Alexander III See Alexander the Great
Alexander III orig. Rolando Bandinelli (b. c. 1105, Siena, Tuscany—d. Aug. 30, 1181, Rome) Pope (1159-81). A member of the group of cardinals who feared the growing strength of the Holy Roman Empire, he helped draw up an alliance with the Normans (1156). As the rep¬ resentative of Pope Adrian IV, he angered Frederick I (Frederick Bar- barossa) by referring to the empire as a “benefice,” implying that it was a gift of the pope. On Alexander’s election as pope in 1159, a minority of cardinals supported by Frederick elected the first of several antipopes, and imperial opposition obliged Alexander to flee to France (1162). A vigorous defender of papal authority, he supported St. Thomas Becket against Henry II of England. He returned to Rome in 1165 but was exiled again the fol¬ lowing year. He gained support with the formation of the Lombard League, which defeated Frederick at Legnano in 1176, paving the way for the Peace of Venice and the end of the papal schism. Alexander stood in the reform tradition and presided at the third Lateran Council (1179).
Alexander III Russian Aleksandr Aleksandrovich (b. March 10, 1845, St. Petersburg, Russia—d. Nov. 1, 1894, Livadiya, Crimea) Tsar of Russia (1881-94). He assumed the throne after the assassination of his father, Alexander II. The internal reforms he instituted were designed to correct what he saw as the too-liberal tendencies of his father’s reign. He thus opposed representative government and ardently supported Russian nationalism. His political ideal was a nation containing a single nation¬ ality, language, religion, and form of administration, and accordingly he instituted programs such as the Russification of national minorities in the Russian Empire and the persecution of non-Orthodox religious groups.
Alexander III (b. Sept. 2, 1241—d. March 18/19, 1286, near Kinghorn, Fife, Scot.) King of Scotland (1249-86). Son of Alexander II, he came to the throne at age 7. In 1251 he was married to Margaret, daughter of England’s King Henry III, who sought to gain control over Scotland. In 1255 Alex¬ ander was seized by a pro-English party in Scotland; in 1257 the anti- English party gained control of the government until he came of age (1262). In 1263 he repulsed a Norwegian invasion, and in 1266 he acquired the Hebrides and the Isle of Man from Norway. His reign was later viewed as a golden age by Scots caught up in the long conflict with England.
Alexander VI orig. Rodrigo de Borja y Dorns (b. 1431, Jativa, Aragon—d. Aug. 18, 1503, Rome)
Pope (1492-1503). Bom into the Spanish branch of the Borgia family, he amassed great wealth and lived scandalously, fathering four illegiti¬ mate children (before his election as pope), who played an important role in his complicated dynastic plans. He warred against the Ottoman Turks and forced the French to abandon their effort to seize Naples. The mur¬ der of his son Juan (1497) prompted Alexander’s short-lived attempt to restrain the corruption of the papal court. His political ambitions, how¬ ever, were revived with the marriage of his son Cesare, whose military campaigns brought northern Italy under Borgia control. He concluded an alliance with Spain and negotiated the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494). A patron of the arts, he embellished the Vatican palaces and commissioned Michelangelo to draw up plans for the rebuilding of St. Peter's Basilica.
Alexander Archipelago Group of about 1,100 islands, southeastern Alaska, U.S. Extending southward from Glacier Bay, the chief islands are Chichagof, Admiralty, Baranof, Kupreanof, Prince of Wales, and Revil- lagigedo. The chief towns are Sitka (on Baranof) and Ketchikan (on Revil- lagigedo). The islands are separated from the mainland by deep, narrow channels that form part of the Inside Passage. The archipelago’s name, given in 1867, honours Tsar Alexander II.
Alexander Island Island in Bellingshausen Sea, separated from the Antarctic mainland by George VI Sound. An extremely rugged region with peaks as high as 9,800 ft (3,000 m), it is 270 mi (435 km) long and up to 125 mi (200 km) wide, with an area of 16,700 sq mi (43,250 sq km). The Russian explorer F.G. von Bellingshausen discovered the land in 1821 and named it after Tsar Alexander. It was believed part of the
Alexander VI, detail of a fresco by Pin- turicchio, 1492-94; in the Vatican.
