173 



ALTHORP, LORD. 



ALVARADO, PEDRO DE. 



174 



At last, in 1821, the council-general of Vaucluse remembered Althen, 

 and to acquit its debt of gratitude, voted a marble tablet to be placed 

 in the Calvet Museum at Avignon, with the following inscription : 

 " To Jean Althen, a Persian, who introduced and first cultivated madder 

 in the territory of Avignon, under the auspices of M. le Marquia de 

 Caumont in M.DCC.LXV., the Council-General of Vaucluse M.DCCC.XXI." 



(Portraid et Hutoires des Uommes Utiiea, publics par la SocUU 

 Montyon.) 



ALTHORP, LORD. [SPEXCER, EARL.] 



ALUNNO, NICCOLO, one of the old Umbrian painters of the 

 15th century, less known than he deserves to be. There are very few 

 of his works extant, and Vasari notices him only in the ' Life of Pin- 

 turicchio,' and treats him as his contemporary. Mariotti however, in 

 lua ' Lettere Pittoriche I'erugine," states that Alunno was established 

 as a painter at Foligno a? early as 1460, and that he painted at least 

 two years before that date. He was a, native of Foliguo, and his works 

 are signed 'Opus Nicolai Fulginatis,' or 'Nicolai Fulginatis Opus;' 

 but there was a Niccolo Deliberatore, likewise of Foligno, and there- 

 fore all the works with this signature may not be by Alunno. 



His chief works were in a chapel of the cathedral of Assisi, of which 

 there is now scarcely a trace left ; Vasari speaks of a Pieth as a part, 

 with two angels bearing torches, and weeping so naturally, that in hia 

 opinion no painter could have done them much better. Besides which 

 Vasari mentions as capital works, a Nativity, in the church of Sant' 

 Agostino, at Foligno ; an altar-piece for San Francesco, and another 

 for the high altar of the cathedral of Assisi. There is still at Foligno, 

 over a side altar of the church of San Nicoolu, a picture of that saint 

 and the infant Christ, which was painted by Alunno in 1492 : it had 

 formerly a predella, or a long picture in various compartments, which 

 served it originally as a base, according to the old Italian custom with 

 altar-pieces ; but being one of the paintings which the French thought 

 fit to send to Paris, it was returned at the general restoration of the 

 plundered works oi art, without its predella, which is now in the 

 gallery of the Louvre. It contains six pictures, one of which is an 

 allegorical piece, of two angels holding a scroll, upon which are written 

 some verses which are legible with difficulty, celebrating the abilities 

 of Alunno, and the generosity of a lady of the name of Bressida. The 

 other five pictures are from the life of Christ. They are drawn in a 

 dry and meagre style, and are very brown in colouring, and have 

 strong contrasting jiahta; but they have much expression, and are j 

 executed with facility. Alunno excelled in expression ; he was in the 

 habit, in his large pictures, of painting the heads from the life, which 

 gave them a truth and reality not found in the works of many of his 

 contemporaries. The period of his death is not known, but he painted 

 aft-r 1500; he painted in the old manner in water-colours, or a tem- 

 pera, Alnnno painted also some standards used in religious proces- 

 sions; they are called Gonfaloni. There is still extant a gonfalone 

 of this description by him, made of very fine canvass, in the church 

 of Santa Maria Nuova, at Perugia, with the inscription " Soeietas 

 Annunciata fecit fieri hoe opus, 1466." 



(Vasari, Vite M PUtori, ic. ; Lanzi, Storia P'Morlca, ic. ; Rumohr, 

 Italicnische. Forschunyen.) 



ALURED, ALRED, or ALFRED, of Beverley, an English historian, 

 who lived in the 12th century. He is the author of an Epitome of 

 British History, from the time of the fabulous Brutus to the 29th year 

 of the reign of Henry L, which Thomas Hearne published at Oxford 

 in 1716, under the title of ' The Annals of Alured of Beverley.' It 

 is written in a Latin style remarkable for its correctness, considering 

 the age in which the author lived : and more attention appears to be 

 paid in it to the dates of the events recorded than in most of our 

 ancient chronicles. It exhibits however in many places so strong a 

 resemblance to the similar work which bears the name of Geoffrey of 

 Honmouth, that Leland, and others after him, have considered it to 

 be merely an abridgment of Geoffrey's work. On the other hand, it 

 would rather seem that Alured's History was really published before 

 that of Geoffrey, so that, where they agree in expression, the plagiarism 

 or copying ought probably to be charged upon the latter. Geoffrey's 

 work has always been regarded as principally a translation from a 

 British or Annoric original ; and he and Alured may have drawn their 

 information, to a considerable extent, from the same sources. Of the 

 personal history of Alured, the little that has been handed down rests 

 entirely on the worthless authority of Bale, in hia ' Illustrium Jla^nts 

 Britannia Scriptorum Catalogus, a Japheto, per 3620 Annos.' He is 

 naid to have been born in the town of Beverley, in Yorkshire ; to have 

 received his education at Cambridge, where he became distinguished 

 for hU skill in divinity, as well as in various branches of profane 

 learning ; and having afterwards turned secular priest, to have beeu 

 made one of the canons and treasurer of the church of St. John in 

 his native town. His death is conjectured to have taken place in 

 1129, the year in which his annals terminate. Bale makes him the 

 author of many other works; but the catalogue appears to be manu- 

 factured by the process of representing each of the books of his annals 

 a* a distinct treatise. Among the works that have been attributed to 

 Alured is a Hi-tory of St. John of Beverley ; which the writer of his 

 life in the ' Biographia Britannica ' considers to be a collection of 

 charters and other records respecting that ecclesiastical foundation 

 still preserved among the Cottonian manuscripts in the British 

 Museum. But for the opinion that this collection is the history said 



to have been written by Alured, there do not appear to be sufficient 

 grounds. 



