from the 15th to the 19th century. One of the principal
libraries is the former palace of the archbishops of Toledo.
For a fuller description of Alcala see the Guia del viajero
en Alcala de Henares, by L. A. de la Torre (Alcala,
1882). The following works are mainly of historical
interest:--M. de Ayala and F. Sastre, Alcala de Henares
(Madrid, 1890); J. C. Garcia, Ensayo de una Tipografia
Complutense (Madrid, 1889); M. Portilla y Esquivel, Historia
de la ciudad de Compluto (Alcala, 1725-1728); and the
``Annales Complutenses'' and ``Chronicon Complutense'' in
Espana Sagrada, by H. Florez and others (Madrid, 1754-1879).
ALCALDE (from the Arab. al-quadi, the ``Cadi'' or
``judge,'), the title in Spanish for officials of somewhat
varied functions, in which, however, there is always a judicial
element. Alcalde de corte was a judge of the palace
court, having jurisdiction in and about the residence of the
king. But the mayor of a town or village who discharged the
functions of a justice of the peace was also an alcalde. It
is in this sense that the title is now exclusively used. He
is subject to yearly election and the post has often been an
undesirable one in Spain. The title of alcalde must be carefully
distinguished from alcaide, which is derived from the Arabic
al-quaid, a general, and means the governor of a fortress.
ALCAMENES, a Greek sculptor of Lemnos and Athens. He was
a younger contemporary of Pheidias and noted for the delicacy
and finish of his works, among which a Hephaestus and an
Aphrodite ``of the Gardens'' were conspicuous. Pausanias
says (v. 10. 8) that he was the author of one of the pediments
of the temple of Zeus at Olympia (see GREEK ART), but this
seems a chronological and stylistic impossibility. At Pergamum
there was discovered in 1903 a copy of the head of the Hermes
``Propylaeus'' of Alcamenes (Athenische Mittheilungen,
1904, p. 180). As, however, the deity is represented in
an archaistic and conventional character, this copy cannot
be relied on as giving us much information as to the usual
style of Alcamenes, who was almost certainly a progressive
and original artist. It is safer to judge him by the
sculptural decoration of the Parthenon, in which he must almost
certainly have taken a share under the direction of Pheidias.
ALCAMO, a town of Sicily, in the province of Trapani, 24
m. W.S.W. of Palermo direct (51 1/2 m. by rail). Pop. (1881)
37,497; (1901) 51,809. It was founded in A.D. 828 by the
Saracenic chief Al-Kamuk, who erected the castle (which still
stands, though considerably altered), but was christianized
by the emperor Frederick II. in 1233, who removed the
site lower down. It possesses some medieval buildings of
interest. The surrounding district is very fertile
and the trade in agricultural products is considerable.
ALCANTARA, a small seaport of Brazil, in the state of Maranhao,
on the W. shore of the bay of Sao Marcos, 16 m. from the city of
Maranhao by water. It has a fairly good harbour, and excellent
cotton and rice are grown in the vicinity and shipped thence.
ALCANTARA, a town of western Spain, in the province of
Caceres, situated on a rocky height on the left bank of the
river Tagus, 7 m. from the Portuguese frontier. Pop. (1900)
3248. Alcantara (in Arab. ``the bridge'') owes its name
to the magnificent Roman bridge which spans the Tagus on the
north-west. This was originally built about A.D. 105,
in honour of the Roman emperor Trajan and at the cost of
eleven Lusitanian communities. It is entirely constructed
of granite blocks, without cement, and consists of six
arches of various sizes, with a total length of 616 feet
and a height of about 190 ft. in the middle piers, which are
surmounted by a fortified gateway. One of the arches was
broken down in 1213 and rebuilt in 1553; another was blown
up by the British troops in 1809, and, though temporarily
reconstructed, was again destroyed in 1836, to prevent the
passage of the Carlist forces. But in 1860 the whole was
restored. A small Roman temple, dedicated to Trajan and
other deified emperors, stood on the left bank, adjoining the
bridge. It is doubtful, however, if Alcantara marks the
site of any Roman town, though archaeologists have sometimes
identified it either with Norba Caesarea or with Interamnium.
It first became famous about 1215 as the stronghold of the
knightly Order of Alcantara. Many of the grand masters of
this order lie buried in the 13th-century Gothic church.
The town possesses another interesting church built in 1506.
See Antiguedades y santos de la muy noble villa de Alcantara,
by J. Arias de Quintanaduenas (Madrid, 1661); and Retrato
politico de Alcantara, by L. Santibanez (Madrid, 1779).
ALCAVALA (Spanish, from Arab. al-quabalah, ``tax,''
quabula, ``to receive''; cf. Fr. gabelle), a duty
formerly charged in Spain and its colonies on all transfers
of property, whether public or private. Originally imposed
in 1341 by Alphonso XI. to secure freedom from the Moors,
it was an ad valorem tax of 10, increased afterwards to
14%, on the selling price of all commodities, whether raw
or manufactured, chargeable as often as they were sold or
exchanged. It subjected every farmer, manufacturer, merchant
and shopkeeper to the continual visits and examination
of the tax-gatherers, whose number was necessarily very
great. This monstrous impost was permitted to ruin the
industry and commerce of the greater part of the kingdom
up to the time of the invasion of Napoleon. Catalonia
and Aragon purchased from Philip V. an exemption from the
alcavala, and, though still burdened with other heavy taxes,
were in consequence in a comparatively flourishing state.
