Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/92

ALB prince-bishop of Liege in 1191. His election was set aside by the emperor, Henry VI., who appointed Lotharius to the vacant see, but was confirmed by Pope Celestin II. In 1192, Albert was, at the instigation of the emperor and Lotharius, cruelly murdered by three German assassins at Rheims.  ALBERT was elected prince-bishop of Liege in 1194, and, by his gentle and beneficent administration, made himself popular, but disgraced his clerical character by the most barefaced simony. Died in 1200.  ALBERT, Bishop of Livonia, but a native of Germany, instituted in 1204, with the authorization of Pope Innocent III., a monaco-military order for the propagation of Christianity, and, what was more in accordance with the undertaking, several missionary colleges. Died at Riga in 1230.—E. M.    ALBERT I., Archbishop of Magdeburg, was ordained a bishop, and sent at the head of a mission to Russia in 961; but the perils and hardships he encountered soon forced him to return. In December, 968, he was installed first archbishop of Magdeburg, and continued the conscientious and zealous discharge of his duties till his death in June, 981. He was a man of respectable attainments for the age, an ardent promoter of education, and indefatigable in missionary labours. His efforts to convert the Wends and other pagans to the east of the Elbe, were attended with much success.—E. M.  ALBERT, Count of Hallermonde, archbishop of Magdeburg and cardinal, effected a reconciliation between Philip of Suabia and Pope Innocent III., and was made papal legate for Germany. In 1210 he promulgated, though reluctantly, the pope's sentence of deposal against the Emperor Otho, and took part in the election of Frederick II. in 1212; he was twice taken prisoner by Otho's commanders, but on both occasions speedily rescued through the attachment and valour of his own troops and allies. Albert enjoyed the confidence of Frederick II., and was appointed his viceroy in Saxony during his absence in the crusade; and in capacity, discretion, and energy, was equal to any of the most distinguished statesmen of the age.—E. M.  ALBERT III., Count of Sternberg, archbishop of Magdeburg, to which see he was appointed through the influence of Charles IV., under whom he had enjoyed the dignity of chancellor, lived in the latter half of the fourteenth century. He squandered his revenues so recklessly as to incur the anger of his subjects, from whose murmurs he at length took refuge in an exchange of his archbishopric for the bishopric of Leutermitz.—J. S., G.  ALBERT IV., Lord of Querfurt, archbishop of Magdeburg, an oppressive and turbulent prelate, who embroiled himself with his subjects on the question of tithes, and had recourse unsuccessfully to the terrors of the church. Died in 1403. <section end="92H" /> <section begin="92I" />ALBERT V., Cardinal-archbishop of Magdeburg, son of John, elector of Brandenburg, shortly after his election in 1583 became also bishop of Halberstadt, and, in the year following, archbishop of Mayence. The three dignities cost him thirty thousand ducats, a sum the half of which the pope allowed him to raise by the sale of indulgences. He was a special enemy of Luther and his creed, was one of those most eager to have the reformer brought before the edict of Worms, persecuted Lutheranism in his own dominions, and leagued with the elector of Brandenburg and the duke of Brunswick to suppress it elsewhere. To supplement his own care of the church, he assumed as his coadjutor one of his cousins, but his efforts against the spread of the new doctrines were unavailing. He was forced to conclude a treaty with the protestant electors at Nuremberg in 1532; and although he afterwards exhibited, when he could, that rancour against the enemies of the church for which he was caressed by the pope, and bitterly denounced by Luther, his persecution of the protestants of Halle in 1534, his accession to the catholic league in 1538, and his measures in general, only diffused what they were intended to suppress. Four years before his death in 1545, Halle, Magdeburg, and Halberstadt were protestant cities, or at least had obtained toleration for the protestant faith.—J. S., G. <section end="92I" /> <section begin="92J" /> <section end="92J" /> <section begin="92K" />ALBERT I. or ALBRECHT, Archbishop of Mayence, was the son of Sigebert, count of Saarbruck, and chancellor to the Emperor Henry V. He owed his elevation to the episcopal dignity to the favour of the emperor, to whom he nevertheless exhibited the utmost ingratitude, for when, in 1112, the council of Vienna excommunicated Henry, Albert immediately declared against him. On the death of Henry V. in 1125, he convoked the diet for the election of a new emperor; and in the hostilities which subsequently took place between Lotharius and Frederick, the rival candidates for the crown, he exhibited great zeal in behalf of the former. Died in 1137.