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him in Switzerland, and a disease which deprived him of an eye, made him more humble. He delivered up the insignia, and took the oath of allegiance to the new emperor. As soon as he had quelled the insurrection in Switzerland, he was involved in new quarrels with his subjects in Austria and Stiria, especially with the bishop of Salzburg, who, upon the report of his death, had made an incursion into his dominions. In the meantime, Adolphus, after a reign of 6 years, had lost the regard of all the princes of the empire. A. endeavored to avail himself of this change of feeling, and succeeded so far, by assumed mildness, in deceiving the princes, that they chose him emperor, after deposing Adolphus at the diet in 1298. Adolphus, however, would not resign his high dignity, and force was found necessary to remove him. The rivals met, with their armies, near Gellheim, between Worms and Spire. A. enticed Adolphus, by a feigned retreat, to follow him with his cavalry only. The leaders engaged hand to hand, and Adolphus exclaimed to his adversary, "Thou shalt lose at once thy crown and life." "Heaven will decide," was the answer of A., striking him with his lance in the face. Adolphus fell from his horse, and was despatched by the companions of his antagonist. The last barrier had fallen between A. and the supreme power, but he was conscious of having now an opportunity of displaying his magnanimity. He voluntarily resigned the crown conferred on him by the last election, and, as he had anticipated, was reelected. His coronation took place at Aix la Chapelle, in August, 1298; and he held his first diet at Nuremberg, with the utmost splendor. But a new storm was gathering over him. The pope, Boniface VIII, denied the right of the electors to dispose of the imperial dignity, declaring himself the real emperor and legitimate king of the Romans. He accordingly summoned A. before him, to ask pardon, and submit to such penance as he should dictate; he forbade the princes to acknowledge him, and released them from their oath of allegiance. The archbishop of Mentz from a friend became the enemy of A., and joined the party of the pope. On the other hand, A. formed an alliance with Philip le Bel of France, secured the neutrality of Saxony and Brandenburg, and, by a sudden irruption into the electorate of Mentz, forced the archbishop not only to renounce his alliance with the pope, but to form one with him for the 5 ensuing years. Dismayed

by this rapid success, Boniface entered into negotiations with A., in which the latter again showed the duplicity of his character. He broke his alliance with Philip, acknowledged that the western empire was a grant from popes to the emperors, that the electors derived their right of choosing from the see of Rome, and promised to defend with arms the rights of the pope, whenever he should demand it, against any one. As a reward, Boniface excommunicated Philip, proclaimed him to have forfeited his crown, and gave the kingdom of France to A. Philip, however, chastised the pope. A. was engaged in unsuccessful wars with Holland, Zealand, Friesland, Hungary, Bohemia and Thuringia. While preparing to revenge a defeat which he had suffered in Thuringia, he received the news of the revolt of the Swiss, and saw himself obliged to direct his forces thither. The revolt of Underwalden, Schweitz and Uri had broken out Jan. 1, 1308. A. had not only foreseen this consequence of his oppression, but desired it, in order to have a pretence for subjecting Switzerland entirely to himself. A new act of injustice, however, put an end to his ambition and life. Suabia was the inheritance of John, the son of his younger brother, Rodolph. John had repeatedly asserted his right to it, but in vain. When A. set out for Switzerland, John renewed his demand, which was contemptuously rejected by A., who scoffingly offered him a garland of flowers, saying, “This becomes your age; leave the cares of government to me." John, in revenge, conspired with his governor, Walter of Eschenbach, and three friends, against the life of A. The conspirators improved the moment when the emperor, on his way to Rheinfelden, was separated from his train by the river Reuss, and assassinated him. A. breathed his last, May 1, 1308, in the arms of a poor woman, who was sitting on the road. He was a prince regardless of right and equity, tyrannical, avaricious,, ambitious and able. cruelly Agnes, queen of Hungary, revenged her father's death, will be related under John the Parricide.

