ALEXANDER (POPES) 279 resources at his disposal. "With all his courage and his sanguine temperament, nothing was ever omitted in the way of systematic military precaution. Nor is his life devoid of other traits of greatness. The acquisition of univer- sal dominion was the master passion of his soul. He had no attachment for any special nationality, but looked on all mankind as on a realm to be conquered and ruled. His con- quests caused an immense diffusion of Hellenic culture, and influenced for ages the condition of western Asia and of Egypt. ALEXANDER, the name of eight popes. I. Saint, a Roman by birth, according to ecclesias- tical tradition, governed the church from 108 to 119, and was beheaded by order of the em- peror Hadrian. A beautiful church has been erected over his tomb. II. Anselmo Badagio, born in Milan, was bishop of Lucca, became pope through the influence of Hildebrand (af- terward Gregory VII.), and reigned from 1061 to 1073. The first few years of his reign were troubled by a contest with an anti-pope named Cadalous, who took the name of Honorius II. He carried out with great vigor and ability the measures of the reforming party in the church of which Hildebrand was the- life and soul, against simony and concubinage among the clergy, and the intrusion of unworthy bishops into the episcopal sees through the influence of princes and nobles. By the advice of Hilde- brand, he pronounced in favor of the claims of William of Normandy to the crown of England, as successor to Edward the Confessor. After the success of William's arms, in 1066, he sent as legate into England Bishop Ermenfroi, and the cardinals Peter and John, who crowned King William, and afterward held a council at Winchester, in which Stigand, the excommu- nicated archbishop of Canterbury, who had in- truded himself into that see during the lifetime of the archbishop Robert, was deposed. The celebrated Lanfranc, formerly the preceptor of Alexander, was placed in that see, and after- ward received by the pope with great honor at Rome. Alexander maintained close relations with the Byzantine empire, and sent a legate to the Greek court. A number of his epistles are extant, among which is one addressed to the bishops of France, in which he condemns in the strongest terms the cruelties practised by some Christians on the Jews. III. Rolando Bandinelli, born in Siena, elected Sept. 7, 1159, died Aug. 1, 1181. He had to sustain a long conflict with Frederick Barbarossa and four successive anti- popes, one of whom, styling himself Calixtus III., came to him at Frascati in 11 78, threw himself at his feet, and demanded absolution, which Pope Alexander granted immediately, inviting him to his own table. The emperor, who had been excommunicated, submitted after a pro- tracted struggle in 1177, and was absolved from his excommunication at Venice. On this occa- sion he paid the ordinary homage to the pope by kissing his foot, and leading the mule on which he rode ; but the story that the pope put his foot on his neck appears to rest on no his- torical foundation. Alexander entered into correspondence with the Greek emperor Man- uel, with the view of inducing him to consent to a project, much favored at that time in Italy, of transferring the imperial throne to Rome, and thus effecting a permanent reconciliation of the Greeks to the Roman church. These negotiations, however, had no result. He also held at Tours in France, where he had taken refuge in the early part of his pontificate, a council against the Albigenses. Supported by him, Thomas a Becket carried on the ecclesias- tical struggle with King Henry II. of England. A Becket and St. Bernard were canonized by Alexander III., a right which he first reserved exclusively to the holy see by a decree promul- gated at. the council of Tours. It was this pope who instituted the ceremony of the espousal of the Adriatic by the doge of Venice. The last remarkable act of his life was the celebration of the third general council of Lateran at Rome, in 1 179. IV. Rinaldo di Segnl, a Roman, nephew of Gregory IX., and cardinal bishop of Ostia, elected at Naples, Dec. 12, 1254, died at Vi- terbo, May 25, 1261. During his reign the states of the church were devastated by Man- fred, the natural son of the emperor Frederick II. He declared a crusade against Manfred, which proved unsuccessful, even with the aid of Hen- ry III. <5f England, to whose second son Ed- mund he gave, in quality of suzerain, the in- vestiture of the kingdom of Sicily. During his reign occurred also the crusade and captivity of St. Louis of France. By request of this prince, the inquisition was established in France in 1255. This pontiff was compelled to pass the latter part of his life at Viterbo, on account of seditions among the Roman popu- lace. He labored to reunite the Greek to the Roman church, and to combine the Christian nations against the Moslems. The hostility of the Venetians and Genoese prevented the suc- cess of his plans, and the chagrin which he ex- perienced in consequence is said to have caused his death. V. Metro Filargo, born in Candia, elected by the general council of Pisa, June 26, 1409, died May 3, 1410. He was originally a beggar, and was educated by a charitable Fran- ciscan, and sent to Oxford and Paris, where he greatly distinguished himself. On his return he became private tutor to the duke of Milan, and afterward archbishop of that city. Inno- cent VII. made him cardinal and papal legate in Lombardy. After his elevation to the pon- tificate, he resided at Bologna. VI. Rodrigo Lenzuolo, or Borgia, born in Valencia, Spain, in 1431, elected pope Aug. 11, 1492, died Aug. 18, 1503. His mother was a Borgia and the sister of Pope Calixtus III. His father was an officer of rank, and Rodrigo passed his youth first in the study of law and in civil offices, and after- ward in the profession of arms, for which he displayed considerable talent. He formed a criminal relation with a widow, and after her death took for his mistress her daughter, Rosa
