says that he may have occasionally used good historical material; in general he is the panegyrist of an ideal Christian military service, a brilliant painter of scenes and events; his work and others like it served as bugle calls to summon to the Orient new multitudes of devoted soldiers of Christ.
Pastor, in Kirchenlex.; Wattenbach, Deutschland's Geschichtsquellen (6th ed., Berlin, 1893), II, 178-180; Kugler, Albert von Aachen (Stuttgart, 1885); Krebs, Zur Kritik Alberts von Aachen (Münster, 1881); Pigeonneau, Le cycle de la croisade (St. Cloud, 1877).
Albert of Brandenburg, Cardinal and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire, b. 28 June, 1490; d. 24 September, 1545. As early as 1509 he was Prebendary in the Cathedral of Mainz; Archbishop of Magdeburg and Administrator of Halberstadt from 1513; Archbishop of Mainz from 1514; Cardinal-Priest from 1518. The Indulgence issued by Leo X in 1514 for the building of the new St. Peter's in Rome, was entrusted to Albert (1517) for publication in Saxony and Brandenburg, This commission has been made by d'Aubigné and others the ground of many accusations against Albert and Leo X, as though they had used the Indulgence as a means of enriching themselves personally, "dividing beforehand the spoils of the credulous souls of Germany" (d'Aubigné, History of the Reformation). Albert employed Tetzel for the actual preaching of the Indulgence and furnished him a book of instructions: "Instructio summaria ad Subcommissarios Pœnitentiarum et Confessores." Later, Martin Luther addressed a letter of protest to Albert concerning the conduct of Tetzel, found fault with the Bishop's book of instructions, and asked him to suppress it. Luther's charges are altogether groundless; the instructions of Albert to the preachers are both wise and edifying. Luther's letter was disregarded. Though many of the accusations against Albert's morals were, doubtless, false, Luther was probably justified in thinking that he would find in Albert a strong partisan. The young bishop was somewhat worldly-minded, extravagant, better trained in humanistic studies than in theology, too much given to the patronage of learned men and artists. His long intimacy with Ulrich von Hutten is especially reprehensible. Leo X was obliged to send an admonition to Mainz because so many books hostile to the Faith were being published under the Bishop's eye. In later life Albert changed his conduct. In his diocese celebrated defenders of Catholicism were engaged; at Speyer and Ratisbon he met Blessed Peter Faber, S.J., and kept him in his diocese (1542–43); after this he was always a friend to the new order. Albert strove earnestly to introduce a more perfect system of religious instruction and brought forward measures for that purpose in the Diet of Nuremberg. He became by the sincerity of his zeal the great defender of the Faith in Germany. As a temporal prince, he ruled his electorate well; he introduced reforms in the administration of justice, into the police system, and into commerce. He was buried in the Cathedral of Mainz. An artistic memorial marks the resting-place of his remains.
Alzog, Universal Church History, Pabisch-Byrne tr. (Cincinnati, 1876); Roscoe, Life of Leo X; d'Aubigné, History of Reformation in Germany and Switzerland, Eng. tr. (Philadelphia. 1843); Smith, Luther and Tetzel (Cath. Truth Soc. Publication) 43; Rohrbacher, Histoire universelle de l'église cettholique, IX,; Palavicino, Istoria del Concilio di Trento (Rome, 1833); Orlandini, Historia Soc. Jesu (Cologne, 1615).
Albert of Bulsano. See Knoll, Joseph.
Albert of Castile, historian, b. about 1460; d. 1522. He entered the Order of St. Dominic at an early age in the Convent of Sts. John and Paul at Venice and became skilled in nearly every department of contemporary learning. History, however, was his chief study. He is the author of several noteworthy works, among which may be mentioned; "Catalogus Illustrium Ordinis Virorum" (Venice, 1501); "Catalogus Sanctorum a Petro de Natalibus Veneto eregione Costellana episcopo Equilino concinnatus" (Venice, 1501); "Chronica brevis ab initio ordinis usque ad præsens tempus" (Venice, 1504); an account of the Popes, the Dominican Generals, and the illustrious men of the Order, beginning with its foundation, drawn up chiefly from the work of the Dominican Giacomo de Luzato. He is also the editor of the following works: "Biblia Latina cum pleno apparatu tersissime et nitidissime impressa" (Venice, 1506); this he re-edited fifteen years later with a concordance of the Old and New Testaments; "Pontificale secundum ritum Romanæ Ecclessiæ emendatum primum a Jacobo de Lutiis episcopo Cafacensi et Joanne Burckardo" (Venice, 1520); "Constitutiones ord. Præd., una cum adjectis ad singulos textus opportune declarationibus" (Venice, 1507); "Liber de instructione officialium venerabilis Humberti magistri ordinis V" (Venice, 1507); "Regula et privilegia Fratrum et Sororum de pœnitentia impugnantes Fratres Prædicatores, quod non vivant secundum vitam apostolicam, a Jacobo de Voragine, O.P. archiepiscopo Januensi" (Venice, 1504).
Quétif and Echard, SS. Ord. Prad., II, 48–49.
Albert of Stade, a chronicler of the thirteenth century. He was born before the close of the twelfth century. It is known that he became abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Stade (near Hamburg) in 1232. Failing to change (1236) the rule of St. Benedict in his abbey to that of the Cistercians, he resigned his office and in 1240 joined the Franciscans. In the same year he commenced to compile his chronicle, which begins with the creation of the world and comes down to 1256; he may also be the author of the continuations to 1265. The earlier portions appear to have been taken from Bede's "Libellus de sex ætatibus mundi," and Ekkehard's "Chronicle." As he approaches his own times, Albert becomes, after the manner of medieval chroniclers, both fuller and more reliable. The first and only complete edition is that printed at Helmstadt in 1587; (Wittenberg, 1608). He is also credited with the authorship of a work called "Troilus," a Latin epic on the Trojan War, in 5,320 lines, a manuscript copy of which is in the Wolfenbüttel library.
Von Funk, in Kirchenlex., I, 425, 426; Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen (6th ed., Berlin, 1893), II, 439–441. The text of the Chronicle from 1165 to the end is best found in Mon. Germ. Hist.—Scriptores, XVI, 272 sqq., 431 sqq. See Hurter, Nomenclator., IV, 269, 353.
Albert of York. See Ethelbert.
Alberti, Leandro, historian, b. at Bologna in 1479; d. same place, probably in 1552. In early youth he attracted the attention of the Bolognese rhetorician, Giovanni Garzo, who volunteered to act as his tutor. He entered the Dominican Order in 1493, and after the completion of his philosophical and theological studies was called to Rome by his friend, the Master General, Francesco Silvestro Ferraris. He served him as secretary and socius until the death of Ferraris in 1528. In 1517, he published in six books a treatise on the famous men of his Order. This work has gone through countless editions and been translated into many modern tongues. Besides several lives of the saints, some of which Papebroch embodied in the "Acta Sanctorum", and a history of the Madonna di San Luca and the adjoining monastery, he published (Bologna, 1514, 1543) a chronicle of his native city (Istoria di Bologna, etc.) to 1273. It was continued by Lucio Caccianemici to 1279. The fame of Alberti rests chiefly on
