unleavened bread in the eucharist. He is commemorated by the church of Rome on May 3.—J. B., O.
ALEXANDER II., a pope, was born at Milan, and bore the name of Anselmo Bagio, previous to his elevation to the tiara. In his youth he studied under Lanfranc at Bec in Normandy. After his return to his native country, he took an active part in the controversy then raging concerning the marriage of priests, which Anselmo, in conjunction with Hildebrand, vehemently condemned. He likewise took an active part in reducing the archbishopric of Milan, which had been to a certain extent independent, under the sway of the papacy. On the death of Nicola II. in 1061, Anselmo was elected pope, without the sanction of the emperor. Cadalous, bishop of Parma, was elected pope in opposition by a council held at Basle, and took the name of Honorius II. The anti-pope now marched to Rome, but being put to flight by the duke of Tuscany, he was deposed by the council of Mantua, and Alexander remained in undisputed possession of the papal chair. His first action was to make a circuit through Italy for the purpose of strengthening the papal authority, and ejecting married priests. He gave his blessing to the forces collected by William of Normandy for the conquest of England, hoping that the success of this enterprise would extend his own jurisdiction over the free church of the Anglo-Saxons. He exerted himself in a very creditable manner to stop a persecution then raging against the Jews in France. He died in 1073, and was succeeded by his old confederate, Hildebrand.—J. W. S.
ALEXANDER III., elected in 1159, died in 1181, after a long and glorious pontificate of nearly twenty-two years. At the conclave held after the death of Adrian IV., twenty-two cardinals gave their votes for Cardinal Roland, chancellor of the Roman church. But among the cardinals were a few thorough-going political partisans of the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa, who knew that Cardinal Roland would not submit quietly to encroachments which the imperial power was attempting in that age upon the rights and independence of the church. These accordingly, to the number of five, gave their votes for Cardinal Octavian. The pope took the title of Alexander III., the antipope that of Victor III. Each party wrote to the emperor and other European princes, and also to all bishops, communicating his election. The emperor affected to be unable to decide between the rival claimants, and summoned them both to attend and submit their claims to a council which he had summoned to meet at Pavia. But when Alexander refused to take a step which would be tantamount to an admission that the validity of his election was doubtful, and that the emperor was the supreme judge in a purely ecclesiastical matter, Frederic's envoys threw off the mask, and recognized Octavian as pope. Thus began a schism which lasted for eighteen years; for though Octavian died in 1164, the emperor immediately caused to be elected in his room Guido, bishop of Crema, who took the title of Pascal III.; and again, upon the death of Guido in 1168, his adherents elected John, abbot of Sturm, who took the name of Calixtus III. At first there were but two prelates in the whole of Germany who dared to recognize the rightful pope in opposition to the emperor's will. But, on the other hand, the kings of France and England acknowledged his claims without delay, and each of these monarchs offered him an asylum in his dominions. Alexander was compelled to embrace the offer. Driven from Italy by the adherents of Octavian, he passed into France and fixed his residence at Sens. It was here, in the year 1164, that St. Thomas a'Becket came to him, to lay before him his dispute with Henry II. of England.
Various turns of fortune marked the long contest between the pope and the emperor. In 1165 when, after the reduction and destruction of Milan by Frederic, the Lombard cities entered into a league against him, Alexander seized the opportunity to return to Rome, where the people received him with the utmost joy. In 1166 Frederic marched into Central Italy and occupied Rome, where he caused himself to be solemnly crowned in St. Peter's by the antipope, Pascal III. Alexander was compelled to take refuge, first at Gaeta (an example since followed by Pius IX.), and afterwards at Benevento. At this point events seemed all to have combined in favour of Frederic; but the tide now turned. A fearful pestilence, which was regarded as a divine judgment on the adherents of the antipope, swept over North Italy, and carried off many distinguished men of the imperial faction. The Lombard league rose anew against the German rule, and founded in 1168 a new city to serve as a bulwark against the emperor's attacks, which, in gratitude for the pope's support, they named Alexandria. After various vicissitudes, the emperor received a signal defeat on the memorable field of Legnano (1176), and he then began seriously to seek for a reconciliation with the pope. The meeting took place at Venice. The emperor having renounced the schism, was formally absolved by the papal legates. Then he went in the doge's barge from the Lido to the church of St. Mark; the pope awaited him at the door of the church, surrounded by cardinals and bishops; Frederic took off his cloak and prostrated himself at his feet; the pope, affected to tears, raised him up, and gave him the kiss of peace.
