Bruce at Bannockburn makes the same oration as Alexander at
``Effesoun.'' A Buke of the Conqueror Alexander the Great
by Sir Gilbert Hay (fl. 1456) is in MS. at Taymouth Castle.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The best sketch of the Alexander romance
literature is by Paul Meyer. Alexandre le grand dans la
litterature francaise au moyen age (2 vols., Paris,
1886). The first volume contains some French texts, and
the second a detailed discussion of the various versions
from the pseudo-Callisthenes downwards. See also J.
Zacher, Pseudo-Callisthenes, Forschungen zur . . . .
Alexandersage (Halle, 1867), and for Oriental versions,
T. Noldeke, ksl. Akad. d. Wissenschaben, Phil.-hist.
Klasse, vol. 38: Vienna, 1890). For early printed versions
see Brunet, Manuel du libraire, s.v. ``Alexandre.''
The text of the pseudo-Callisthenes was edited by C. W.
Muller from three MSS. in the Bibl. Nat. and printed in the
Arrian of the Coll. Didot (Paris, 1846), and by H. Meusel
(Leipzig, 1871) from a Leiden MS. A. Mai edited Julius
Valerius (Milan, 1817) and the Itinerarium Alexandri
(Class. Auct. vol. vii.; Milan, 1835); J. Zacher, the Epitome
Halle, 1867) and Alex. iter ad Paradisum (Regensburg,
1859); the Oxford MS. of the Epitome was edited by G. Cilli
(Strassburg, 1903); G. Landgraf, Die ``Vita Alexandri'' .
. . des Archpresbyter Leo (Historia de proeliis), (Erlangen,
1885); Alexander's letter to Aristotle and his correspondence
with Dindimus are included in the Teubner edition of Julius
Valerius (ed. B. Kubler, Leipzig, 1888). A newly discovered
anonymous Epitome was edited by O. Wagner (Leipzig, 1900).
The fragment by Alberic was edited by P. Heyse (Berlin, 1856);
Lamprecht's German text by H. Weismann (Frankfort, 1850) and
by C. Kinzel (Halle, 1884); the Alexandreis of Gaultier de
Lille, by F. A. W. Muldener (Leipzig, 1863); an Icelandic
prose version (c. 1250) of the same, Alexanders Saga, by
C. R. Unger (Christiania, 1848); Li Romans d'Alexandre, by
H. Michelant (Stuttgart, 1846); the Ethiopic version by E.
A. T. Wallis Budge (1896, 2 vols., with English translation);
the Syriac text of pseudo-Callisthenes by Budge (Cambridge,
1889); cp. K. F. Weymann, Die athiopische und arabische
Ubersetzungen des Pseudo-Kallisthenes (Kirchhain, 1901).
Besides the English editions quoted in the text, the
alliterative English poems were partially edited by J. Stevenson
for the Roxburghe Club (1849). There is a great deal of
information on the various texts in H. L. Wood's Catalogue
of Romances in the British Museum (1883, vol. i. pp. 94 et
seq.). See also A. Hermann, Untersuchungen uber das
Scottische Alexanderbuch (1893); and Unters. uber das
med. Gedicht, The Wars of Alexander (Berlin, 1889).
Among other works see E. Ronde, Der griechische Roman (2nd
ed. Leipzig, 1900); B. Meissner, Alexander u. Gilgamos
(Leipzig, 1894); F. Kampers, ``Alex. d. Grosse und die Idee
des Weltimperiums in Prophetic und Sage'' (in H. Granert's
Studien, &c., Freiburg, 1901); Adolf Ausfeld, Der griechische
Alexanderroman (Leipzig, 1907), edited after the author's
death by W. Kroll; Wilhelm Hertz, ``Aristoteles in den
Alex. Dichtungen d. Mittelalters'' (Kgl. Acad. d.
Wissenschaften, Munich, 1891); H. Becker, Die Brahmanen
in d. Alex. Sage (Konigsberg, 1889). (M. BR.)
