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ALES (ALEsIus), ALEXANDER (1500-1565)

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 543 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also:

ALES (ALEsIus), See also:ALEXANDER (1500-1565)  , Scottish divine of the school of See also:Augsburg, whose See also:family name was ALANE, was See also:born at See also:Edinburgh on the 23rd of See also:April 1500 . He studied at St See also:Andrews in the newly-founded See also:college of St Leonard's, where he graduated in 1515 . Some See also:time afterwards he was appointed a See also:canon of the collegiate See also:church, and at first contended vigorously for the scholastic See also:theology as against the doctrines of the Reformers . His views were entirely changed, however, on the See also:execution of See also:Patrick See also:Hamilton, See also:abbot of See also:Fern, in 1528 . He had been chosen to meet Hamilton in controversy, with a view to convincing him of his errors, but the arguments, of the Scottish proto-See also:martyr, and above all the spectacle of his heroism at the stake, impressed Alesius so powerfully that he was entirely won over to the cause of the Reformers . A See also:sermon which he preached before the See also:Synod at St Andrews against the dissoluteness of the See also:clergy gave See also:great offence to the See also:provost, who See also:cast him into See also:prison, and might have carried his resentment to the extremest limit had not Alesius contrived to See also:escape to See also:Germany in 1532 . After travelling in various countries of See also:northern See also:Europe, he settled down at See also:Wittenberg, where he made the acquaintance of See also:Luther and See also:Melanchthon, and signed the Augsburg. See also:confession . Meanwhile he was tried in See also:Scotland for See also:heresy and condemned without a See also:hearing . In 1533 a See also:decree of the Scottish clergy, prohibiting the See also:reading of the New Testament by the laity, See also:drew from Alesius a See also:defence of the right of the See also:people, in the See also:form of a See also:letter to See also:James V . A reply to this by See also:John See also:Cochlaeus,, also addressed to the Scottish See also:king, occasioned a second letter from Alesius, in which he not only amplifies his See also:argument with great force, but enters into more See also:general questions connected with the See also:Reformation . In See also:August 1534 he and a few others were excommunicated at Holyrood by the See also:deputy of the See also:archbishop of St Andrews . When See also:Henry VIII. See also:broke with the church of See also:Rome Alesius was induced to go to See also:England, where he was very cordially received (August 1535) by the king and his advisers See also:Cranmer and See also:Thomas See also:Cromwell .

After a See also:

short See also:residence at See also:Lambeth he was appointed, through the See also:influence of Cromwell, then See also:chancellor of the university,, to lecture on theology at See also:Cambridge; but when he had delivered a few expositions of the See also:Hebrew See also:psalms, he was compelled by the opposition of the papal party to desist . Returning to See also:London he supported himself for some time by practising as a physician . In 1537 he attended a See also:convocation of the clergy, and at the See also:request of Cromwell conducted a controversy withStokesley, See also:bishop of London, on the nature of the sacraments . His argument was afterwards published under the See also:title Of the A uctorite of the Word of See also:God concerning the number of the Sacraments . In 1539 Alesius was compelled to flee for the second time to Germany, in consequence of the enactment of the See also:statute of the Six Articles . He was appointed to a theological See also:chair in the university of See also:Frankfort-on-See also:Oder, where he was the first See also:professor who taught the reformed doctrines . In 1543 he quitted Frankfort for a similar. position at See also:Leipzig, his contention that it was the See also:duty of the See also:civil See also:magistrate to punish fornication, and his sudden departure, having given offence to the authorities of the former university . He was in England again for a short time during See also:Edward VI.'s reign, and was commissioned by Cranmer to make a Latin version of the First See also:Prayer-See also:Book (1549) for the See also:information of See also:Bucer, whose See also:opinion was desired . He died at Leipzig on the 17th of See also:March 1565 . Alesius was the author of a large number of exegetical, dogmatic and polemical See also:works, of which over twenty are mentioned by See also:Bale in his See also:List of See also:English Writers . (See also the See also:British Museum See also:catalogue.) In his controversial works he upholds the synergistic views of the Scottish theologian John See also:Major . He displayed his See also:interest in his native See also:land by the publication of a Cohortatio ad Concordiam Pietatis, missa in Patriam seam (1544), which had the See also:express approval of Luther, and a Cohortatio ad Pietatis Concordiam ineundam (1559) .

The best See also:

early See also:account of Alesius is the Oratio de See also:Alexandre Alesio of See also:Jacob See also:Thomasius (April 1661), printed in the latter's Orationes (No . NIV., Leipzig, 1683) : the best See also:modern account is by Dr A . W . See also:Ward in the See also:Dictionary of See also:National See also:Biography . See also A . F . See also:Mitchell's introduction to See also:Gau's Richt Pay (Scottish See also:Text Society, 1888) .

End of Article: ALES (ALEsIus), ALEXANDER (1500-1565)
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