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