In 1179 Alexander convoked at Rome the third general council of the Lateran. Three hundred and two bishops attended it, and twenty-seven canons were passed, chiefly relating to points of ecclesiastical discipline. At this council the pope made St. Lawrence, archbishop of Dublin, his legate in Ireland. The state of the Holy Land had never ceased to engage the attention of Alexander; and when, in 1180, he heard of the successes of Saladin, he wrote a circular letter to all Christian princes, exhorting them to send succour to king Baldwin; and to all bishops, enjoining them to preach the crusade. Alexander died at Citta di Castello on the 30th August, 1181, and was buried in the church of St. John Lateran. Contemporary writers assure us that he was a very learned pope, and deeply versed in holy scripture, the canons and decrees of councils, and the Roman law. The firmness and patience with which he endured the troubles and persecutions occasioned by the schism, were, as we have seen, rewarded by a complete triumph over his opponents, and his pontificate came to an end in peace.—(Fleury, Hist. Eccl.)—T. A.
ALEXANDER IV., pope,—before his election Cardinal Rainald, bishop of Ostia, of the family of the counts of Segni,—elected on Christmas-day, 1254. He is described as a pious man, much given to prayer and abstinence, but too ready to give heed to flatterers. He seems to have been of a weak character; and it may be charitably supposed that some of his public acts originated with his advisers rather than with himself. Such were his excommunication of Seval, archbishop of York, for declining to induct worthless Italians into the best benefices in his diocese, and his authorizing his legate to absolve Henry III. of England from the vow he had taken to march to the Holy Land for the deliverance of Jerusalem, on condition that he proceeded to Apulia and made war upon Manfred, regent of Sicily, who was making great progress there against the papal forces. In spite of all the efforts of the pope, Manfred (who was a natural son of the Emperor Frederic II.) succeeded in establishing himself in the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and was crowned at Palermo in 1258. On the other hand, this pope made praiseworthy efforts to promote the spread of Christianity in the then pagan countries of Lithuania and Russia. In the contest which occurred in his pontificate between the university of Paris and the mendicant orders, then newly established, the pope warmly espoused the cause of the mendicant orders. It was on this occasion that St. Thomas Aquinas wrote his famous "Apology for the Mendicant Friars" against William de Saint Amour. For the last four years of his life the pope could not live at Rome, where the faction in alliance with Manfred had gained the upper hand. He died at Viterbo in May, 1261.—T. A.
ALEXANDER V. The original name of this pontiff was Peter Pilargo, and he was a native of the isle of Candia. His origin was so obscure that he professed to have no recollection of his parentage. All that is known of his early life is, that he was placed in a religious house by a monk, who noticed him when begging. He made great progress, and afterwards visited the universities of Padua, Paris, and Oxford, at all of which he had a great reputation as a theologian and a scholar. On his return to Italy, he was promoted from one bishopric to another, and finally was appointed archbishop of Milan, 1402. In 1404, Innocent VII. made him a cardinal, and in 1409 the council of Pisa, after having deposed the rival popes, Gregory XII. and Benedict XII., elected him to the papacy. He assumed the name of Alexander V., but did not long enjoy his dignity (he was seventy when elected), dying the next year. As pope he displayed no energy or decision of character, being governed entirely by Balthasar Cossa, who succeeded him under the title of John XXIII.—J. B., O.
ALEXANDER VI., Roderic Borgia, was the son of Godfrey Lenzolia and Jane Borgia, the sister of Pope Calixtus III. He was born 1431, and originally practised as an advocate; afterwards he adopted the profession of arms, which was much more
