to a great extent succeeded, and was paying a visit to Saxony, when he was recalled by news of a fresh rising. Groningen was captured, but soon afterwards the duke died at Emden, on the 12th of September 1500. He was buried at Meissen. Albert, who was a man of great strength and considerable skill in feats of arms, delighted in tournaments and knightly exercises. His loyalty to the emperor Frederick, and the expenses incurred in this connexion, aroused some irritation among his subjects, but his rule was a period of prosperity in Saxony.
See F. A. von Langenn, Herzog Albrecht der Beherzte, Stammvater des königlichen Hauses Sachsen (Leipzig, 1838); O. Sperling, Herzog Albrecht der Beherzte von Sachsen als Gubernator Frieslands (Leipzig, 1892).
ALBERT, FREDERICK AUGUSTUS, king of Saxony (1828–1902), was born on the 23rd of April 1828, being the eldest son of Prince John, who succeeded to the throne in 1854. His education was, as is usual with German princes, to a great extent military, but he attended lectures at the university of Bonn. His first experience of warfare was in 1849, when he served as a captain in the campaign of Schleswig-Holstein against the Danes. When the war of 1866 broke out, the crown-prince was placed in command of the Saxon forces opposing the Prussian army of Prince Frederick Charles. No attempt was made to defend Saxony; the Saxons fell back into Bohemia and effected a junction with the Austrians. They took a prominent part in the battles by which the Prussians forced the line of the Iser and in the battle of Gitchin. The crown-prince, however, succeeded in effecting the retreat in good order, and in the decisive battle of Königgrätz (see Seven Weeks' War) he held the extreme left of the Austrian position. The Saxons maintained their post with great tenacity, but were involved in the disastrous defeat of their allies. During these operations the crown-prince won the reputation of a thorough soldier; after peace was made and Saxony had entered the North German confederation, he was placed in command of the Saxon army, which had now become the XII. army corps of the North German army, and in this position carried out the necessary reorganization. He was a firm adherent of the Prussian alliance. On the outbreak of war in 1870 he again commanded the Saxons, who were included in the 2nd army under Prince Frederick Charles, his old opponent. At the battle of Gravelotte they formed the extreme left of the German army, and with the Prussian Guard carried out the attack on St Privat, the final and decisive action in the battle. In the reorganization of the army which accompanied the march towards Paris the crown-prince was given a separate command over the 4th army (army of the Meuse) consisting of the Saxons, the Prussian Guard corps and the IV. (Prussian Saxony) corps. He was succeeded in command of the XII. corps by his brother Prince George, who had served under him in Bohemia. He took a leading part in the operations which preceded the battle of Sedan, the 4th army being the pivot on which the whole army wheeled round in pursuit of Macmahon; and the actions of Buzancy and Beaumont on the 29th and 30th of August were fought under his direction; in the battle of Sedan itself, with the troops under his orders, he carried out the envelopment of the French on the east and north. His conduct in these engagements won for him the complete confidence of the army, and during the siege of Paris his troops formed the north-east section of the investing force. After the conclusion of the armistice he was left in command of the German army of occupation, a position which he held till the fall of the Commune. On the conclusion of peace he was made an inspector-general of the army and field-marshal. On the death of his father on the 29th of October 1873 he succeeded to the throne. His reign was uneventful, and he took little public part in politics, devoting himself to military affairs, in which his advice and experience were of the greatest value, not only to the Saxon corps but to the German army in general. In 1897 he was appointed arbitrator between the claimants for the principality of Lippe. King Albert married in 1853 Carola, daughter of Prince Gustavus of Vasa, and granddaughter of the last king of Sweden of the house of Holstein. He died on the 19th of June 1902.
ALBERT, surnamed the Degenerate (c. 1240–1314), landgrave of Thuringia, was the eldest son of Henry III., the Illustrious, margrave of Meissen. He married Margaret, daughter of the emperor Frederick II., in 1254, and in 1265 received from his father Thuringia and the Saxon palatinate. His infatuation for Kunigunde of Eisenberg caused his wife to leave him, and after her death in 1270 he married Kunigunde, who had already borne him a son, Apitz or Albert. He wished to make Apitz his successor in Thuringia, a plan which was resisted by his two elder sons, and a war broke out which lasted until 1307, when he abandoned Thuringia, in return for a yearly payment, but retained the title of landgrave (see Thuringia.) Albert, who had married Elizabeth, daughter of Hermann III., count of Orlamünde, after the death of his second wife in 1286, died on the 13th of November 1314.
See F. X. Wegele, Friedrich der Freidige, Markgraf von Meissen, und die Wettiner seiner Zeit (Nördlingen, 1820); F. W. Tittmann, Geschichte Heinrich des Erlauchten Markgraven zu Meissen (Leipzig, 1863).
ALBERT (FRIEDRICH RUDOLF ALBRECHT), Archduke (1817–1895), Austrian field-marshal, was the eldest son of the archduke Charles (Karl Friedrich), and was born on the 3rd of August 1817 at Vienna. After being educated under the careful superintendence of his father, he entered the Austrian (K.K.) army as a colonel of infantry in 1837, and was transferred to the cavalry arm in 1839, becoming a major-general in 1840. A brief period of leave in this year he spent at the great manœuvres in Italy, to learn the art of troop-leading from the first soldier in Europe, Radetzky. He then took over the command of a brigade of all arms at Graz. In 1844 he married Princess Hildegarde of Bavaria. He had been made a lieutenant field-marshal in the previous year, and was now placed in command of the forces in Upper and Lower Austria. In this position he did much to maintain and improve the efficiency of the troops under his command, at a time when nearly all armies in Europe, with the exception of Radetzky’s in Italy, had sunk to the lowest level. The influence of Radetzky over the young archduke was indeed remarkable. At this time the Austrian generals and staff officers had committed themselves blindly to the strategical method of the archduke Charles, the tradition of whose practical soldiership survived only in Radetzky and a few others. Albert chose to follow the latter, and was thus saved from the pseudo-scientific pedantry which brought defeat to the Austrian arms in 1859 and in 1866. His first serious service came in March 1848, when it became his duty, as district commander, to maintain order in Vienna by force, and at the outbreak of revolution in Vienna during the month of March he was in command of the troops who came into collision with the rioters. Owing to the collapse of the government it was impossible to repress the disturbances, and he was relieved from a post which brought much unpopularity and was not suitable to be held by a member of the imperial family. He went at once to the seat of war in Italy, and fought under Radetzky as a volunteer throughout the campaign of 1848, being present at the action of Pastrengo and the battles of Santa Lucia and Custozza. In the following campaign he applied for and obtained the command of a division in the II. corps (FZM. d’Aspre), though his previous grade had been that of a general commanding-in-chief. The splendid fighting of the corps at Novara was decisive of the war, and Radetzky named d’Aspre, Count Thurn, and the archduke as the general officers worthy of the greatest rewards. The field-marshal indeed recommended, and almost insisted, that Albert should receive the much-prized order of Maria Theresa. In 1850 he became a general of cavalry, and in 1851 military and civil governor of Hungary. In this important and difficult position he remained until 1860, when he was relieved at his own request. Shortly afterwards he was appointed to succeed Radetzky as commander-in-chief in Italy, and in 1863 he was promoted field-marshal. In the following year the archduke lost his wife, soon after the marriage of their elder daughter to Duke Philip of Württemberg. In 1859 and 1864 he was sent on important military and diplomatic missions to Berlin. When
