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ALA from the duke of Lerma, and ultimately obtained important offices under the government. Died in 1640.—E. M.  ALAMUNDAR, an Arab prince, who, after invading Palestine in 509, and massacring a great number of Christian anchorites who lived in the desert, is said to have been converted, and to have become an anchorite himself.  ALAN, bishop of Caithness, became chancellor of Scotland in 1291, and died a few months afterwards. He is the reputed author of two works in Latin, entitled "Super Regalitatem Roberti Brussii," and "Epistolæ ad Robertum Brussium."  ALAN, a divine of the fifteenth century, was educated at Cambridge, and celebrated as a preacher and expounder of scripture, though too much given to allegorizing. He entered a Carmelite order in his native town, where he died.  ALAN, author of a treatise on the life and exile of Thomas A'Becket, and of some other works; died 1201.  ALAN or ALLEN or ALLEYN,, cardinal of the Roman catholic church. He was born of a good family in the county of Lancaster, 1532, and educated at Oxford, where, at the age of twenty-four, in 1556, he was made principal of St. Mary's Hall. In 1558 he received a canonry of York, but his hopes of further promotions were destroyed by the accession of Queen Elizabeth. Alan left England in 1560, and retired to Louvain; but in 1565 he returned secretly, and exerted himself in the interests of his church. His zeal rendered him obnoxious, and after many narrow escapes, he arrived safely in Flanders in 1568. After lecturing at Malines with great success, he went to Douay, where he established a seminary for the English youth of his own religion. He was employed as one of the translators of the New Testament, known as the Rheims translation, published 1582, and which forms part of the Douay Bible, at which place the Old Testament was published in 1609, after Alan's death. He now entered more heartily than ever into the cause of his church, and allowed all feelings of loyalty and honour to be merged in fanaticism. He wrote in defence of Sir J. Stanley's base surrender of Daveirleux, and having been made cardinal in 1578, by the title of S. Martin de Montibus, he, the year after, drew up his famous "Declaration of the Sentence of Sixtus V. against Queen Elizabeth," and his "Admonition to the Nobility and People of England." The Armada was plentifully supplied with copies of these tracts, but after its failure they were bought up and destroyed. In 1588 he was appointed archbishop of Malines by the king of Spain, but the pope would not allow him to leave Rome, where he died in 1594. Besides the works mentioned above, he wrote a "Defence of the Power of the Priesthood to Remit Sins;" "A Treatise on the Sacraments;" and "A modest Defence of English Catholics."—J. B., O.  ALAND. See.  ALANDUS, principal of the Jesuit college of Nieswicz in Lithuania, and author of several ascetic treatises, and of a biography of Prince Nicolas Radziwill, founder of his college, was born at Leopol in 1561, and died at Nieswicz in 1641. <section end="85H" /> <section begin="85I" />ALARCO´N,, a Spanish historian, born in 1636, was a son of the marquis of Trocifal, and was thus descended from one of the most illustrious families in Spain. After studying at Salamanca, he joined the army and served for a short time under his father against the Moors at Ceuta in Africa. He then retired from the service, and devoted himself to writing a history of his famous ancestors, which embraces the period from 1177 to the seventeenth century. But the book is occupied chiefly with the exploits of Don Fernando de Alarcon. He died as soon as the work was finished, at the age of 27.—J. B. <section end="85I" /> <section begin="85J" />ALARCO´N,, Marques de Valle Siciliana y de Renda, born in 1466, a distinguished Spanish warrior, who was known as "Del Senor Alarcon." He took part in the wars of Grenada and Italy; after the battle of Pavia, was intrusted with the custody of Francis I. of France; and, on the capture of Rome in 1527, had charge of the person of Pope Clement VII. His life and exploits form the principal part of the chronicle written by his kinsman, Don Antonio Suarez de Alarcon.—J. B. <section end="85J" /> <section begin="85K" />ALARCO´N,, the founder of the house of Alarcon, so distinguished in arms and letters in the history of Spain. His family name was originally Zevallos; but having, in the reign of Alfonzo VIII. of Castile, taken the fortress of Alarcon, in the province of Cuenca, from the Moors, he was appointed to its command, and assumed its name. He lived in the twelfth century.