ALCAZAR DE SAN JUAN, or ALCAZAR, a town of Spain, in
the province of Ciudad Real, in the plain of La Mancha, at
the junction of the Madrid-Manzanares and Madrid-Albacete
railways. Pop. (1900) 11,499. Owing to its position on two
important railways, Alcazar has a flourishing transit-trade
in the wines of Estremadura and Andalusia; the soda and
alkali of La Mancha are used in the manufacture of soap; and
gunpowder, chocolate and inlaid daggers are also made here.
Alcazar is sometimes identified with the Roman Alce. captured
by Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus in 180 B.C. It derives its
existing name from its medieval Moorish castle (al-kasr),
which was afterwards garrisoned by the knights of St John.
The townsfolk contend that the great Cervantes was a native
of Alcazar; and, although this claim must be disallowed, much
of the action of his masterpiece, Don Quixote, takes place
in the neighbourhood. El Toboso, for instance, a village 12
m. E.N.E. [pop. ( 1900) 1895], was the home of the Lady
Dulcinea del Toboso; Argamasilla de Alba (3505), 22 m. S.E.,
is declared by tradition to be the birthplace of Don Quixote
himself. Local antiquaries even identify the knight with Don
Rodrigo de Pacheco, whose portrait adorns the parish church;
and the same authorities hold that part of the romance was
written while Cervantes was a prisoner in their town. An
edition of Don Quixote was published at Argamasilla in 1864.
ALCESTER, FREDERICK BEAUCHAMP PAGET SEYMOUR, BARON
(1821-1895), British admiral, son of Colonel Sir Horace
Beauchamp Seymour and cousin of Francis George Hugh Seymour,
5th marquess of Hertford, was born on the 12th of April
1821. Entering the navy in 1834, he served in the Mediterranean
and the Pacific, was for three years flag-lieutenant to his
uncle Sir George Seymour, and was promoted to be commander in
1847. He served in Burma as a volunteer in 1852, was made
a captain in 1854, took the ``Meteor'' ironclad battery out
to the Black Sea and home again in 1856, was captain of the
``Pelorus'' on the Australian station from 1857 to 1863,
and commanded the naval brigade in New Zealand during the
Maori War, 1860-61, for which he was made a C.B. He became
a rear-admiral in 1870; in 1871-1872 he commanded the flying
squadron, was a lord of the admiralty in 1872-1874, and
commanded the Channel fleet, 1874-1876. On the 31st of December
1876 he was made a vice-admiral, a K.C.B. on the 2nd of June
1877. In 1880-1883 he was commander-in-chief of the fleet
in the Mediterranean, and in 1880 had also the chief command
of the European squadron sent to the coast of Albania as
a demonstration to compel the Porte to cede Dulcigno to
Montenegro. On the 24th of May 1881 he was made a G.C.B.,
and on the 6th of May 1882 was promoted to the rank of
admiral. In July 1882 he commanded at the bombardment of
Alexandria and in the subsequent operations on the coast of
Egypt, for which service he was raised to the peerage as
Baron Alcester of Alcester in the county of Warwick, received
a parliamentary grant of L. 25,000, the freedom of the city
of London and a sword of honour. On his return from the
Mediterranean he was for a couple of years again at the
admiralty, and in 1886 he was placed on the retired list. For
the next nine years he lived chiefly in London, but latterly
his health was much broken, and he died on the 30th of March
1895. He was unmarried and the peerage became extinct.
ALCESTER [pronounced Auster, a market-town in the
Stratford-on-Avon parliamentary division of Warwickshire,
England, 16 m. W.S.W. from Warwick by the Great Western
railway, served also by the Birmingham-Evesham branch of
the Midland railway. Pop. (1901) 2303. It is pleasantly
situated among low wooded hills at the junction of the small
stream Alne with the Arrow, a northern tributary of the
Avon. The church of St Nicholas, with the exception of the
Decorated tower, is a reconstruction of 1734; among several
monuments is a fine example of Chantrey's work, to the 2nd
marquess of Hertford (d. 1822). There are a picturesque
town hall (1641), raised on stone columns, and a free grammar
school. The manufacture of needles is less important than
formerly, having been absorbed into the centre of the industry
at Redditch in the neighbouring county of Worcestershire. There
are implement works and cycle works, and brewing is prosecuted.
The name (Alnecestre, Alyncester) signifies ``the camp on the
Alne.'' A small Romano-British town or village was situated
here, on the road which runs from Derby and Wall, near Lichfield,
to join the Fosse Way near Cirencester. Its name is not
known. A relief figure in stone, some pavements, potsherds,
coins and burials have been found, but nothing to indicate an
important station. No written document relating to Alcester
exists before the reign of Henry I. No mention occurs in
Domesday, but it is given in a list of serjeanties of the
reign of Henry III. as having been a royal borough in the time
of Henry I., and in 1177 it rendered four marks' aid with the
other boroughs of the county. However, there is no evidence
of the grant of a royal charter, and the title of borough soon
lapsed. In the reign of Henry III. a moiety of the manor
was purchased by Sir Walter Beauchamp, who granted a charter
to the inhabitants of ihe town establishing a Tuesday market
for corn, cattle, and all kinds of merchandise, and also
obtained grants of fairs at the feasts of St Giles (afterwards
transferred to the feast of St Faith) and St Barnabas. In
1444 Sir John Beauchamp purchased the remaining moiety of the
manor, and was granted an additional fair at the feast of St
Dunstan. From this date the Beauchamps were lords of the
whole manor until it passed by female descent to the Grevilles
in the reign of Henry VIII. in 1140 a Benedictine monastery
was founded here by Falph Boteler of Oversley, and received
