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
