Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/98

ALB ALBIN,, a painter, who flourished in the middle of the last century at London, and distinguished himself as an able illustrator of works on natural history.  ALBINA,, surnamed , a Sicilian painter, sculptor, and architect, who died at Palermo in 1611.  ALBINEUS,, an alchemist of Geneva, who lived in the latter part of the seventeenth century, author of a work entitled "Bibliotheca Chemica Contracta."  ALBINI,, an Italian historical painter, born at Bologna in 1568, died in 1630. He was a pupil of Lodovico Caracci, and worked especially in his native town, where he left many works highly praised both for conception and execution.  ALBINI,, a distinguished German diplomatist, born in 1748. In 1787, while in the service of Frederic Charles, elector of Mayence, he attracted the attention of the Emperor Joseph II., and was honoured with several missions to the courts of Germany. After the accession of Leopold II. he was appointed chancellor of the court of Mayence, and his administration of the affairs of the electorate was such as to command at once the confidence of his sovereign and the gratitude of the people. Died at Diesburg in 1816.—J. S., G.  ALBINIUS,, a Roman citizen of plebeian origin, commended in history for an act of piety to the vestal virgins. In his flight from Rome, 390 ., then threatened by the Gauls, he overtook the priestesses of Vesta, and, descending from his carriage with his family, he caused the vestals to mount and proceed out of danger.—J. S., G.  ALBINOVANUS, C., an epic poet of considerable fame in his own day, and a friend of the poet Ovid. Three elegies attributed to him find a place in the collections of the "Lesser Latin Poets."  ALBINUS. See. <section end="98H" /> <section begin="98I" />ALBINUS,, a distinguished scholar of the seventeenth century, and an intimate friend of Luther and Melancthon, born at Lauban in 1513. He betook himself to various studies in that unsettled age, but ultimately was a teacher of law at Frankfort-on-the-Oder, and held a high legal position under one of the reigning dukes of Brandenburg. Died in 1590. <section end="98I" /> <section begin="98J" />ALBINUS,, a Roman general who served in Britain under the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, and on the assassination of Pertinax became a claimant for the empire. After some time spent in negotiations, he was defeated, and taken prisoner at Lyons by his rival, Septimus Severus, and immediately put to death,. 198. <section end="98J" /> <section begin="98K" />ALBINUS,, a German poet, was born at Coburg, became professor of Latin poetry at Leipzig, and died in 1607. <section end="98K" /> <section begin="98L" />ALBINUS or WEISS,, born in 1624 at Unter-Neisse, and died at Naumburg in 1679. He was connected with one of the fraternities of poets then prevalent in Germany, and has left a variety of compositions. <section end="98L" /> <section begin="98M" />ALBINUS or WEISS,, a German poet and historian, professor of poetry and mathematics at Wittemberg, and afterwards secretary to the elector of Dresden. Died in 1598. <section end="98M" /> <section begin="98N" />ALBINUS or WEISS, a family of German physicians. Of these we notice:—

, a German physician, professor of medicine at Frankfort-on-the-Oder, and afterwards at Leyden, was born at Dessau in 1653, and died in 1721. He is the author of numerous dissertations on professional subjects. His lectures were published long after his death under the title of "The Causes and Symptoms of Diseases."

, son of the preceding, an anatomist of great celebrity, professor of anatomy and surgery at the university of Leyden, was born at Frankfort-on-the-Oder in 1696. Not satisfied with the instructions he received from his father and other equally distinguished professors of Leyden, he went to reside a year in France, and became the friend of the most celebrated anatomist of that country. His success as a professor rewarded his labours as a student. Died in 1770. His works are numerous and highly esteemed.

, a brother of the foregoing, was born in 1696, and taught anatomy at Utrecht.

