ALE 



1 144; and after his fivft vifit, lie returned as the pope's 

 lc-j;:'.tc, and caUcd a fynod, in which he pubhihcd feveral uie- 

 fid canons. In 1147 lie vilited the pope in France; and 

 tliere fell lick, fo tiiat he retunitd witii ditliculty to England, 

 wiicie he fuon died, in the 24th year of his prelacy. JDiog. 

 Brit. 



ALE.\'ANnER I. pope, was a Roman by birth, and bifhop 

 of Rome during the reigns of Trajan and Adrian, from the 

 year IC9 to the year 1 19. J-Ie is faid to have introduced the 

 \ife of holy water and other ceremonies. He was enrolled as 

 a martyr, and canonized as a faint. Bower's Hift. Popes, 

 vol. i. p. 21. 



Alexander II. pope, was a native of Milan, of the 

 name of Anfehn, and removed from tb.e fee of Lucca to 

 that of Rome, in the year 1061. He was elefted pope by 

 the influence of Hildebrand, who was at the head of the 

 ecclefiallical facition at Rome, in oppofition to the emprefs 

 Agnes, widow of Henry HI. who was regent during the 

 minority of her fon Henry IV. and who fupported the lay- 

 faftion, in tlie contcft that fubfifted between the clergy and 

 laity. By her influence Cadalous, bifliop of Parma, was 

 eleCled pope, under the name of Honorius II. The difpute 

 was terminated by a council at Mantua in 1064, and Alex- 

 ander, by a fignal triumph of the church over the civil 

 power, was declared lawful pope. The'difcipliiie and pri- 

 vileges of the clergy were the principal objects of this pon- 

 tiff's attention ; and the fubordinate inllrument of conducing 

 Ijis meafures was Peter Dnmien, a monk, and a zealous de- 

 lender of the monaftic orders. Having acquired a power 

 thus paramount to every other, Alexander laid hold of 

 every opportunity that occurred forinterpofing in the fecular 

 concerns of kingdoms and princes. With a view of extend- 

 ing the influence and increafing the emoluments of the papal 

 fee, he fanftioned the projeft of William, duke of Nor- 

 mandy, for the conqueft of England ; denounced excom- 

 munication againll Harold as a perjured ufurper ; and fent 

 William a confecrated banner, and a ring with one of St. 

 Peter's hairs in it; thus, as Hume fays (Hift. vol. i. p. 

 186.) "covering over fafely all the ambition and violence of 

 that invafion with the broad mantle of religion." His views 

 were accompliflied ; William fuccceded ; the authority of 

 the pope was confirmed ; and his legates, till this time un- 

 known in England, exercifed arbitrary power. 



Alexander extended his authority to other countries as 

 well as to England. He not only prohibited the young 

 emperor from divorcing his wife Bertha, but, in 1073, f"™- 

 moned him to appear at Rome, and to account for his con- 

 duct in the difpofal of church benefices for providing his 

 army with fupplies. Henry was indignant ; but the difpute 

 was clofed by the death of the pope in 1073. ^'^^ increafe 

 of papal tyranny, under the direftion of Hildebrand, to 

 whom this pope was fubfervient, and by whom he was fuc- 

 ceedcd, difcriminates his pontificate. Many of his letters 

 on pubhc affairs are extant ; and one of them, addreffed to 

 the birtiops of Spain for the purpofe of reftraining the cruel- 

 ties v.hich they exercifed towards the Jews, does honour to 

 his humanity. For an account of thefe letters, amounting 

 in number to 45, fee Dupin's Eccl. Hift. vol, iv. p. 29 ; 

 and alfo Bower's Hift. Popes, vol. v. p. 224. 



Alexander. III. Pope, was born at Sienna, where he 

 ■was biftiop under the name of Roland, and fucceeded 

 Adrian IV. in 1159. At the time of his acceffion to the 

 papal chair, Frederic I. was making vigorous attempts for 

 reducing the power of the Roman fee ; and cardinal Ofta- 

 vian was elefted pope under the name of Viftor IV. in op- 

 pofit ion to Akxandeiv After the deathi of Vidor, ia 1 1 O4,. 



