RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Alemanni Alexander
Bibliogeapht: C. F. Stalin, Wilrttembergische Geschichte, vol. i., Stuttgart, 1841; Rettberg, KD; Friedrich, KD; H. von Schubert, Die Unterwerfung der Alamannen, Strasburg, 1884; G. Bossert, Die Anfange des Christentums in Wilrttemberg, Stuttgart, 1888; A. Birlinger, Rechtsrheinisches Alamannien; Grenzen, Sprache, Eigenart, Stuttgart, 1890; E. Egli, Kirchengeachicht* der Schweiz bis auf Karl den Grossen, Zurich, 1893; WurUembergische Kirchengeschichte of the Calwer Verlagsverein, 1893; Hauck, KD, i. 2; F. L. Baumann, Forschungen zur Schwabischen Geschichte, 500-585, Kempten, 1899.
ALESIUS, a-li'shi-us, ALEXANDER (Latinized form of Aless; known also as Alane): Protestant reformer; b. in Edinburgh Apr. 23, 1500; d. in Leipsic Mar. 17, 1565. He studied at St. Andrews and became canon there. In 1527 he tried to induce Patrick Hamilton (q.v.) to recant, attended him at the stake the next year, and was himself converted to the reformed doctrines. To escape from the harsh treatment of the provost of St. Andrews he fled to Germany (1532). Commended to Henry VIII. and Cranmer by Melanchthon, he went to England in 1535. For a short time he lectured on divinity at Cambridge, studied and practised medicine in London, and was much esteemed by the reforming party there till 1540, when he went back to Germany and became professor at Frankfort-on-the-Oder, removing three years later to Leipsic. He was closely associated with the German reformers, especially Melanchthon, and was honored and trusted by them, although a desire to conciliate and a belief that concord was possible where differences were irreconcilable made him sometimes appear vacillating and paradoxical. He wrote several exegetical works on different books of the Bible, and a large number of dogmatic and polemical treatises, such as De scripturis legendis in lingua materna (Leipsic, 1533); De autoritate verbi Dei (Strasburg, 1542), against Bishop Stokesley of London concerning the number of the sacraments; De justifications contra Osiandrum (Wittenberg, 1552); Contra Michaelem Servetum ejusque blasphemias disputationes tres (Leipsic, 1554).
Bibliography: J. Thomasius, Oratio de Alexandre- Alesio, in his Orationes, Leipsic, 1683; T. Beza, Icones, Geneva, 1580; C. Wordsworth, Ecclesiastical Biography, vol. ii., London, 1853; T. McCrie, Life of John Knox, Note 1, London, 1874; DNB, i. 254-259.
ALEXANDER: The name of eight popes.
Alexander I. : Bishop of Rome in the early years of the second century, successor of Evaristus and predecessor of Xystus I. The statement of the Liber pontificalis (ed. Duchesne, i. xci.-xcii., 54) and the Acta Alexandri (ASB, May, i. 371-375) that he died a martyr, with two companions, Lyentius and Theodulus, and was buried on the Via Nomentana, is improbable. The excavations made on the spot designated by the Liber pontificate have indeed led to the discovery of a fragment of an inscription concerning a martyr Alexander, but he is not called a bishop. The year of Alexander s consecration is variously given: Eusebius names 103 in his Chronicon, and 108 in his Historia ecclesiastica; the Catalogus Liberianus, 109. The year of his death is given as 114, 116, and 118. inree letters falsely ascribed to him are in the qH?« dore (ed- Hinschins, Leipsic, 1863, pp. 1U5)- (A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, i. xci. sqq., 54, Paris, 1886; Bower, Popes, i. 10; R. A. Lipsius! Die Chronologie der rUmischen Bischhfe, pp. 167 sqq., Kiel, 1869; B. Jungmann, Dissertationes selectat in Hist, eccl., i. 134 sqq., Regensburg, 1880; J. Langen, Geschichte der rbmischen Kirche, Bonn, 1881; Jaffe\ Regesta, i. 5.
Alexander II. (Anselm Badagius, sometimes called Anselm of Lucca): Pope Sept. 30, 1061-Apr. 21, 1073. He was born of a noble family at Baggio, near Milan. When the Patarene movement for reform began in 1056 (see Patarenes), he seems to have joined it. The archbishop Guido removed him by sending him on an embassy to the imperial court. Here he won the confidence of Henry III., which gained for him the bishopric of Lucca (1057). He was sent to Milan in 1057 and 1059 as legate in connection with the questions raised by the Pataria. On the death of Nicholas II. (1061), he was elected pope through Hildebrand's influence. This was in direct contravention of the imperial rights, confirmed by Nicholas II. himself in 1059. The empress Agnes, as regent, convoked an assembly of both spiritual and temporal notables at Basel, and Cadalus of Parma was chosen pope by the German and Lombard bishops. He assumed the title of Honorius II., and had already defeated the adherents of his rival in a bloody battle under the walls of Rome, when Godfrey of Lorraine appeared and summoned both claimants to lay the election before the young king Henry IV. At a synod of German and Italian bishops held at Augsburg in Oct., 1062, Hanno of Cologne, now regent, arranged that his nephew Burchard of Halberstadt should be sent to Rome to examine the case and make a preliminary decision. Burchard decided in favor of Alexander, who returned to Rome in the beginning of 1063, and held a synod at Easter, in which he excommunicated Honorius. The final decision of the contest was to be made at a synod of German and Italian bishops called for Pentecost, 1064, at Mantua. This was in favor of Alexander. See Honorius II., antipope.
Honorius did not abandon his pretensions until his death in 1072, though his power was confined to his diocese of Parma. Even during the contest Alexander had exercised considerable authority over the Western Church, and after the decision at Mantua he extended his claims in Germany, and put Archbishop Hanno of Cologne to penance for having visited Cadalus on a secular errand. Henry IV. himself was made to feel the papal power. When he desired to effect a divorce from his wife Bertha, Peter Damian threatened him with the severest ecclesiastical penalties at a diet held in Frankfort Oct., 1069. Alexander also came into conflict with Henry over several ecclesiastiacal appointments, of which the most important was the archbishopric of Milan, and when the king persisted in having his candidate Godfrey consecrated, though the pope had adjudged the latter guilty of simony, the royal counselors were excommunicated as having endeavored to separate their master from the unity of the Church. This was but the beginning of the long struggle which was left to the next pope, Gregory VII.
Alexander dealt in a similarly determined manner with other nations. He supported the Nor-
Alexander