder of Peter of Castelnau, the
pope ordered the Cistercians to preach the crusade against the
Albigenses. This implacable war, which threw the whole of
the nobility of the north of France against that of the south,
and destroyed the brilliant Provencal civilization, ended,
politically, in the treaty of Paris (1229), by which the king
of France dispossessed the house of Toulouse of the greater
part of its fiefs, and that of Beziers of the whole of its
fiefs. The independence of the princes of the south was at an
end, but, so far as the heresy was concerned, Albigensianism
was not extinguished, in spite of the wholesale massacres of
heretics during the war. Raymond VII. of Toulouse and the
count of Foix gave asylum to the ``faidits'' (proscrtbed),
and the people were averse from handing over the bonis
hommes. The Inquisition, however, operating unremittingly
in the south at Toulouse, Albi, Carcassonne and other towns
during the whole of the 13th century and a great part of the
14th, succeeded in crushing the heresy. There were indeed
some outbursts of rebellion, some fomented by the nobles of
Languedoc (12401242), and others emanating from the people of
the towns, who were embittered by confiscations and religious
persecutions (e.g. at Narbonne in 1234 and Toulouse in
1235), but the repressive measures were terrible. In 1245 the
royal officers assisting the Inquisition seized the heretical
citadel of Montsegur, and 200 Cathari were burned in one
day. Moreover, the church decreed severe chastisement
against all laymen suspected of sympathy with the heretics
(council of Narbonne, 1235; Bull Ad extirpanda, 1252).
Hunted down by the Inquisition and quickly abandoned by the
nobles of the district, the Albigenses became more and more
scattered, hiding in the forests and mountains, and only
meeting surreptitiously. There were some recrudescences of
heresy, such as that produced by the preaching (1298-1509)
of the Catharist minister, Pierre Authier; the people, too,
made some attempts to throw off the yoke of the Inquisition
and the French,i and insurrections broke out under the
leadership of Bernard of Foix, Aimerv of Narbonne, and,
especially, Bernard Delicieux at the beginning of the 14th
century. But at this point vast inquests were set on foot
by the Inquisition, which terrorized the district. Precise
indications of these are found in the registers of the Inquisitors,
Bernard of Caux, Jean de St Pierre, Geoffroy d'Ablis, and
others. The sect, moreover, was exhausted and could find
no more adepts in a district which, by fair means or foul,
had arrived at a state of peace and political and religious
unity. After 1330 the records of the Inquisition contain but
few proceedings against Catharists. (See also under CATHARS.)