ALE 



cardi.ial Guy was chofen by the influence of llic emperor, 

 and denominated Pafclial III. But the whole intdcil of 

 the Roman clergy was exerted in favour of AUxander, 

 who, in the former pontificate, had been compelled to re- 

 tire into France, and he now returned to Rome, and was 

 reftored to his fee. Councils were fummoncd to fettle the 

 difpute. The council of Wnrtv.burg, convened by the em- 

 peror in 1 166, produced an ur.ion of the nobility and clergy 

 ill fupport of the rights of Pafchal ; and the council of 

 Lateian, called by Alexander in 1167, 'lepofed the emperor, 

 and abrogated the oath of allegiance by which iiis fuhjefts 

 were bound to him as their lawful fovereign. At length 

 an appeal was made to tiie fword ; and though Frederic was 

 at fiill i'uceefsful, and upon the death of Pafehal procured 

 the eledion of John, Abbot of Strum, as his fuccefltir, un- 

 der the name of Calixtus III., he was in ihe iffuc obliged 

 to give up the contcft, and in a treaty of peace, made with 

 Alexander at Venice in 1177,10 acknowledge liini as law- 

 ful pontiff. The pride of Alexander knew no bounds on 

 occalion of this triumph. When Frederic was proflrate at 

 his feet, he addreffed hiin witii the words of the Pfalmift, 

 " Thou fltalt tread upon the lion and adder ; the young 

 lion and the dragon thou flialt trample under foot :" and 

 when the emperor replied, " Not to you, but to Peter;" 

 the pope anfwered, " To me, and to Peter." This ftorv- 

 is difcredited by foine writers, but believed by others, and 

 the truth of it is confirmed by concurring circumftances, 

 for which we refer to Dupin. After the eftablifliment of 

 Alexander, he treated his rival Calixtus III. with conde- 

 fcenlion and kindnefs, and appointed him to the fee of Bc- 

 nevento. The pope, fecurely feated in the papal chair, 

 direfled his attention towards fecuring the independence, 

 and maintaining the prerogatives and privileges of the triple 

 crown ; and in order to prevent the diforders likely to ariic 

 in future from equal faftions, he obtained a canon in the 

 third council of Lateran, held at Rome in 1 179, which en- 

 afted, that the right of election to the pontifical dignity 

 fliould not only be vefted in the cardinals alone, but that 

 two-thirds of the votes of the eleftors fliould be neceflary 

 for rendering it legal. Thus the people, and even the 

 Roman clergy, were entirely excluded from all participa- 

 tion in the honour of conferring this important dignity. 

 At this council, the right of reccmimending and nominat- 

 ing to the faintly order was taken away from councils and 

 bifhops, and canonization was ranked among the greater 

 and more important caufes, the cognizance of which be- 

 longed to the pontiff alone. In this year he exercifed 

 that tyranny over princes, which had been ufurped by the 

 popes from the time of Gregory VII. iu conferring the 

 title of king, with the enfigns of royalty, upon Alphonfo I. 

 duke of Portugal, by an arrogant bull, in which he treats 

 him as a vaffal. Whilft he was in France, he had fupported 

 the caufe of Thomas Becket againft his fovereign Hemy II., 

 and in 1 164, when the conftitutions of Clarendon, which af- 

 ferted the king's jurifdiftion over the clemy, were fent to 

 him for confirmation, he rejcAed and annulled them. When 

 Becket was banifiied, he received him kindly ; obtained for 

 him a penfion from the I'Vench king, abrogated the fen- 

 tence that had been paffed upon him ; reinvefled him with 

 his dignity, and appointed him his legate in En"-land. 

 After the murder of this arrogant prelate, Alexander, who 

 had kept the king in awe during the whole of the conteft, 

 by the terror of excommunication, compelled him to under- 

 go a very fevere penance ; and having forgiven him, ifTued 

 bulls at his defire, againft his fon, and caaonized the arcli- 

 bifliop. Alexander, iis a rigorous defender of the catholic 



faith, 



