book ii

.; C. Zeuss, Die Deutschen und die Nachbarstamme (Munich, 1837), pp. Ro5 ff.; O. Bremer in H. Paul, Grundriss der Permanischen Philologie (2nd ed., Strassburg, 1900), vol. iii. pp. 930 h. (F. G. M. B.)

ALAMANNI, or ALEMANNI, LUIGI (1405-1556), Italian statesman and poet, was born at Florence. His father was a devoted adherent of the Medici party, but Luigi, smarting under a supposed injustice, joined with Others in an unsuccessful conspiracy against Giulio de' Medici, afterwards POpe Clement VII. He was obliged in consequence to take refuge in Venice, and, on the accession of Clement, to flee to France. When Florence shook off the papal yoke in 1527, Alamanni returned, and took a prominent part in the management of the affairs of the republic. On the restoration of the Medici in 1530 he had again to take refuge in France, where he composed the greater part of his works. He was a favourite with Francis I., who sent him as ambassador to Charles V. after the peace of Crepy in 1544. As an instance of his tact in this capacity, it is related that, when Charles interrupted a complimentary address by quoting from a satirical poem of Alamanni's the words---

``l' aquila grifagna, Che per piu devorar, duoi rostri porta''

(Two crooked bills the ravenous eagle bears, The better to devour),

the latter at once replied that he spoke them as a poet, who was permitted to use fictions, but that he spoke now as an ambassador, who was obliged to tell the truth. The ready reply pleased Charles, who added some complimentary words. After the death of Francis, Alamanni enjoyed the confidence of his successor Henry II., and in 1551 was sent by him as his ambassador to Genoa. He died at Amboise on the 18th of April 1556. He wrote a large number of poems, distinguished by the purity and excellence of their style. The best is a didactic poem, La Coltivazione (Paris, 1546), written in imitation of Virgil's Georgics. His Opere Toscane (Lyons, 1532) consists of satirical pieces written in blank verse. An unfinished poem, Avarchide, in imitation of the Iliad, was the work of his old age and has little merit. It has been said by some that Alamanni was the first to use blank verse in Italian poetry, but the distinction belongs rather to his contemporary Giangiorgio Trissino. He also wrote a poetical romance, Girone il Cortese (Paris, 1548); a tragedy, Antigone; a comedy, Flora; and other poems. His works were published, with a biography by P. Raffaelli, as Versi e prose di Luigi Alamanni (Florence, 1859).

See G. Naro, Luigi Alamanni e la coltivazione (Syracuse, 1897), and C . Corso, Un decennio di patriottismo di Luigi Alamanni (Palermo, 1898).

ALAMEAGH, or ALUMBAGH, the name of a large park 01 walled enclosure, containing a palace, a mosque and other buildings, as well as a beautiful garden, situated about 4 m. from Lucknow, near the Cawnpore road, in the United Provinces of India. It was converted into a fort by the mutineers in 1857, and after its capture by the British was of importance in connexion with the military operations around Lucknow. (See INDIAN MUTINY and OUTRAM, SIR JAMES.)

ALAMEDA, a residential city of Alameda county, California, U.S.A., on an artificial island about 5 m. long and 1 m. wide, on the E. side of San Francisco bay, opposite to and about 6 m. from San Francisco, and directly S. of Oakland, from which it is separated by a drainage canal, spanned by bridges. Included within the limits of the city is Bay Farm island, with an area of about 3 sq. m. Pop. (1870) 15571 (1880) 5708; (1890) 11,165; (1900) 16,464, of whom 4175 were foreign-born; (1910, census) 23,383. Alameda is served by the Southern Pacific railway, and is connected by an electric line with Oakland and Berkeley. Its site is low and level and its plan fairly regular. Among the city's manufactures are terra-cotta tiles, pottery, rugs, refrigerators and salt. The city owns and operates the electriclighting plant; the water-works system is privately owned, and the water supply is obtained from deep wells at San Leandro. A settlement existed here before the end of the Mexican period. In 1854 it was incorporated as a town and in 1885 was chartered as a city. In 1906 the city adopted a freehold charter, centralizing power in the mayor and providing for a referendum. The county was organized in 1853.

ALAMOS DE BARRIENTOS, BALTASAR (1555-1640), Spanish scholar, was born at Medina del Campo in 1555. His friendship with Antonio Perez caused him to be arrested in 1590 and imprisoned for nearly thirteen years. His 7Acito espanol ilustrado con aforismos (Madrid, 1614) is the only work which bears his name, but he is probably the author of the Discurso del gobierno ascribed to Perez. Through the influence of Lerma (to whom the Tacito is dedicated) and of Olivares, he subsequently attained high official position.

