his "Descrizione d'Italia" (Bologna, 1550) a book in which are found many valuable topographical and archæological observations. Many of the heraldic and historical facts are useless, however, since Alberti followed closely the uncritical work written by Annius of Viterbo on the same subject. The work was translated into Latin in 1567, after having been three times enlarged in the Italian. He also wrote a chronicle of events from 1499 to 1552, and sketches of famous Venetians. His explanations of the prophecies of the Abbot Joachim and his treatise on the beginnings of the Venetian Republic indicate the current of historical criticism of his day. He was a close friend of most of the contemporary literati, who frequently consulted him. He is often mentioned in the letters of the poet Giannantius Flamino, who dedicated the tenth book of his poems to the friar. Hardly a man of that day had a better knowledge of the contents of most European libraries than Alberti.
Quétif and Echard, SS. Ord. Præd., II, 137, 825; Touron, Hommes illus. de l'ordre de Saint Dominique, IV, 121–127; Tiraboschi, Storia della Letteratura Italiana, VII, Pt. III, 798–800.
Alberti, Leone Battista, b. 18 February, 1404; d. April, 1472, a Florentine ecclesiastic and artist of the fifteenth century. He embraced the ecclesiastical state and became a canon of the Metropolitan Church of Florence, in 1447, and Abbot of San Sovino, or Sant' Eremita, of Pisa. Although Alberti was a scholar, painter, sculptor, and architect, it is by his works of architecture that he is best known. Among them are the completion of the Pitti Palace at Florence, the chapel of the Rucellai in the church of St. Pancras, the facade of the church of Santa Maria Novella, the choir of the church of the Nunziata, and the churches of St. Sebastian and St. Andrew, at Mantua. His greatest work is generally conceded to be the church of St. Francis at Rimini. His writings on art are his best, and his reputation rests largely on his "De Re Ædificitoriâ", vol. X, a work on architecture, which was only published after his death. It was brought out in 1485, and the latest edition of it was a folio one at Bologna, in 1782. See Italy, Renaissance.
Albertini also (Aubertini), Nicolò, medieval statesman, b. at Prato in Italy, c. 1250; d. at Avignon, 27 April, 1321. His early education was directed by his parents, both of whom belonged to illustrious families of Tuscany. At the age of sixteen (1266) he entered the Dominican Order in the Convent of Santa Maria Novella at Florence, and was sent to the University of Paris to complete his studies. He preached in Italy with success, and his theological lectures were especially well attended at Florence and at Rome. He was entrusted by his superiors with various important duties and governed several houses. He was made Procurator-General of the whole order of St. Dominic by Blessed Nicolò Bocassini, then Master General, and was afterwards elected Provincial of the Roman Province. In 1299, Boniface VIII made him Bishop of Spoleto and soon afterwards sent him as Papal Legate to the Kings of France and England, Philip IV and Edward I, with a view to reconciling them, a seemingly hopeless task. Albertini succeeded in his mission. The Pope in full consistory thanked him, and made him Vicar of Rome. Benedict XI was particularly attached to Albertini, with whom he had lived a long time in the same cloister. Shortly after his accession to the Papacy (22 October, 1303) he made Albertini Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia and Dean of the Sacred College, which office he held for eighteen or nineteen years. The civil wars that in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries had devastated a great part of Italy, especially Tuscany, Romagna, and the March of Trevi, caused the Pope again to invest the new Cardinal with the dignity of Apostolic Legate, and to send him to restore peace in those disturbed provinces. His authority was also extended to the Dioceses of Aquila, Ravenna, Ferara, and those in the territory of Venice. He was well received by the people of Florence, but after many futile efforts to effect a reconciliation between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines he left the city and placed it under interdict. On the 29th of June (1312), in the name of Clement V, he crowned Henry VII of Luxembourg at Rome. Albertini is the leading figure in the trial that exonerated the Dominican, Bernardo da Montepulciano, from the charge of killing this king by giving him a poisoned host for Communion. He crowned King Robert of Sicily, son and successor of Charles II. The Cardinal of Ostia was known for his great love for the poor, especially for the poor of the City of Prato. He also gave generously to religious houses and towards the erection of churches. At Avignon he established a community of nuns similar to those founded by St. Dominic at San Sisto in Rome. He obtained for his Order the office of "Master of the Sacred Palace", that has always been held by a Dominican. Two small works are all that are known of his writings. One is a treatise on Paradise, the other on the manner of holding assemblies of Bishops. He was buried in the Dominican Church at Avignon.
Quétif and Echard, S.S. Ord. Præd., I, 546; Corner, Chronicon rerum Saxonicarum, in Seelen, De II. Kornero cujusque M.S. commentario (Lübeck, 1720); Cartellieri, in Neue Heidelberger Jahrbücher (1904), XIII, 121, 129.
Albertrandi, John Baptist, who is also called Jan Chrzciciel, or Christian, a Polish Jesuit, of Italian extraction, b. at Warsaw, 7 December, 1731; d. August, 1808. He entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus, 14 August, 1748, and left the Society shortly before the suppression, probably in 1769, for his name is not found in the catalog of 1770. After teaching literature for twelve years in the various Jesuit colleges in Poland, he was entrusted with the care of the great library founded by Zaluski, the famous prelate and litterteur, who had revived literature in Poland. This library which he bequeathed to Poland was seized by Russia and now forms the nucleus of the Imperial library. Subsequently Albertrandi accepted the charge of preceptor to the nephew of the Primate, Archbishop Lubienski. With his pupil, who afterwards became Minister of Justice in Poland, he traveled through the various countries of Europe, chiefly Italy, to gather material for a great history of Poland. With his own hand he copied manuscripts referring to Poland wherever he found them and in three years amassed a collection of one hundred and ten folio volumes. Where he was not allowed to copy he read and, on returning home in the evening, wrote out what his prodigious memory retained. Sommervogel says that the net result was two hundred folio volumes. He is called the Polish Polyhistor. His style is rapid, orderly, and methodical. He knew Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and most of the European languages. His published works are: Two volumes of a translation of Macquer's "Roman History"; and abridged "Annals of Poland"; a great number of articles in the "Moniteur", a journal of Warsaw. He also collaborated with Father Naruszewicz, S.J., in a periodical called "Agreeable and Useful Recreations", and produced a work on numismatics, besides many discourses for the Academy of Warsaw, which he founded. After leaving the Society, he became Royal Librarian and Bishop of
