ALBRECHT, OTTO WILHELM FERDINAND:
German Lutheran; b. at Angermunde (42 m. n.e. of Berlin) Dec. 2, 1855. He was educated at the gymnasium in Potsdam, at the University of Halle (1873-77), and at the Wittenberg seminary for preachers. He was assistant pastor at Wittenberg in 1880-81, and pastor at Stodten in 1881-84, at Dachwig in 1884-92, and at Naumburg (Saale)
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RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Albertus Alcuin
from 1892 to the present time. He was elected a corresponding member of the Konigliche Akademie gemeinniitziger Wissenschaften in 1895. His theological position is that of a modern Lutheran. His writings include Geschichte der Magdeburger Bibelgesellschaft (1892); Die evangelische Gemeinde Miltenberg und ihr erster Prediger (Halle, 1896); Predigten (Gotha, 1899); Geschichte der Marien-Magdalenenkirche zu Naumburg a. S. (1902); and Das Enchiridion Luthers vom Jahre 1536 herausgegeben und untersucht (1905). He has also been a collaborator on the Weimar edition of the works of Luther, to which he has contributed the fifteenth and twenty-eighth volumes, containing the reformer's writings of 1524 and his sermons on John in 1528-29 (Weimar, 1898-1903). He is likewise a collaborator on the Brunswick edition of Luther, and is the author of numerous briefer monographs and contributions.
ALBRIGHT, el'brait, JACOB: Founder of "the Evangelical Association of North America; " b. near Pottstown, Penn., May 1, 1759; d. at Miihlbach, Lebanon County, Penn., May 18, 1808. His parents were Pennsylvania Germans of the Lutheran Church, in which denomination he was himself trained. His education was defective, and his early surroundings were unintellectual. After marriage he moved to Lancaster County and carried on a successful tile and brick business. Grief over the death of several children in one year (1790) and the counsels of Anton Hautz, a German Reformed minister, led to his conversion, and he became a Methodist lay preacher. At length his concern for his German Lutheran brethren led him to give up business and devote himself entirely to missionary efforts. As the Methodist Church did not desire to enter upon the German field he founded a new denomination. Its members are often called the " Albright Brethren." See Evangelical Association.
ALCANTARA, ol-can'ta-ra, ORDER OF : A spiritual order of knights, with Cistercian rule, founded for the defense of the frontier of Castile against the Moors under Alfonso VIII., the Noble (1158-1214). Its name at first was Order of San Julian del Pereiro (" of the pear-tree "), from a Castilian frontier citadel, the defense of which was entrusted to two brothers, Suarez and Gomez Barrientos, who with Bishop Ordonius (Ordosio) of Salamanca (1160-66) founded the order. When Alcantara in Estremadura was taken by King Alfonso IX. of Leon in 1213, the seat of the order was transferred to that place. Alfonso committed the defense of this important fortress at first to the knightly order of Calatrava (q.v.), but five years later he transferred the service to the Order of San Julian, which now (1218) took the name of the Order of Alcantara, being still subject, however, to the grand master of the Calatrava order. Taking fuVpntage of a contested election, it separated from the Calatrava order, and elected its first independent grand master in the person of Diego Sanchez, f unng the subsequent struggles with the Moors, in which the Alcantara knights distinguished themselves by their bravery, they had on their flag the
united arms of Leon and Castile, with a cross of the order and the ancient emblem of the pear-tree. The number of their commanderies in their days of prosperity was about fifty. When Juan de Zufiiga, the thirty-eighth grand master (1479-95) resigned his office to become archbishop of Seville, the grandmastership passed to the king of Castile (Ferdinand the Catholic). With its independent existence the order lost more and more its spiritual character. In consequence of the disturbances in the Spanish monarchy, it was abolished in 1873, but was reestablished in 1874 as a purely military order of merit by Alfonso XII. O. ZocKLERt.
Bibliography: Rades de Andrada, Cronica de las tres Ordines y Caballerias de Santiago, Calatrava y Alcantara, Toledo, 1572; Difiniciones de la orden y cavalleria de Alcantara, Madrid, 1663; Helyot, Ordres monastiques, vi. 53- 65; P. B. Gams, Kirchengeschichte von Spanien, iii. 55-56, Ratisbon, 1876.
ALCIMUS. See High Priest.
ALCUIN, al'cwin (English name, Ealhwine ; Lat. Flaccus Albinus): The most prominent adviser of Charlemagne in his efforts to promote learning ; b. in Northumbria (perhaps in York) 735 (730?); d. at Tours May 19, 804. He was of good birth and a relative of Willibrod. He was educated in the famous cathedral school of Archbishop Egbert of York (q.v.), under a master, Ethelbert (Albert), who seems to have been a man ef many-sided learning and who is often praised by Alcuin. With him, or commissioned by him, Alcuin made several visits to Rome, and on such journeys became acquainted with Frankish monasteries and with men like Lul of Mainz and Fulrad of St. Denis. He succeeded Ethelbert as head of the school when the latter was made archbishop (766), and, after Ethelbert's retirement and the elevation of Eanbald to the archiepiscopal throne (778), was also custos of the valuable cathedral library at York. He went to Rome to obtain the pallium for Eanbald, and at Parma (781) met Charlemagne to whom he was already known. Shortly after his return to England he accepted a call from the Frankish king, who was then gathering scholars at his court, and, with the exception of a visit to his native land on political business in 790-793, spent the rest of his life on the Continent. Charlemagne gave him the income of several abbeys, and till 790 he acted as head of a court school, where not only the sons of the Frankish nobles, but Charlemagne and his family as well, profited by his instruction.
A true scholar and teacher, Alcuin seldom meddled in worldly affairs, and his letters (more than 300 in number) give little historical information, though they are rich in personal details. He took an active part in the Adoptionist controversy, wrote two treatises against Felix of Urgel, and opposed his colleague, Elipandus. At the Synod of Frankfort in 794 he assisted in the condemnation of Felix, and later, at the Synod of Aachen in 799 (800?), induced him to recant (see Adoptionism). From 793 he was the constant and efficient helper of Charlemagne in founding schools, promoting the education of the clergy, and like undertakings. He was also in close association with contemporaries like Arno of Salzburg, Angilbert, abbot of
Alcuin Aleg-ambe