ALEXANDER
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ALEXANDER
and was appointed by Alexander governor of Bene- vent. The opponents of Alexander elected, however, another antipope (Sept. 29, 1178), who assumed the name of Innocent III, but was soon after captured by order of Alexander, and imprisoned in a monastery, where he died. In 1179 Alexander held at Rome the third general council of Lateran (q. v.), which issued a number of decrees on church discipline and excom- municated the Albigenses. In 1180 Alexander pre- vailed upon the kings of France and England to un- dertake a new crusade for the purpose of aiding the king of Jerusalem against Saladin. Alexander even endeavored to convert the sultan of Iconium by ad- dressing to him a kind of catechism under the name of Instructio Fidei. Alexander reserved the canoniza- tion of saints, which had formerly been practised also by the metropolitans, to the popes, and introduced the LitercB Mcmitoriales. Several Epistles of Alexander are found in the Concilia of Labile, and his bulls have been printed in the Bullarium of Cherubini, and in the Italia Sacra of Ughelli. Alexander died at Rome in 1181. — The best work on the history of Alexander is by Renter, Geschichle Alexander III und der Kirche seiner Zeit (3 vols. Berl. 1845-'64). See also Turner, Hist. Engl. vol. iv; Neander, Ch. Hist, iv, 168.
IV, Pope (originally Reinwald, count of Segni), a man of worldly spirit, ascended the throne in 1254, at a period of great disturbance. Alexander, like his predecessor, endeavored to confiscate the entire king- dom of Sicily on the ground that the Emperor Fred- erick II, who was also king of Italy, had died excom- municated. When Manfred, an illegitimate son of Frederick, maintained himself against the papal troops as ruler of Sicily, Alexander excommunicated him, proclaimed against him a crusade, and put the entire kingdom under the ban. At the same time he asked considerable sums from Henry III, king of England, in order to defray the expenses of the crusade, and, as an indemnification, offered the kingdom of Sicily to Edmund, the second son of Henrj\ A legate gave to this young prince in advance the investitirre. Man- fred, however, maintained himself, and, aided by the Saracens, conquered the pope, and compelled him to take refuge at Viterbo, where he died, May 25, 1261, leaving the papal authority greatly enfeebled. At the beginning of his pontificate, Alexander, at the re- quest of Louis XI, sent inquisitors to France. He was very partial to the Dominicans, and condemned a work by William of St. Amour against the mendi- cant orders (" On the Dangers of the last Times") and a work entitled "The Everlasting Gospel," and as- cribed to John of Parma, the general of the Francis- cans. Like his predecessors, he endeavored to bring about a union between the Greek and the Roman Churches. Several letters and bulls of this pope have been printed in Labbe's Concilia, Ughelli' s Italia Sacra, d' Acherv's Spicilegium, and other collections. — Hoefer, JBiog. Gine.rale, i, 878 ; Neander, Ch. Hist, iv, 188, 283, 421.
V, Pope (originally Peter Philargus), a Franciscan monk from Candia, was raised to the papal throne in 1409 by the Council of Pisa, which deposed the popes Gregory XII and Benedict XIII. His prodigality of gifts and offices during his pontificate was so unbound- ed that he used to say, "When I became a bishop I was rich; when a cardinal, poor; and when a pope, a beggar." He died 1410, it was supposed from poison administered by his successor, John XXII. He was regarded as one of the most learned men of his age. He translated several works from Greek into Latin, which, however, have never been printed. Mazzu- chelli (in his work Scrittnri d' Italia) gives a list of the writings of this pope, but he only published his letters, his bulls, and a little treatise on the conception of the Virgin Mary. — Hoefer, Biotj. Generate, i, 879.
VI, Pope (originally Roderic Lenzuoli, but after- ward Borgia, from his mother's familv), was born at
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Valentia, Spain, in 1431. His mother, Jane Borgia, was the sister of Pope Calixtus III. Roderic first studied law, but entered on a military career at the age of 18. His youth was a very dissolute one ; and he early formed a criminal connection with a Roman lady living in Spain with her two daughters. He soon seduced the daughters also; and one of them, Rosa Vanozza, became his life-long mistress. By her he had five children, two of whom, Cffisar Borgia and Lucretia, surpassed their father, if possible, in abom- inable crimes. In 1455, while Roderic was living in adultery in Spain, his uncle became pope. This open- ed to him a new career of ambition. He went to Rome on a promise from the pope of an office worth 12,000 crowns a year ; and at the same time his mistress and her children went to Venice, under the charge of an intendant, Manuel, who afterward passed as her hus- band, to shield the amours of Roderic. The pope was charmed with the pleasing manners and apparent piety of his nephew, and made him cardinal and vice-chan- cellor in 1456. Roderic affected great piety, visited the prisons and the poor, was diligent in keeping church services, and soon beguiled the Romans into confidence in his purity. During the pontificates of Pius II, Paul II, and Sixtus IV, successors of Calixtus, he remained quiet. In the pontificate of Innocent VIII, which began in 1484, he brought his mistress to Rome, and put her in a house near St. Peter's, when he passed his nights with her, the days being devoted ostentatiously to his public duties and acts of piety! In the mean time he was busy buying up votes for the papal chair, and when Innocent died (1492), he had purchased a sufficient number of cardinals to se- cure his election. This statement rests on the author-