Alexander III (redirected from Czar Alexander III)

Alexander III, pope

Alexander III, d. 1181, pope (1159–81), a Sienese named Rolandus [Bandinelli?], successor of Adrian IV. He was a canonist who had studied law under Gratian and had taught at Bologna. He came to Rome under Eugene III, was made a cardinal, and became a trusted adviser of Adrian IV. Alexander's election to the papacy was opposed by a few cardinals, who elected an antipope, Victor IV. Although the antipope was supported only by Germany and some Lombards, the schism thus begun continued until 1178 with antipopes Paschal III and Calixtus III. Alexander was forced (1162) by Emperor Frederick I into exile in France. In the long struggle with the emperor, the pope was aided by the Lombard League, which named the town of Alessandria for him. After the battle of Legnano (1176), the emperor was forced to submit. Alexander had already (1174) received the penance of Henry II of England for the murder of St. Thomas Becket, whom Alexander had canonized in 1173. He convened and presided at the Third Lateran Council. One of the great medieval popes, he issued many decretals, established the procedure for canonizing saints, inaugurated the two-thirds rule for papal elections, protected the universities, and was one of the most distinguished champions of ecclesiastical independence in the Middle Ages. He was succeeded by Lucius III.

Bibliography

See biography by Cardinal Boso (tr. 1973) and R. Somerville and K. Pennington, Law, Church, and Society, (1977).

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Alexander III, czar of Russia

Alexander III, 1845–94, czar of Russia (1881–94), son and successor of Alexander II. Factors that contributed to Alexander's reactionary policies included his father's assassination, his limited intelligence and education, his military background, and the influence of such advisers as Konstantin P. Pobyedonostzev and Mikhail N. Katkov. On his accession he discarded the modest proposals for reform made by Count Loris-Melikov. Alexander increased the repressive powers of the police and tightened censorship and control of education. He limited the power of the zemstvos [local assemblies] and the judiciary, increased controls over the peasantry, subjected the national minorities to forcible Russification, and persecuted all religious minorities, especially the Jews. Perhaps the only enlightened policy of Alexander's reign was pursued by his energetic minister of finance, Count Witte, who used governmental pressure and investments to stimulate industrial development and to begin construction of the Trans-Siberian RR. The czar and his foreign minister, Nikolai K. Giers, worked for peace in Europe, although Russian expansion in Central Asia almost led to conflict with Great Britain. In the Balkans, Russia's attempts to make Bulgaria a satellite proved unsuccessful and led to a final break with Austria–Hungary, which also had interests there. The Three Emperors' League of Russia, Austria–Hungary, and Germany was replaced (1887) with a Russo-German alliance. This was not renewed in 1890, and a Franco-Russian entente grew after 1891 (see Triple Alliance and Triple Entente). Alexander was succeeded by his son Nicholas II.

Bibliography

See studies by C. Lowe (1972) and H. W. Whelan (1982).

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Alexander III, king of Scotland

Alexander III, 1241–86, king of Scotland (1249–86), son and successor of Alexander II. He married a daughter of Henry III of England and quarreled with Henry, and later Henry's son Edward I, over the old English claims to overlordship in Scotland. The great achievement of Alexander was his final acquisition for Scotland of the Hebrides and of the Isle of Man, which his father had already claimed from Norway. King Haakon IV of Norway attempted to drive the Scots from the islands, but a storm battered his ships, and he was defeated in the battle of Largs in the Clyde river. In 1266, Alexander signed a treaty with Magnus VI, assigning the islands to Scotland. Alexander survived his children, and when he died his only near relative was his little granddaughter Margaret Maid of Norway.

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Alexander III, king of Macedon

Alexander III, king of Macedon: see Alexander the Great.

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Alexander III

 orig. Rolando Bandinelli

(born c. 1105, Siena, Tuscany—died 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 representative of Pope Adrian IV, he angered Frederick I (Frederick Barbarossa) 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 following 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).

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Alexander III

 Russian Aleksandr Aleksandrovich

(born March 10, 1845, St. Petersburg, Russia—died 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 nationality, 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.

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Alexander III

(born Sept. 2, 1241—died 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 Alexander 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.

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Alexander III

1. 1241--86, king of Scotland (1249--86), son of Alexander II

2. original name Orlando Bandinelli. died 1181, pope (1159--81), who excommunicated Barbarossa

3. 1845--94, tsar of Russia (1881--94), son of Alexander II