See L'Art de gouverner, ed. J. M. Guardia (Paris, 1867); P. J. Pidal, Historia de las alteraciones de Aragon en el reinado de Felipe II. (Madrid, 1862), vol. iii. pp. 29-30; A. Perez, Relaciones (Geneva, 1654), pp. 86-88.

ALAND ISLANDS, an archipelago at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia, about 25 m. from the coast of Sweden, and 15 from that of Finland. The group, which forms part of the Finnish province of Abo-Bjorneborg, consists of nearly three hundred islands, of which about eighty are inhabited, the remainder being desolate rocks. These islands form a continuation of a dangerous granite reef extending along the south coast of Finland. They formerly belonged to Sweden, and in the neighbourhood the first victory of the Russian fleet Over the Swedes was gained by Peter the Great in 1714. They were ceded to Russia in 1809. They occupy a total area of 1426 sq. km., and their present population is estimated at about 19,000. The majority of these occupy the island of Aland, upon which is situated the town of Mariehamn with a population of 1171. The inhabitants are mostly of Swedish descent, and are hardy seamen and fishermen. The surface of the islands is generally sandy, the soil thin and the climate keen; yet Scotch fir, spruce and birch are grown; and rye, barley, flax and vegetables are produced in sufficient quantity for the wants of the people. Great numbers of cattle are reared; and cheese, butter and hides, as well as salted meat and fish, are exported. There are several excellent harbours (notably that of Ytternas), which were at one time of great importance to Russia from the fact that they are frozen up for a much briefer period than those on the coast of Finland.

The Aland Islands occupy a position of the greatest strategic importance, commanding as they do both the entrance to the port of Stockholm and the approaches to the Gulf of Bothnia, through which the greater part of the trade of Sweden is carried on. When, by the 4th article of the treaty of Fredrikshavn (Friedrichshamn), 5/17 September 1809, the islands were ceded to Russia, together with the territories forming the grand-duchy of Finland on the mainland, the Swedes were unable to secure a provision that the islands should not be fortified. The question was, however, a vital one not only for Sweden but for Great Britain, whose trade in the Baltic was threatened. In 1854, accordingly, during the Crimean War, an Anglo-French force attacked and destroyed the fortress of Bomersund, against the erection of which Palmerston had protested without effect some twenty years previously. By the ``Aland Convention,'' concluded between Great Britain, France and Russia on the 30th of March 1856, it was stipulated that ``the Aland Islands shall not be fortified, and that no military or naval establishments shall be maintained or created on them.'' By the 33rd article of the treaty of Paris (1856) this convention, annexed to the final act, was given ``the same force and validity as if it formed part thereof,'' Palmerston declaring in the House of Commons (May 6) that it had ``placed a barrier between Russia and the north of Europe.,' Some attention was attracted to this arrangement when in 1906 it was asserted that Russia, under pretext of stopping the smuggling of arms into Finland, was massing considerable naval and military forces at the islands. The question of the Aland Islands created some discussion in 1907 and 1908 in connexion with the new North Sea agreements, and undoubtedly Russia considered the convention of 1856 as rather humiliating. But it was plainly shown by other powers that they did not propose to regard it as modified or open to question, and the point was not definitely and officially raised.

See the article by Dr Verner Soderberg in the National Review, No. 392, for April 1908.

ALANI (Gr. 'Alanoi,'Alaunoi; Chinese 'O-lan-na; since the 9th century A.D. they have been called As, Russ. Jasy, Georgian Ossi), the easternmost division of the Sarmatians (see SCYTHIA), Iranian nomads with some Altaic admixture. First met with north of the Caspian, and later (c. 1st century A.D.) spreading into the steppes of Russia, the Alans made incursions into both the Danubian and the Caucasian provinces of the Roman empire. By the Huns they were cut into two portions, of which the western joined the Germanic nations in their invasion of southern Europe, and, following the fortunes of the Vandals, disappeared in North Africa. Those of the eastern division, though dispersed about the steppes until late medieval times, were by fresh invading hordes forced into the Caucasus, where they remain as the Ossetes. At one time partially Christianized by Byzantine missionaries, they had almost relapsed into heathenism, but are now under Russian influence returning to Christianity. (E. II. M.)

ALANCON, HERNANDO DE, Spanish navigator of the 16th century, is known only in connexion with the expedition to the coast of California, of which he was leader. He set sail on the 9th of May 1540 with orders from the Spanish court to await at a certain point on the coast the arrival of an expedition by land under the command of Vasquez de Coronado. The junction was not effected, though Alarcon reached the appointed place and left letters, which were afterwards found by Diaz, another explorer. Alarcon was the first to determine with certainty that California was a peninsula and not an island, as had been supposed. He made a careful survey of the coast, ascended the Rio del Tizon Or Rio de Buena Guia (Colorado) for 85 Spanish m., and was thus able on his return to New Spain in 1541 to construct an excellent map of California.

See Herrera, Decade VI.