Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/529

Rh ALEXANDER 491 by purchase the books and manuscripts of Queen Christina to the Vatican library. He died in Feb. 1691. ALEXANDER I., King of Scotland, son of Malcolm Canmore, succeeded his brother Edgar in 1107, and died in 1124. He was better educated than any of his prede cessors, owing to the care of his mother, the amiable Mar garet of England. All the qualities of his nature, both good and bad, were strongly marked; from the terror he inspired, he was styled by his subjects the Fierce. His reign is distinguished by the determined opposition he offered to any interference on the part of English bishops in the affairs of the Scottish Church. He contrived by energy and valour to subdue the turbulence of his kingdom; specially noticeable are the promptness and vigour he dis played in suppressing the insurrection of Angus, grandson of Lulach, a son of Macbeth s queen. He died at Stir ling, and, being childless, was succeeded by his brother David I. ALEXANDER II., King of Scotland, was born at Had- dington in 1198 (died 1249), and succeeded his father, William the Lion, in 1214. Though still young, he exhi bited the same prudence and firmness which marked his whole conduct in life. He was excommunicated in 1216 for associating with the English barons in their opposition to King John; but his prudence enabled him to recover the good opinion of the pope, and placed him on the best footing with the English king, Henry III., John s successor. His fidelity to Henry was shown by the assistance he rendered him in protecting, during Henry s absence in France, the northern borders of England, and the friendliness of the kings was strengthened by the marriage of Alexander to Henry s sister Joan (1221). Joan died in 1238, and in May 1239 Alexander married Mary de Coucy. In 1244 Henry marched against Scot land to force from Alexander the homage due to him for the lands he held in the north of England, but in August a peace was concluded at Newcastle. Like Alexander I., he was zealous in defence of the privileges of the Scottish Church; and in 1222 he put to death 400 persons who had been implicated in the murder of the bishop of Caithness. While engaged in quelling an insurrection in Argyleshire, he died of fever in the island of Kerrera in 1249. ALEXANDER III., King of Scotland, son of Alexander II. by his second wife, Mary de Coucy, was born at Rox burgh on the 4th September 1241 (died 1286), and suc- ceded to the throne on the death of his father in 1249. The fact that in this case the succession of a minor was unopposed is noteworthy, as showing that the hereditary principle had now established itself. By a provision of the treaty of Newcastle Alexander had been betrothed in infancy to the daughter of the king of England, and it suited Henry s policy to insist on an early fulfilment of the contract. Notwithstanding the extreme youth of the parties, the marriage was celebrated at York on the 25th December 1251. On this occasion Alexander is said by Matthew Paris to have done homage for his estates in England, and to have refused homage for his kingdom of Scotland, on the ground that he had not consulted on the matter with his proper advisers. The story, however, seems inconsistent with Henry s policy at the time, and is therefore questionable. With a king so young, in times so unsettled, the hopes and efforts of contending factions were naturally stimulated. At. the commencement of his reign Alexander was under the power of the Comyns, the most influential family among the Scottish nobility. A rival party, under the leadership of Durward the justiciar, was supported by England, and in 1254 succeeded in seizing Edinburgh castle, and freeing the king and queen from the domination of the Comyns. Meanwhile Henry had him self marched to Scotland with an army, and in September he met Alexander at Roxburgh. There a regency was arranged, from which the Comyns were entirely excluded. In 1257, however, the latter regained their ascendancy, and obtained possession of the person of the king, whom they kept prisoner at Kinross and Stirling. In the fol lowing year a new regency was formed, in which both the opposing parties were represented, and the king was liberated. In 1260 he and his queen paid a visit to the court of England. While at Windsor the queen gave birth to a daughter, Margaret, afterwards married to Eric of Norway. An account of the invasion of Scotland in 1263 by Haco, king of Norway, and of the disastrous defeat at Largs, belongs rather to the history of the country than to the personal biography of the king. Three years after the invasion, Magnus, king of Norway, ceded to Alexander the Isle of Man and the Western Isles, receiving in return a ransom of a thousand marks and an annual rent of a hundred marks. The Orkney and Shet land islands still remained under the dominion of Norway. Alexander was involved in a protracted and on the whole successful struggle with the papal power for the independ ence of the Scottish Church. The chief matter in dispute was the proper valuation of church lands for the purpose of taxation. In connection with this, Boiamund or Bagi- mond came from Rome in 1275 with a commission to draw up the valution known as Bagimond s roll, which remained the basis for the taxation of church lands down to the time of the Reformation. The internal condition of the country seems to have improved greatly during the latter years of Alexander s reign. A wise and vigorous administration ensured peace and consequent prosperity. The prospect of Scotland was perhaps never brighter in all her early his tory than towards the close of his reign, but it was sud denly overcast. A series of calamities, following each other in quick succession, left the nation at the mercy of its foes within and without. In 1275 Alexander s wife died, and a few years later he lost both his children. The succession in the direct line was thus left to the precarious chance of the single life of the infant princess known in history as the &quot;Maid of Norway.&quot; In 1285 Alexander married Joletta, daughter of the Count of Dreux. Any hope of strengthening the succession by this union was, however, destroyed by the calamitous event of the following year. On the 12th March 1286 the king was killed by a fall from his horse while riding on the coast of Fife opposite Edinburgh. A spot near Kinghorn, known as the King s Wud End, is pointed out as the scene of the tragical event. The death of Alexander was a turning-point in Scottish history. The national independence, which he maintained so steadfastly against the insidious claims of England, while avoiding an open rupture, was once more placed in jeopardy. The popular estimate of the calamity is well expressed in the following lines, believed to be the earliest specimen of Scotch poetry extant: &quot; Quhen Alysander our kyng was dede, That Scotland led in luve and le, Awaye was sons of ale and brede, Of wyne and wax, of gamyn and g!4. Our gold was changyd into lede. Cryst, born into virgynyte, Succour Scotland and remede, That stad is in perplexyte.&quot; ALEXANDER, PAULOVICH, Emperor of Russia born on 28th December 1777, died 1825 was the son of Paul, afterwards emperor, by Maria, daughter of Prince Eugene of Wiirtemberg. His early education was conducted under his excellent mother, and afterwards was carefully directed by his grandmother, the Empress Catherine II., who con-