How

ALBERT THE GREAT, or ALBERTUS MAGNUS, bishop of Ratisbon; a distinguished scholar of the 13th century. Besides his theological learning, he was well versed, for his time, in mechanics, natural history and natural philosophy. He was born in 1193 (according to some accounts, in 1205), at Lauingen, in Suabia, of the noble family of Bollstädt; studied at

Padua; became a monk of the Dominican order; in 1254, was made provincial of his order; and, in 1260, received from pope Alexander IV the bishopric of Ratisbon. Two years later, he returned to his convent, devoted himself to science, and produced many learned works on arithmetic, geometry, optics, music, astrology and astronomy. He died in 1280. ALBIGENSES (Albigeois); a name common to several heretical sects, particularly the Cathari and Waldenses, who agreed in opposing the dominion of the Roman hierarchy, and endeavoring to restore the simplicity of primitive Christianity. They had increased very much towards the close of the 12th century, in the south of France, about Toulouse and Albi, and were denominated by the crusaders A., from the district Albigeois (territory of Albi), where the army of the cross, called together by pope Innocent III, attacked them in 1209. The assassination of the papal legate and inquisitor, Peter of Castelnau, while occupied in extirpating these heretics in the territory of the count Raymond of Toulouse, occasioned this war, which is important as the first which the Romish church waged against heretics within her own dominions. It was carried on with a degree of cruelty which cast a deep shade over the Roman clergy, as their real object appeared to be to deprive the count of Toulouse of his possessions, on account of his tolerating the heretics. It was in vain that this powerful prince had suffered a disgraceful penance and flagellation from the legate Milo, and obtained the papal absolution by great sacrifices. The legates, Arnold, abbot of Citeaux, and Milo, took Beziers, the capital of his nephew Roger, by storm, and put all the inhabitants (about 60,000), without any distinction of creed, to the sword. Simon de Montfort, the military leader of the crusade, under the legates, was equally severe towards other places in the territory of Raymond and his allies, of whom Roger died in a prison, and Peter I, king of Aragon, in battle. The lands taken were presented by the church, as a reward for his services, to the count of Montfort, who, however, on account of the changing fortune of war, never obtained the quiet possession of them; he was killed by a stone, at the siege of Toulouse, in 1218. The legates prevailed on his son, Amalric, to cede his claims to the king of France. The papal indulgences attracted from all provinces of France new crusaders, who continued the war, and, even after the death of Raymond VI, in 1222,

under excommunication, his son, Raymond VII, was obliged, notwithstanding his readiness to do penance, to defend his inheritance, till 1229, against the legates, and Louis VIII of France, who fell, in 1226, in a campaign against the heretics. After hundreds of thousands had fallen on both sides, and the most beautiful parts of Provence and Upper Languedoc had been laid waste, a peace was made, by the terms of which Raymond was obliged to purchase his absolution with a large sum of money, to cede Narbonne, with several estates, to Louis IX, and make his son-in-law, a brother of Louis, heir of his other lands. The pope suffered these provinces to come into the possession of the king of France, in order to bind him more firmly to his interests, and force him to receive his inquisitors. The heretics were now delivered up to the proselyting zeal of the Dominicans, and to the courts of the inquisition; and these new auxiliaries, which priestcraft had acquired during the war (see Dominic de Guzman, and Inquisition), employed their whole power to bring the remainder of the A. to the stake, and made even the converts feel the irreconcilable anger of the church, by heavy fines and personal punishments. The name of the A. disappeared after the middle of the 13th century; but fugitives of their party formed, in the mountains of Piedmont and in Lombardy, what is called the French church, which was continued, through the Waldenses, to the times of the Hussites and the reformation.

ALBINOS (white Negroes, Blafards, Leucæthiops, Dondos), who were formerly found on the isthmus of Panama and at the mouths of the Ganges, and have been described as a distinct race of men, have been likewise discovered, by modern naturalists, in various countries of Europe, e. g. in Switzerland, among the Savoyards in the valley of Chamouni, in France, in the tract of the Rhine, in Tyrol, &c. The characteristics of the A. are now said to be owing to a disease which may attack men in every climate, and to which even animals are subject, such as white mice, rabbits, &c. The A. have a milky or cadaverous look, and are distinguished from the genuine whites, not only by their wrinkled skin, but also by their red eyes, which want the black mucus, and cannot, therefore, endure the bright light of day. By moon-light, and in the dark, they can see pretty well, for which reason they are accustomed to go abroad only in the night, and, by Lin

