ALVAREZ, Bernardin de, a Spanish adventurer of the 16th century, who, after various adventures in Mexico and Peru, founded a variety of hospitals in the former country.
ALVAREZ, Emmanuel, a Portuguese jesuit and philologian, born in 1526 in Madeira. Died at Lisbon in 1583.
ALVAREZ, Francesco, a Portuguese monk, the earliest modern traveller who visited Abyssinia. He appears to have been born at Coimbra in the fifteenth century. Helena, empress of Abyssinia, having sent an Armenian priest as ambassador to the court of Portugal, the king Emmanuel dispatched Duarte Galvāo on an embassy in return, who died on the journey. Lopez de Sigueira, the Portuguese viceroy in India, intrusted this important mission to Rodrigo de Lima, to whose suite Alvarez was attached as chaplain. The expedition landed at Mesoah, in 1520, and suffered incredible hardships and dangers from the nature of the country, and the savage tribes by which it was infested. On reaching Axum, the capital, they found that the emperor was gone on an expedition into the province of Choa. On their way they visited the magnificent temples of Lalibela, excavated in the solid rock. At last, on the 20th of October, 1520, they reached the camp of the negus, or emperor, David. Doubts were raised concerning the power of the embassy, but the prudence of Alvarez completely overcame all the suspicions of the Abyssinian monarch. Everything was arranged satisfactorily; Alvarez was appointed patriarch of Mesoah, and the ambassador was furnished with presents and letters for his sovereign and the pope; when a quarrel among the Portuguese led to their detention for six years. This interval Alvarez devoted to a close observation of the religion, government, and manners of the Abyssinians. At last, in 1526, the embassy was allowed to depart. Lima and Alvarez, after visiting India, arrived safely at Santarem, and delivered their letters to John III. In 1533 Alvarez went to Rome to deliver to the pope the mission with which he had been charged by the Emperor David. The account of his travels was published in 1540, at the expense of the king, and is to this day a valuable authority on the history, ethnography, and even the geology and botany of Abyssinia. The observations of Alvarez, it must be noted, were made before the desolating inroads of the Gallas under Goronha. We have no particulars concerning the death of Alvarez, but he must have reached a very advanced age. The original edition of his work is rare, and the Italian and French versions are very much corrupted. The Spanish version (Antwerp, 1561) is preferable.—J. W. S.
ALVAREZ, Gonçalo, a learned Portuguese jesuit of noble birth, missionary in India, and afterwards in China, where he founded the academy of Macao, was drowned in 1573, on his passage to Japan.
ALVAREZ, John, a Portuguese Benedictine of the latter half of the fifteenth century, abbot of Paço de Souza; shared voluntarily the captivity of Don Fernando, son of Joao I., in Africa, and on his return published an account of the sufferings and the piety of that prince.
ALVAREZ, Manuel, of Salamanca, born in 1729, died in 1797; a sculptor of considerable merit. He is the author of the equestrian statue of Philip V. at Madrid, and of many fine busts for that court. He was president of the academy of fine arts.—R. M.
ALVAREZ, Don Martin, count of Colomera, a Spanish general, in 1794 commander of the army of Navarre and Guipuzcoa, which unsuccessfully opposed the French at Bidassoa, San Sebastian, and Tolosa. Died in 1819.
ALVAREZ, Thomas, a Portuguese writer on canon law, flourished in the seventeenth century.
ALVAREZ DE CASTRO, Mariano, a Spanish general, born in 1775; during the peninsular war was engaged in the defence of Barcelona; assumed the command of Girone, besieged two months by the French; and made the further defence of that place memorable by a display of heroism, which only began to fail when the prevalence of an epidemic was added to the other horrors of the siege. Died in 1810.—J. S., G.
ALVAREZ DE COLMENAR, John, a French writer of the beginning of the eighteenth century, author of "Les Delices de l'Espagne et du Portugal."
ALVAREZ DE CUNHA, a Portuguese author of some note, was born at Goa in 1626, and died at Lisbon in 1690.