ALVARADO, PEDRO DE, one of the most distinguished of the 

 companions of Hernan Cortes in the conquest of Mexico. He was 

 born at Badajoz in Spanish Estremadura at the close of the 16th cen- 

 tury. His father was a knight of the order of St. James, and had the 

 ' Encomienda' of Lobon in that province. Pedro was one of many 

 sons. Having, with four or five of his brothers, crossed the Atlantic, 

 he was at Cuba in 1518, and was appointed to one of three vessels 

 fitted out by Velasquez, the governor, for exploring the American 

 coast, uuder the command of Grijalva. After touching at the island 

 of Cozumel (or Acozamil, the ' Isle of Swallows'), and several places 

 in Yuuatan, they sailed up the rivers Tabasco and de Banderas. They 

 were so much pleased with the appearance of the country, the culti- 

 vation of the fields and inclosures, the beauty of the Indian edifices, 

 and the signs of civilisation, that Grijalvi gave it the name of New 

 Spain. Here the Spaniards first heard of Montczuma and his exten- 

 sive empire. Alvarado was despatched to Cuba with a report of the 

 regions which they had explored; and all the gold which they had 

 collected. As Grijalva, by his instructions, was strictly forbidden to 

 colonise, he continued his course along the coast, visiting several points 

 and collecting more treasure. 



In February 1519 Cortes sailed from Havanua with 11 vessels; hia 

 force amounted to 508 officers and soldiers, and 109 seamen and 

 artificers. Alvarado had command of one of the vessels, and four 

 of his brothers embarked with him. The fleet was separated by a 

 storm, and Alvarado arrived at Cozumel, the appointed rendezvous, 

 three days before the rest. Cortes here reviewed his little army, held 

 council with his eleven captains, and prepared for immediate service. 



As Alvarado, although eminently distinguished in this campaign, 

 was only a secondary personage, the main eventa of it belong to the 

 biography of Cortes, but we occasionally fall upon individual traits 

 of a marked character peculiarly his owu, and which, painting to the 

 life the Spanish soldier of the age of Charles V., deserve a briet 

 record. In the first voyage with Grijalva he entered alone the river 

 Papaloava, and trusting himself among the natives, who were in that 

 quarter of doubtful temper, obtained from them fish, fruits, and other 

 supplies. Grijalva reprimanded him for ruuninp; into danger ; but the 

 sailors, admiring his intrepidity, gave the river the name of the young 

 officer, which it still retains El Rio Alvarado, the mouth of which 

 is about forty miles to the south-east of Vera Cruz. The estimation 

 in which he was held by Cortes is attested by the unbounded con- 

 fidence which he reposed in him. At the fight of Tabasco, the great 

 battle of Otumba, and the final reduction of the capital city after many 

 and great difficulties, dangers, and reverses, Alvarado was intrusted 

 with the most important operations, and mainly contributed to success. 

 When the shrewd vigilance of Cortes prompted him to oppose per- 

 sonally any interruption to his great design for the envious spirit 

 of Velasquez, the governor of Cuba, caused him frequent anxiety and 

 trouble on all such occasions he left the command with Alvarado, who 

 discharged his duties with unswerving fidelity. 



When Cortes was called away to meet Narvaez, who had been sent 

 by the governor of Cuba, with a force very superior to his own, to 

 dispossess him of his command, he left the city and the royal captive 

 in Alvarado's charge, with a force of a hundred and fifty men, accord- 

 ing to Herrera, but by Solis stated not to have exceeded eighty. During 

 the absence of tbe chief a dangerous commotion took place in the 

 capital, and when Alvarado sent messengers to tell Cortes that he was 

 hard pressed by the Mexicans, Montezuma sent with them others to 

 say that he could not restrain the fury of his subjects, but that ho 

 was well content in the hands of Alvarado, and had no desire to be 

 separated from him. 



Las Casas charges Alvarado with an atrocious attack upon the 

 Mexicans for the purpose of plunder ; but Herrera and Solis assure 

 us that a plot was laid for the massacre of the Spaniards, and that 

 Alvarado kept the whole Mexican population at bay with his small 

 band unt'l the return of Cortes from his victory over Narvaez, and 

 with the troops of that captain incorporated with his own. In the 

 valuable series of original memoirs published at Paris by Mona. 

 Ternaux-Compana, thera are statements by native Mexican authors, 

 contemporary and other, which increase the difficulty of coming to a 

 satisfactory decision on many points of the conquest of Mexico. 



Alvarado was in every fight until the final reduction of Mexico. 

 Afterwards, in 1523, he was sent with 300 foot, 160 horse, and four 

 pieces of cannon, with some Mexican auxiliaries, against the tribes of 

 Indians on the coast of the Pacific in the direction of Guatemala. He 

 reduced the provinces of Zacatulan, Tecoantepec (now Tehuantepec), 

 Soconusco, and Utlatlan. In a conflict at Cayacatl on the coast of 

 the Pacific, where the Indiana fought with great courage, Alvarado 

 was lamed in one of his legs by an arrow, and it was ever after three 

 inches shorter than the other. Having beaten off all opponents, he 

 passed on to Guatemala, called by the natives Quahtetnallan, and on 

 the border of the L'ake Atitlan took some Indian prisoners. He sent 

 them to their chiefs with overtures of peace. The chiefs answered 

 that they had never been conquered, but since he behaved so bravely, 

 they were willing to be his friends ; accordingly their chiefs came, 

 touched his hands, and remained peaceable. As he proceeded, all the 

 people round the lake brought him presents, and assurances of 