, another brother, born at Leyden in 1715, succeeded Bernard Sigfried as professor of medicine and surgery.—J. S., G. <section end="98N" /> <section begin="98O" />ALBINUS DI VILLANOVA,, an astrologer and alchemist, lived at the beginning of the 17th century, and wrote a treatise on his favourite sciences. <section end="98O" /> <section begin="98P" />AL-BIRUNIUS; ; an Arabian astronomer and geometrician of the eleventh century. He wrote a number of works, e.g., on spherical superficies; on the motions of the stars; on the trisection of the angle and the duplication of the cube; on the determination of time; commenting on the Almagest, &c., &c. He was a great traveller, and had penetrated into the Indies.—J. P. N. <section end="98P" /> <section begin="98Q" />ALBISSON,, a French jurist, born at Montpellier, 1732, died 1810, published several works on jurisprudence. <section end="98Q" /> <section begin="98R" />ALBITTE,, a member of the French convention, and one of the most ferocious of the Jacobins. Escaping the perils to which, after the fall of Robespierre, his atrocities exposed him, he became an ardent adherent of Napoleon, and after long service as an administrative functionary in the army, perished in 1812, during the retreat from Moscow.—E. M. <section end="98R" /> <section begin="98S" />ALBIUS,, or , an English jesuit of the seventeenth century, remarkable for his mathematical genius, and author of a treatise on geometry. <section end="98S" /> <section begin="98T" />ALBIZZI,, or , a Franciscan monk, a very voluminous writer, who attained great notoriety as author of a work, entitled "Conformities of St. Francis to Jesus Christ." He died at Pisa in 1401. <section end="98T" /> <section begin="98U" />ALBIZZI,, leader of the Guelphs at Florence, and one of the three directors of the republic from 1372 to 1378. When overpowered by a conspiracy of the Ghibeline—papal and democratic—party in 1379, he magnanimously required his judges to order the immediate, though unjust, execution of himself and colleagues, to appease the infuriated populace, who declared tha: unless the Guelph leaders were immediately put to death by the executioner, they would instantly tear them to pieces, and commence a massacre of their friends and families.—E. M. <section end="98U" /> <section begin="98V" />ALBIZZI,, son of , was left under the care of his father's judicious and faithful friend, Nicolo d'Uzzano, after whose death in 1433, he was hurried by wilfulness and incapacity into a series of measures which proved disastrous to the public, and terminated in his being driven into exile in 1434, from which he was never able to return. Died at Ancona in 1452. <section end="98V" /> <section begin="98W" />ALBIZZI,, or , nephew of , and leader of the Florentine republic from 1382 to 1417, was born in 1347, and died in 1417. He was exiled at the time his uncle was put to death, but was recalled in 1382. His patriotism, talents, and energy rendered his long administration the most glorious period in the annals of Florence. <section end="98W" /> <section begin="98X" />ALBO,, a Spanish rabbi, born towards the end of the fourteenth century, author of a famous work, entitled "Ikkarim," i.e., "Foundations," being a defence of Judaism, and an attack on Christianity. Albo is celebrated also for the part he took in a public discussion before the anti-pope, Benedict XIII. <section end="98X" /> <section begin="98Y" />ALBOIN, founder of the Lombard kingdom in Italy, succeeded in 561 his father Audoin as king of the Lombards, then in Pannonia; all but exterminated, in 566, the Gepidæ; espoused as his second wife Rosamond, daughter of their king, whom he had slain; crossed the Alps in 568 at the head of an immense army, comprehending auxiliaries from various nations; took possession of the whole north of Italy, and, by the capture of Pavia after a siege of three years, completed his conquest, making Pavia his capital; and was murdered in 573 at Verona, by his own armour-bearer.—E. M. <section end="98Y" /> <section begin="98YA" />ALBON,, an accomplished but rather whimsical French landed proprietor and writer, a devoted follower of the great economist Quesnay, and author of several works on economical and historical subjects. <section end="98YA" /> <section begin="98YB" />* ALBONI,, an Italian singer, whose musical powers, natural and acquired, have awakened vast admiration, during her professional visits to most of the capitals of Europe, was born in 1824 at Cesena, a small town in Romagna. <section end="98YB" /> <section begin="98YC" />ALBONI,, a Bolognese landscape painter, born in 1677, died in 1734. He left Italy when still young, and proceeded to Germany, where he adopted a style mixed of the Dutch and Flemish.—R. M. <section end="98YC" /> <section begin="98YD" />ALBORESI,, an Italian painter, whose excellence lay in painting architectural views in fresco, was born at Bologna in 1622, and died in 1677. <section end="98YD" /> <section begin="98YEnop" />ALBORNOZ,, a learned Spanish ecclesiastic, who flourished in the seventeenth century, author of an excellent work on "Virtues and Vices," in the order of the alphabet; and translator of Bissachioni's "Civil Wars of England." <section end="98YEnop" />