ALVAREZ DO ORIENTE, Fernao de, a Portuguese poet of considerable eminence. He was born at Goa in the earlier half of the sixteenth century, and spent his whole life in the East, sharing in the military and naval exploits of his countrymen in those regions under the viceroy Antonio Moniz Barrete. His poetry is chiefly of the pastoral kind, and is remarkable for its harmony and grace.—J. W. S.
ALVAREZ Y BAENA, Joseph Anthony, a Spanish writer, born at Madrid, author of a voluminous account of his native city; died in 1803.
ALVAROTTO, Jacob, an Italian jurist; born at Padua in 1385; died in 1453.
ALVARS. See Parish.
ALVARUS, Paulus, a Spanish writer, born at Cordova; died in 861.
* ALVENSLEBEN, Albert, Count d', represented Prussia at the conference of Dresden in 1850; born in 1794.
ALVENSLEBEN, Charles-Gebhard, a Prussian general; born in 1778; died in 1831.
ALVENSLEBEN, Phillip Charles, Count d', a Prussian diplomatist and minister of state for foreign affairs; born in 1745; died at Berlin in 1802.
ALVES, Robert, a Scottish poet, author of a collection of odes and elegies, which appeared in 1782, and of two poems, "Edinburgh" and "The Weeping Bard," published in 1789, was born at Elgin in 1745. He left at his death, in 1794, a number of pieces in MS., which were published in 1801, with the title, "The Banks of the Esk, and other Poems."—J. S., G.
ALVIANO, Barthelemi, a Venetian general, born towards the middle of the fifteenth century, commanded the army which annihilated, in 1508, that of the Emperor Maximilian; was taken prisoner in the following year at the battle of Agnadel, which he had precipitated by an attack on the French lines contrary to the orders of Petigliano, commander-in-chief; was set at liberty in March, 1513, and in October of that year encountered unsuccessfully a Spanish army returning laden with spoil from the Venetian territories; recovered his reputation by a series of victories over the Austrians, and by his share in the battle of Marignan, where the Swiss, opposed to the army of Francis, suffered a great defeat. Died in 1515.—J. S., G.
ALVINCZY or ALVINZY, Joseph, an Austrian field-marshal, born in 1735; engaged in active service at fifteen years of age, distinguished himself in the rank of major at Torgaw and Toplitz; was named major-general by Joseph II. in reward of his services during the war for the succession of Bavaria, and after his campaign, under Landon, against the Turks, was promoted to be lieutenant field-marshal. Actively employed against the French in 1792 and 1793, he shared the Austrian victory of Nerwinde and the defeat of the duke of York at Hondstchoot; was wounded in 1794, in his defence of the fortress of Landrecies; repaired to Italy shortly after, in the hope of re-organizing the Austrian army, demoralized by successive defeats; but encountering Buonaparte at Arcole and Rivoli, lost his entire army, and was generally, though absurdly, accused of treachery. Named commander-in-chief of Hungary in 1798, and in 1808 field-marshal, Alvinczy continued to be a favourite at court till his death in 1810 —J. S., G.
ALVINZI, Peter, a Hungarian theologian, author of some polemical works, and of a series of sermons; born in Transylvania; died at Cassovie in 1646.
ALVISET, Benoit, a French Benedictine monk, author of a treatise on the privileges of convents; died in 1673.
ALWATHICK, Billah, an enlightened caliph of Bagdad, son of Almutasem, whom he succeeded in 842; died in 847.
ALXINGER, John Baptist d', a German poet, born at Vienna, author of two volumes of occasional verses of no great merit, and of two poetical romances, more favourably known, died in 1797.
ALYATTES, king of Lydia, from 618 b.c., reigned fifty-five years, almost incessantly engaged in warfare. His chief adversaries were the Medes, with whom he carried on a five-years' war, that was terminated in a remarkable manner—An eclipse of the sun, predicted by Thales the Milesian, fell on the Lydians and Medes engaged in battle, and both armies regarding the phenomenon as a terrible warning from the gods to desist from strife, a peace was concluded, Alyattes giving his daughter in marriage to the son of Cyaxares.—J. S., G.
ALY-CHYR (Emir Nisam-el-hak-Waddin), a Persian vizier and poet, patron of Mirkhond the historian, and of several other celebrated contemporaries, resigned the dignities he enjoyed