—J. B. <section end="85K" /> <section begin="85L" />ALARCO´N,, a Spanish navigator of the sixteenth century, who ascertained that California, previously believed to be an island, was a peninsula. Sailing from Acapulco in May, 1540, he proceeded to explore the coasts of California. and, on his return in 1541, presented to the viceroy an interesting narrative of his voyage, accompanied with accurate charts and maps. Alarcon was not the first who made this discovery. Another navigator, Hernando d'Ulloa, returning to Acapulco two or three weeks after Alarcon's departure, made the same announcement as the result of his observations. The discovery was further verified by Melchior Diaz, an officer in the land expedition of discovery, despatched simultaneously with Alarcon. Diaz, after surmounting incredible difficulties, reached the shores of the Pacific, and the spot where the two expeditions had been directed to meet. On a solitary tree he found a Spanish inscription, desiring the reader to examine the papers deposited at the foot of the tree. These stated that Alarcon had found that California was a peninsula. As the policy of the Spanish government was to conceal geographical discoveries, it appears that so late as 1716, the navigator Wood Rogers was still in doubt whether or not California was connected with the continent. The date and circumstances of Alarcon's death are unknown.—E. M. <section end="85L" /> <section begin="85M" />ALARCO´N Y MENDOZA,, a celebrated Spanish dramatic poet, who flourished in the reign of Philip IV. He is generally supposed to have been a native of Tacho in Mexico, but of noble Spanish descent. He resided in Spain from an early age, studied jurisprudence, and held an important government office in the colonial department. His dramas exhibit great originality, as well as classical purity and elegance of diction. They breathe a tone of generous and dignified sentiment, and, for the most part, illustrate some important moral truths. During his lifetime, however, he did not attain popularity, though his pre-eminent merits were duly appreciated by the discerning and impartial few. Corneille's piece, entitled "Le Menteur," is avowedly a close imitation of one of Alarcon's dramas; and that illustrious Frenchman often expressed, in the strongest terms, his high admiration of the Spanish original. Alarcon's works are only to be found in collections of Spanish dramas. The precise dates of his birth and of his death are uncertain.—E. M. <section end="85M" /> <section begin="85N" />ALARD or ADALARD, viscount of Flanders, lived in the eleventh century, and is commemorated as founder of the Domerie, or hospital of Aubræ, in connection with which mediæval legends detail various pretended miracles. <section end="85N" /> <section begin="85O" />ALARD or ADELARD, a Dutch ecclesiastic, born at Amsterdam in 1490. He was noted as a Latin and Greek scholar, and has left behind him a great many works on literature and controversy. He died at Louvain in 1544. <section end="85O" /> <section begin="85P" />ALARD,, a theologian, born at Brussels about the beginning of the sixteenth century. He belonged to a Roman catholic family, and was himself a preacher of that faith, but afterwards became a Lutheran, for which he incurred the displeasure of his family, especially of his mother, who denounced him to the Inquisition. His life was attempted, but he succeeded in making his escape to Oldenburg. Twice after this he returned home, and as often was obliged to flee. He settled at last as pastor of Wilster in Holstein, where he died in 1578. He wrote several works, none of which are of much note.—J. B. <section end="85P" /> <section begin="85Q" />ALARD,, son of William, born at Krempen in 1602. He studied at Leipzig, and became a pastor at Brünsbüttel in Denmark. He wrote several works in prose and verse. <section end="85Q" /> <section begin="85R" />ALARD,, born at Tönnigen in 1683, studied at Kiel, and became pastor of various congregations, and finally of the cathedral at Hamburg. He is the author of various works; that best known being a "Biography of his Ancestors," which treats chiefly of his great grandfather, the persecuted Francis Alard. He died in 1756. <section end="85R" /> <section begin="85S" />ALARD,, son of Francis, born in 1572, was, after distinguishing himself at Wittemberg, made in 1595 joint rector of the college of Krempen, and afterwards pastor of the church there. He wrote several Latin treatises, and died in 1644. <section end="85S" /> <section begin="85Zcontin" />ALARIC, the first captor of the city of Rome, subsequent to the days of its glory, was born about the middle of the fourth century, and sprang from the royal Gothic family of the Baltai. The tribe or nation of the Visigoths, to which he belonged, crossed the river Danube in his childhood, driven onward by vast hosts of Huns, who pressed forward from the wilds of Asia and northern Europe, and laid waste the ancient territory of the Goths. They had at first entered the Roman <section end="85Zcontin" />