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næus and other naturalists, are termed nocturnal men. Their hair is woolly, when they are descended from actual Negroes, and somewhat less curly, when they are the children of East Indians; but it is always of an unpleasing milk-color, like their skin. They are weak in body and mind, and very rarely attain the common size of the nations to which they belong. They are generally incapable of begetting children, but when the case is otherwise, the offspring resemble the parents. There are instances of A. possessed of the common faculties of mind, and capable of literary accomplishments. (See, likewise, Cretin.) The Germans use the word Albino for all individuals afflicted with this disease of the skin, but Kakerlake for varieties, whose skin is only sprinkled with white spots.-The East Indians give the name of albino to a species of beetle, (blatta), especially the blatta gigantea of the Indian forests, which grows 3 inches long, and forms an ornament of entomological collections. It is dark-brown and shining; the feathers of its wings are foxcolored and yellow. After this beetle the Indians have named the Albinos.-Blumenbach, Saussure, Buzzi, surgeon to the hospital at Milan, Soemmering, and many others, have made interesting observations on Albinos, and the causes which produce their peculiar color.

ALBINUS, Bernard Siegfried, whose true name was Weiss (White), a distinguished anatomist, born Feb. 24, 1696, at Frankfort on the Oder, died Sept. 9, 1770, at Leyden, where he was 50 years professor of anatomy. Instructed by his father, Bernard, who enjoyed a good reputation as a professor of medicine, and by the famous professors of the Leyden school, Rau, Bidloo, Boerhaave, he went to France in 1718, where he formed an intimacy with Winslow and Senac, with whom he afterwards carried on a correspondence highly advantageous to anatomy, their favorite science. He entered upon his office as lecturer, in Leyden, 1719, with an oration, De Anatomia Comparata. The medical faculty there conferred on him the degree of doctor, without either examination or disputation. A few weeks after, professor Rau died, and, in 1720, A. succeeded him in the professorship of anatomy and surgery. He was one of the first who felt the impulse which Boerhaave gave to anatomy, by explaining the phenomena of the animal economy, not chemically, but mechanically, a system which rendered a more accurate study of the single parts of the

body, and of their formation, necessary, for the least deviation in the form of any part, according to him, necessarily produces differences in its action. This system rendered it necessary to describe with more accuracy what Vesalius, Fallopius and Eustachius had explained only in a general manner. A. labored in this spirit; we are indebted to him for the most exact anatomical descriptions and prints, especially of the muscles and bones. While he held the office of professor, at Leyden, he wrote Index Supellectilis Anatomica Ravianæ, likewise De Ossibus Corporis Humani, also Historia Musculorum Hominis, and other works, which fill an honorable place in the history of science. He edited, also, several writings of Harvey, Vesalius, Fabricius ab Aquapendente and Eustachius. His brother, Christian Bernard, professor at Utrecht, distinguished himself in the same science, and was likewise an esteemed anatomical writer: he died May 23, 1778. ALBION; the former name of the island of Great Britain, called by the Romans Britannia Major, from which they distinguished Britannia Minor, the French province of Bretagne. Agathemerus (lib. xi, c. 4), speaking of the British islands, uses the names Hibernia and Albion for the two largest; Ptolemy (lib. ii, c. 3) calls A. a British island; and Pliny (H. N. lib. iv, c. 16) says, that the island of Great Britain was formerly called Albion, the name of Britain being common to all the islands around it. In poetry, A. is still used for Great Britain. The etymology of the name is uncertain. Some writers derive it from the Greek gor (white), in reference to the chalky cliffs on the coasts; others, from a giant, the son of Neptune, mentioned by several ancient wri

ters:

some, from the Hebrew alben (white); others, from the Phoenician alp or alpin (high, and high mountain), from the height of the coast. Sprengel, in his Universal History of Great Britain, thinks it of Gallic origin, the same with Albyn, the name of the Scotch Highlands. It appears to him the plural of alp or ailp, which signifies rocky mountains, and to have been given to the island, because the shore, which looks towards France, appears like a long row of rocks. The ancient British poets call Britain Inis Wen, i. e. the white island.