1 Nativitas et victoriae Alexandri magni regis was the original title.
ALEXANDER, tagus or despot of Pherae in Thessaly, ruled
from 369 to 358 B.C. His tyranny caused the Aleuadae of
Larissa to invoke the aid of Alexander II. of Macedon, whose
intervention was successful, but after his withdrawal Alexander
treated his subjects as cruelly as before. The Thessalians
now applied to Thebes; Pelopidas, who was sent to their
assistance, was treacherously seized and thrown into prison
(368), and it was necessary to send Epaminondas with a large
army to secure his release. Alexander's conduct caused renewed
intervention; in 364 he was defeated at Cynoscephalae by the
Thebans, although the victory was dearly bought by the loss
of Pelopidas, who fell in the battle. Alexander was at last
crushed by the Thebans, compelled to acknowledge the freedom
of the Thessalian cities and to limit his rule to Pherae, and
forced to join the Boeotian league. He was murdered by his
wife's brother at her instigation. Ancient accounts agree in
describing Alexander as a typically cruel and suspicious tyrant.
ALEXANDER (1461-1506), king of Poland and grand- duke of
Lithuania, fourth son of Casimir IV., king of Poland, was
elected grand-duke of Lithuania on the death of his father
in 1492, and king of Poland on the death of his brother
John Albert in 1501. His extreme impecuniosity made him
from the first subservient to the Polish senate and nobles
(szlachta), who deprived him of the control of the mint--then
one of the most lucrative sources of revenue of the Polish
kings--curtailed his prerogative, and generally endeavoured
to reduce him to a subordinate position. This ill-timed
parsimony reacted injuriously upon Polish politics. Thus,
for want of funds, Alexander was unable to assist the Grand
Master of the Order of the Sword against Muscovite aggression,
or prevent Tsar Ivan III. from ravaging Lithuania with the
Tatars. The utmost the king could do was to garrison Smolensk
and other fortresses and employ his wife Helena, the tsar's
daughter, to mediate a truce between his father-in-law and
himself. During his reign Poland suffered much humiliation
from the attempts of her subject principalities, Prussia and
Moldavia, to throw off her yoke. Only the death of Stephen,
the great hospodar of Moldavia, enabled Poland still to hold her
own on the Danube; while the liberality of Pope Julius II., who
issued no fewer than 29 bulls in favour of Poland and granted
Alexander Peter's Pence and other financial help, enabled the
Polish king to restrain somewhat the arrogance of the Teutonic
Order. In Alexander the characteristic virtues of the Jagiellos,
patience and generosity, degenerated into slothfulness and
extravagance. Frequently he was too poor to pay the expenses
of his own table. But he never felt at home in Poland, and
bestowed his favour principally upon his fellow-countrymen,
the most notable of whom was the wealthy Lithuanian magnate
Michael Glinsky, who justified his master's confidence by
his great victory over the Tatars at Kleck (August 5, 1506),
the news of which was brought to Alexander on his deathbed.
See V. Czerny, The Reigns of John Albert and
Alexander Jagiello (Pol.) (Cracow, 1882).
ALEXANDER, the name of eight popes:--
ALEXANDER I. was bishop of Rome from about 106 to 115. He
has been identified, without any foundation, with Alexander,
a martyr of the Via Nomentana, whose day is the 3rd of May.
ALEXANDER II. (Anselmo Baggio), pope from 1061 to 1073, was
a native of Milan. As bishop of Lucca he had been an energetic
coadjutor with Hildebrand in endeavouring to suppress simony,
and to enforce the celibacy of the clergy. His election, which
Hildebrand had arranged in conformity with the decree of 1059
(see NICHOLAS II.), was not sanctioned by the imperial court of
Germany. This court, faithful to the practice observed by
it in the preceding elections, nominatod another candidate,
Cadalus, bishop of Parma, who was proclaimed at the council
of Basel under the name of Honorius II., marched to Rome, and
for a long time jeopardized his rival's position. At length,
however, he was abandoned by the Germanic court and deposed
by a council held at Mantua; and Alexander's position remained
unchallenged. Alexander was succeeded by his associate
Hildebrand, who took the title of Gregory VII. (L. D.*)
ALEXANDER III. (Orlando Bandinelli), pope from 1159 to
1181, was a Siennese, and as a teacher of canon law in Bologna
composed the Stroma or the Summa Magistri Rolandi, one
of the earliest commentaries on the Decretum Gratiani. In
October 1150 Eugenius III. created him cardinal deacon SS.