—F. <section end="92K" /> <section begin="92L" />ALBERT II., Archbishop of Mayence, succeeded his brother Albert I. in the archiepiscopal dignity in 1138. In 1141 he joined in the attempt made by the Saxon nobility to annul the election of the Emperor Conrad. He died in the same year. <section end="92L" /> <section begin="92M" />ALBERT, Elector of Mentz or Mayence, the youngest son of John, surnamed Cicero, elector of Brandenburg, was born June 28, 1490. In 1513 he was chosen archbishop of Magdeburg, and in the following month, administrator of the diocese of Halberstadt. In 1514 he was elected archbishop and prince-elector of Mayence. Having involved himself in debt, he applied to the pope for a commission to sell indulgences within his own diocese. A bull was granted for three years, on the stipulation that the profits should be divided between him and the pope. He employed as his agent the well-known Tetzel, whose conduct was so scandalous, that Luther wrote a letter of remonstrance, which was, however, entirely disregarded. In 1518 Albert was created a cardinal. From the agitation which these indulgence sales had created, he had for some time suspended or relaxed the traffic; but in 1521, when Luther was in Wartburg, he commenced it with renewed activity in the churches of Halle, where he was then residing with his court. Luther wrote him a second letter, which was expressed in bold and defiant terms. Albert returned a conciliatory answer. In 1525 the peasants' war, which especially threatened the ecclesiastical states, caused him great alarm. He was then urged to profess the new opinions, to many, and to secularize his dioceses, as the only means of preserving them. He was almost persuaded. Through his privy councillor Rühel, he requested Luther to prepare the people for this bold measure, by setting forth the advantages certain to result from it. This Luther did in a letter addressed to him, and intended to be published to the world; but the peasants' war having come to a termination, the cardinal renounced all thoughts of the proposed measure. At the diet at Augsburg in 1530, he made great efforts to restore harmony between the Roman catholics and protestants, and many were led to believe that his convictions inclined to the Reformation. But after that he became increasingly averse to tolerate the new opinions within his own territory. His own town of Magdeburg having joined the Schmalkald league, he pressed the emperor to place it under the ban of the empire, as had been previously done with his approbation in 1527; but such was the timidity of his disposition, that, afraid of involving himself in difficulties or dangers, he interposed in both cases to prevent the execution of the sentence. In early life he was the patron of literature, and corresponded with Erasmus, whose Greek New Testament he highly eulogized, and to whom he sent the present of a silver cup of considerable value. He died September 24, 1545.—(Seckendorfii, Hist. Luth. Jortin's Life of Erasmus. D'Aubigne's Hist. of Ref.)—J. A. <section end="92M" /> <section begin="92N" /> <section end="92N" /> <section begin="92O" />ALBERT I. or ALBRECHT, Duke of Mecklenburg, succeeded his father, Henry IV., at an early age, and distinguished himself by his patriotic efforts to rid his country of the brigands by whom it was infested. Died in 1375. <section end="92O" /> <section begin="92P" />ALBERT II., Duke of Mecklenburg, son of the preceding, was, before his father's death, elected king of Sweden (1363), by the states-general, who were dissatisfied with the government of Magnus Eriksen, and his son Hako. The earlier years of his reign were occupied in opposing the attempts of Hako to recover the sovereignty. At a later period Margaretta of Denmark laid claim to the crown, and was supported by the Swedish nobility. She defeated Albert in 1388. He remained a prisoner far several years, and was only released on the payment of a heavy ransom. A few years after, heart-broken and weary, he retired into a convent, leaving his rival in undisturbed possession of the throne. He died in 1412.—J. B. <section end="92P" /> <section begin="92Q" /> <section end="92Q" /> <section begin="92Rnop" />ALBERT I. or ALBRECHT, Duke-elector of Saxony, succeeded his father, Duke Bernard, in 1212. Matthew Paris relates that his stature was so gigantic, that, when he visited London, he was an object of universal interest and astonishment. He distinguished himself in the war with Waldemar II. of Denmark, and in the crusades, having accompanied Frederick II. to the East in 1228. He died in 1260. <section end="92Rnop" />