ALBION, New. This name is given to an extensive tract of land on the N. W. coast of America. It was originally applied by sir Francis Drake, in 1578, to the whole of California, but is now, by

recent geographers, e. g. Humboldt, confined to that part of the coast which extends between 43° and 48° N. lat. Cook discovered it March 7, 1778. In 1792, Vancouver visited this coast, made a very diligent inspection of all its parts, and gave a most interesting account of them. The country is described as very fertile; the quadrupeds seem not to be very numerous. The inhabitants are not numerous, and resemble the other savages of the north-west coast of N. A. Vancouver's chart of this region is still the best. The most authentic account of a part of New A. is to be found in Lewis and Clark's Expedition to the Sources of the Missouri, 2 vols., Philadelphia, 1814. The citizens of the U. States, and others who have frequented the north-western coast of America for commercial purposes, have had but little, if any, intercourse with the natives, who inhabit that part of the coast which lies between the entrance of Columbia river, in lat. 46° 15', and the Russian settlement at Port Bodega, in lat. 38°, 21', because no harbor, capable of admitting such vessels as are usually employed in the north-west trade, has yet been discovered within these limits. It has been affirmed by the Russians, that they have discovered several small rivers, but they are not probably of sufficient importance to give any value to the country, until the settlements of civilized nations have become much more extensive than at present. The appearance of the country, as seen from the ocean, is by no means inviting; but some hunters, who have penetrated into the interior, give a favorable representation of it, particularly of that portion which lies near the Multnomah, a branch of the Columbia river, that runs from the south. (See North-West Coast, trade to.)

ALBOIN, king of the Lombards, succeeded his father, Audoin, in 561. He reigned in Noricum and Pannonia, while Cunimund, king of the Gepidæ, ruled in Dacia and Sirmia, and Baian or Chagan, king of the Avars, was completing the conquest of Moldavia and Walachia. Narses, the general of Justinian, sought his alliance, and received his aid, in the war against Totila. A., in connexion with the Avars, made war against the Gepidæ, and slew their king, Cunimund, with his own hand, in a great battle fought in 566. This victory established his fame. After the death of his wife, Clodoswinda, he married Rosamond, the daughter of Cunimund, who was among the captives. He afterwards undertook the conquest of

Italy, where Narses, who had subjected this country to Justinian, offended by an ungrateful court, sought an avenger in A., and offered him his coöperation. Every year witnessed the increase of A.'s power in Italy, in reducing which he met with no resistance, except the brave defence of single cities. Pavia fell into his hands after a siege of 3 years. After reigning 3 years in Italy, he was slain at Verona, in 574, by an assassin, instigated by his wife, Rosamond. He had incurred her hatred by sending her, during one of his fits of intoxication, a cup, wrought from the skull of her father, filled with wine, and forcing her, according to his own words, to drink with her father. This incident has been introduced by Ruccellai and Alfieri, into their tragedies, called Rosmunda, in a very pathetic manner.

ALBORAK; amongst the Mahometan writers, the beast on which Mahomet rode in his journeys to heaven. The Arab commentators report many fables concerning this extraordinary animal. It is represented as of an intermediate shape and size between an ass and a mule. A place, it seems, was secured for it in paradise, at the intercession of Mahomet, which, however, was in some measure extorted from the prophet by Alborak refusing to carry him upon any other terms, when the angel Gabriel was come to conduct him to heaven.

ALBUFERA; a considerable salt-water lake, lying north of the city of Valencia, in Spain, near the sea, with which it is connected by sluices. It abounds in fish, but dries in summer so much as, in some parts, to become a mere marsh. The French general Suchet received the title of duke of Albufera on account of the blockade and capture of the Spanish general Blake, in Valencia. The water-birds and eels, which are taken here, yield 12,000 dollars annually.

ALBUHERA; a village in Estremadura, on the Albuhera, 12 miles S. S. E. Badajoz. A battle was fought here, May 16, 1811, between the army of marshal Beresford, consisting of about 30,000 British, Spanish and Portuguese, and that of the French marshal Soult, amounting to about 25,000 men, but considerably superior in artillery. The object of the French was to raise the siege of Badajoz, which was invested by the English. Soult was obliged to retreat to Seville, with a loss stated at 8000 men. The allies lost about 7000 men, and gained the victory by a cool, well-directed and opportune fire on the columns of French infantry. Badajoz,