Cosmae and Damiani; later he became cardinal priest of St
Mark's. Probably about this time he composed his Sentences,
based on the Introductio ad theologiam of Abelard. In
1153 he became papal chancellor, and was the leader of the
cardinals opposed to Frederick Barbarossa. On the 7th of
September 1159 he was chosen the successor of Adrian IV.,
a minority of the cardinals, however, electing the cardinal
priest Octavian, who assumed the name of Victor IV. This
antipope, and his successors Paschal III. (1164-1168) and
Calixtus III. (1168-1178), had the imperial support; but after
the defeat of Legnano, Barbarossa finally (in the peace of
Venice, 1177) recognized Alexander as pope. On the 12th
of March 1178 Alexander returned to Rome, which he had been
compelled to leave twice, namely, from 1162 until the 23rd of
November 1165, and again in 1167. The first period he spent
in France, the latter chiefly in Gaeta, Benevento, Anagni and
Venice. In March 1179 Alexander held the third Lateran synod,
a brilliant assemblage, reckoned by the Roman church as the
eleventh oecumenical council; its acts embody several of the
pope's proposals for the betterment of the condition of the
church, among them the present law requiring that no one
may be elected pope without the votes of two-thirds of the
cardinals. This synod marks the summit of Alexander's
power. Besides checkmating Barbarossa, he had humbled
Henry II. of England in the affair of Thomas Becket, he
had confirmed the right of Alphonso I. of Portugal to the
crown, and even as a fugitive had enjoyed the favour and
protection of Louis VII. of France. Nevertheless, soon after
the close of the synod the Roman republic forced Alexander
to leave the city, which he never re-entered; and on the 29th
of September 1179 some nobles set up the antipope Innocent
III. By the judicious use of money, however, Alexander
got him into his power, so that he was deposed in January
1180. In 1181 Alexander excommunicated William the Lion of
Scotland and put the kingdom under the interdict. The great
pope died at Civita Castellana on the 30th of August 1181.
See Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopadie, 3rd ed., i. 340-344; Wetzer
and Welte, Kirchenlexikon, 2nd ed., 1481. The most elaborate
biography is H. Reuter, Geschichte Alexanders III. und der Kirche
seiner Zeit (3 vols., 2nd ed., Leipzig, 1860). (W. W. R.*)
ALEXANDER IV. (Rinaldo), pope from 1254 to 1261, was, like
Innocent III. and Gregory IX., a member of the family of the
counts of Segni. His uncle Gregory IX. made him cardinal deacon
in 1227 and cardinal bishop of Ostia in 1231. On the death of
Innocent IV. he was elected pope at Naples on the 12th of December
1254. He is described as a stout man, kindly, cheerful, but
of no great brilliancy. He succeeded Innocent IV. as guardian
of Conradin, the last of the Hohenstaufen, promising him
his benevolent protection; but in less than a fortnight he
conspired against him and bitterly opposed Conradin's uncle
Manfred. Alexander fulminated with excommunication and interdict
against the party of Manfred, but in vain; nor could he enlist
the kings of England and Norway in a crusade against the
Hohenstaufen. Rome itself became too Ghibelline for the pope,
who withdrew to Viterbo, where he died on the 25th of May
1261. His pontificate was signalized by efforts to unite
the Greek and Latin churches, by the establishment of the
Inquisition in France, by favours shown to the mendicant orders,
and by an attempt to organize a crusade against the Tatars.
The registers of Alexander IV. are published by Bourel de la
