Alesius

Alesius, ALEXANDER, a noted divine and Reformer, whose name was originally Alane, was born in Edinburgh on 23d April 1500. He studied at St Andrews, and became canon of the collegiate church there. Won over to the side of the Reformers, he was obliged to flee to the Continent, and in his absence he was tried and condemned. He eventually settled down at Wittenberg, signed the Augsburg Confession, and gained the friendship of Melanchthon. In 1535 Alesius came over to England, was well received by Cranmer and Cromwell, and lectured for a time on theology at Cambridge; but the persecuting statute, the 'Six Articles,' compelled him to return to Germany. He was successively appointed to a theological chair in the universities of Frankfort-on-the-Oder and Leipzig; and had an active and influential share in several episodes of the Reformation in Germany. He died at Leipzig, 17th March 1565. He wrote some thirty exegetical and polemical works.