AUNARI/ART RESOURCE, NEW >ORK
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
44 I Alexander Nevsky ► Alexis
mainland until 1940, when a U.S. expedition proved it to be an island, connected to the continent by a huge floating ice shelf. It has been claimed by Britain (since 1908), Chile (1940), and Argentina (1942).
Alexander Nevsky \'nev-ske\, Saint (b. c. 1220, Vladimir, Grand Principality of Vladimir—d. Nov. 14, 1263, Gorodets) Prince of Novgorod (1236-52) and Kiev (1246-52) and grand prince of Vladimir (1252-63). He fought off invading Swedes in 1240 at the Neva River (resulting in the epithet Nevsky). He was called back to service to defeat the Teutonic Knights in 1242 and also won victories over the Lithuanians and Finns. He collaborated with the Golden Horde in imposing Mongol rule on Russia, and the Great Khan made him grand prince of Vladimir. Alexander continued to rule Novgorod through his son. He helped the Mongols impose taxes, interceding with the Khan to prevent reprisals when rebellions broke out. A national hero, he was canonized by the Rus¬ sian Orthodox church.
Alexander the Great or Alexander III (b. 356 bc, Pella, Macedonia—d. June 13, 323 bc, Babylon) King of Macedonia (336-323) and the greatest military leader of antiquity. The son of Philip II of Mace¬ donia, he was taught by Aristotle. He soon showed military brilliance, helping win the Battle of Chaeronea at age 18. He succeeded his assas¬ sinated father in 336 and promptly took Thessaly and Thrace; he brutally razed Thebes except for its temples and the house of Pindar. Such destruc¬ tion was to be his standard method, and other Greek states submitted meekly. In 334 he crossed to Persia and defeated a Persian army at the Granicus River. He is said to have cut the Gordian knot in Phrygia (333), by which act, according to legend, he was destined to rule all Asia. At the Battle of Issus in 333, he defeated another army, this one led by the Per¬ sian king Darius III, who managed to escape. He then took Syria and Phoenicia, cutting off the Persian fleet from its ports. In 332 he completed a seven-month siege of Tyre, considered his greatest military achievement, and then took Egypt. There he received the pharaohs’ double crown, founded Alexandria, and visited the oracle of the god Amon, the basis of his claim to divinity. In control of the eastern Mediterranean coast, in 331 he defeated Darius in a decisive battle at Gaugamela, though Darius again escaped. He next took the province of Babylon. He burnt Xerxes' palace at Persepolis, Persia, in 330, and he envisioned an empire ruled jointly by Macedonians and Persians. He continued eastward, quashing real or imag¬ ined conspiracies among his men and taking control to the Oxus and Jax- artes rivers, founding cities (most named Alexandria) to hold the territory. Conquering what is now Tajikistan, he married the princess Roxana and embraced Persian absolutism, adopting Persian dress and enforcing Per¬ sian court customs. By 326 he reached the Hyphasis in India, where his weary men mutinied; he turned back, marching and pillaging down the Indus, and reached Susa with much loss of life. He continued to promote his unpopular policy of racial fusion, a seeming attempt to form a Persian- Macedonian master race. When his favourite, Hephaestion (324), died, Alexander gave him a hero’s funeral and demanded that divine honours be given at his own funeral. He fell ill at Babylon after long feasting and drinking and died at age 33. He was buried in Alexandria, Egypt. His empire, the greatest that had existed to that time, extended from Thrace to Egypt and from Greece to the Indus valley.
Alexanderson, Ernst F(rederik) W(erner) (b. Jan. 25, 1878, Uppsala, Swed.—d. May 14, 1975, Schenectady, N.Y., U.S.) Swedish- born U.S. electrical engineer and television pioneer. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1901 and spent most of the next five decades at General Electric; from 1952 he worked for RCA. He developed a high-frequency alterna¬ tor that was capable of producing continuous radio waves, revolutioniz¬ ing radio communication. His completed alternator (1906) greatly improved transoceanic communication and firmly established the use of wireless devices in shipping and warfare. He also developed a sophisti¬ cated control system (1916) used to automate intricate manufacturing processes and operate antiaircraft guns. He was awarded his 321st patent in 1955 for the colour TV receiver he developed for RCA.