family of Rome, who came originally from Albania in the sixteenth century and settled first at Urbino. The great influence of the family dates from the accession (1700) of Giovanni Francesco Albani to the papal throne as Clement XI. It has since furnished a succession of cardinals. Cardinal Alessandro Albani (1692-1779) made the celebrated art collection of the Villa Albani at Rome.
ALBANI, Alessandro (1692-1779). A nephew of Pope Clement XI., created cardinal by Innocent XIII. in 1721. He was born at Urbino, and was a brother of Annibale Albani. Under Maria Theresa, he served as minister at the papal court and crown-protector of Austria. After his death his collection (at Rome) of statues and other worlds of art was bought by George III.
ALBANI, Emma (1851—). The stage name of Marie Louise Cecilia Emma Lajeunesse. A Canadian dramatic soprano. She was born at Chambly, near Montreal, November 1, 1851. She made her first public appearance at Albany, N. Y., when but twelve years old. She studied under Duprez, of Paris, and Lamperti, of Milan, made her début at Messina as Amina in La Sonnambula (1870), and has sung in opera in London, Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg, and many cities of the United States. Among her impersonations are: Senta in the Flying Dutchman, Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, Elsa in Lohengrin, Marguerite, Lucia, Mignon, Ophelia, and Isolde. Madame Albani has also sung in oratorio. She married Mr. Gye, of London, in 1878. Consult H. S. Edward's, The Prima Donna (London, 1888).
ALBANI, Francesco (1578-1660). An Italian painter of the Carracci School, the lifelong friend of Guido Reni. He was born and lived chiefly at Bologna. He leaned to the classical in subject, and although he was styled the Anacreon of painting, his manner was far removed from the dignified simplicity of Greek art. His figures were charming and graceful, but were gay and sportive rather than dignified. Albani opened an academy in Rome, and it is in that city that the chief memorials of his works are to be found. By a second marriage he became the father of twelve children, all of whom were so beautiful that they served as models for his most famous paintings. Among his chief works are the frescoes of scenes from Ovid in the Torlonia Palace and "Four Seasons" in the Borghese Gallery, Rome; "Cupids Dancing" and ten others at Dresden; "Cupids Disarmed," "The Toilette of Venus," and thirteen others in the Louvre.
ALBANI, Matthias. The name of two famous Tyrolese violin makers, father and son. The father was born in 1621 at Bozen. He was a pupil of Stainer. The son studied with the masters of violin making at Cremona, and afterward settled at Rome. He died in 1673. The instruments he made between the years 1702 and 1709 are exceedingly valuable, and are by some considered equal to those of Amati.
ALBANI, Villa. The palace of the Albani family at Rome, containing a famous collection of antique works of art.
ALBANIA, 'il-bri'ni-a ; Mod. OK: .al'Bil-nG'a
(Turk. A rnnut I . . country in the western part
of the Balkan I'cninsula. embracing, in the wid-
est sense of the name, the Turkish vilayets of
Janina, Monastir, Scutari, and a part of Kos-
sovo (Map: Turkey in Europe, C 4). It takes
in ancient Illyria, most of Epirus, and parts of
Macedonia, and covers an area estimated at from
16,000 to 22,000 square miles, according as the
name is taken in a narrower or broader sense.
It borders on Montenegro and the Sanjak of
Novibazar on the north, Macedonia on the east,
Greece on the south, and the Adriatic Sea on the
west. The whole region is traversed hy numer-
ous high mountain chains, separated by long
and narrow valleys, running from northwest to
southeast. The elevated plateaus found among
the mountain chains are mostly fruitful and
well populated, and some of them inclose lakes.
The rivers of Albania, of which the most im-
portant are the Boyana, Drin, Devol, and Voyus-
sa, have an exceedingly tortuous course, on ac-
count of the mountainous character of the sur-
face. The climate is healthful and moderate,
and the soil for the most part fertile. Grain and
tobacco grow well, and the olive is cultivated ex-
tensively and exported on a considerable scale.
Some fish and sea salt are also exported. The
population of Albania, within the broader limits
given above, is probably not far from 2.000,000,
but Albania proper, or the legion which is in-
habited mainly by Albanians, has a much smaller
population. The Albanians, or Arnauts, who in
their own language call themselves Shkipetars
(Skipetars), are the descendants of the ancient
Illyrians, and occupy a unique position among
the Caucasian races. Only slightly civilized
and very warlike, they keep the country in a
constant state of turmoil. The differences in
religion of the various tribes, their strong feeling
of clanship, together with the warlike spirit of
the people. afford ample opportunity for civil
strife. In their form of government the Alba-
nians still retain some of the patriarchal insti-
tutions, and Turkish authority is only slightly
recognized. The Mohammedan religion is pro-
fessed by most of them, while the Christians
number 190,000, divided almost equally between
Roman and Greek Catholics. There are nearly
200,000 Albanians in Greece, found chiefly in
Attica, Megaris. and the islands of the Ægean;
about 100,000 in southern Italy, and smaller
groups in the Slavonic provinces of southern
Austria. The turbulent tribes which inhabited
the region in antiquity resisted all attempts at
subjugation, and except during the reign of
Pyrrhus of Epirus (206-272 B.C.) never acknowl-
edged any supreme authority. In the Middle
Ages the inhabitants displayed the same obsti-
nacy in their resistance to the Turkish power.
Their great leader, George Castriota, or Scander-
beg (1404-68), overwhelmed twenty-three Otto-
man armies, some of them commanded by the
sultan in person, and though after the fall of
Scutari, in 1478, the nominal authority of the
Porte was acknowledged, the country at all
times enjoved a very large measure of freedom.
From 1807' to 1822 Albania was practically inde-
pendent under the rule of AH Pasha (q.v.), the
Lion of Janina. The feeling of inveterate hos-
tility for the Greeks kept the Albanians from
embracing their cause in the war of liberation.
Consult: H. Callan, "Albania and the Albanians,^'
in Scottish Geographical Magazine, Volume XV.
(Edinburgh, 1889); P. Traeger. "Mittheilungen
und Funde aus Albanien," in Zeitschrift für
Ethnologie, Volume XXXII. (Berlin, 1900).
ALBA'NIAN LAN'GUAGE. The Albanian
