View source for Alexander Ales

{{Short description|Scottish theologian (1500–1556)}}
{{distinguish|Alexander of Hales}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Alexander Ales
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1500|4|23|df=yes}}
|birth_place = [[Edinburgh]], [[Scotland]]
|birth_name = Alexander Alane
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1565|3|17|1500|4|23|df=yes}}
|death_place = [[Leipzig]], [[Electorate of Saxony]]
|occupation = Theologian
}}

'''Alexander Ales''' or '''Alexander Alesius''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|l|iː|s|i|ə|s}}; born '''Alexander Alane'''; 23 April 1500{{snd}}17 March 1565) was a Scottish [[theology|theologian]] who emigrated to Germany and became a [[Lutheran]] supporter of the [[Augsburg Confession]].

== Life ==
Originally Alexander Alane, he was born at [[Edinburgh]]. He studied at [[university of St Andrews|St Andrews]] in the newly founded college of St Leonard's, where he graduated in 1515. Some time afterwards he was appointed a [[Roman Catholic priest|priest]] at the University's church, where he preached vigorously in favor of [[scholasticism|scholastic]] [[theology]], [[Renaissance humanism]], and [[anti-Protestantism]]. His views entirely changed, however, upon witnessing the 1528 [[execution by burning]] of Rev. [[Patrick Hamilton (martyr)|Patrick Hamilton]], a Lutheran Pastor and former abbot of Fern. Fr. Ales was chosen to meet Hamilton in a theological debate, with a view to convincing him of the errors of [[Lutheranism]], but the theological arguments of the Scottish minister and, above all, his fortitude at the stake impressed Alesius so powerfully that he immediately embraced Lutheran theology.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Ales, Alexander|volume=1|pages=542-543}}</ref>

A sermon he preached before the [[Synod]] at St Andrews against the dissoluteness of the clergy offended the [[provost (religion)|provost]], who placed him in prison, and might have carried his resentment further if Alesius had not escaped to Germany in 1532. After travelling through northern Europe, he settled down at [[Wittenberg]], where he befriended [[Martin Luther]] and [[Philipp Melanchthon]] and signed the [[Augsburg confession]]. Meanwhile, he was tried by the Bishops of the [[Catholic Church in Scotland]] for [[heresy]] and condemned to death ''[[Trial in absentia|in absentia]]''. In 1533 a decree by the Scottish Bishops, prohibiting the reading of the [[New Testament]] by the laity, drew from Alesius a defence of the right of the people, in the form of an [[open letter]] to King [[James V of Scotland]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

A reply to this by German [[Roman Catholic priest]] and [[Renaissance humanist]] [[Johann Cochlaeus]] was also addressed to the Scottish king and occasioned a second letter from Alesius, in which he amplified his argument with greater force and entered into more general questions.<ref name="EB1911"/> In August 1534 he and a few others were excommunicated at [[Holyrood Abbey|Holyrood]] by the deputy of the Archbishop of St Andrews.{{Citation needed|date=February 2017}} When King [[Henry VIII of England]] (1509–47) declared himself [[Supreme Head of the Church of England]], Alesius was persuaded to go to [[England]], where he was cordially received (August 1535) by the king and his pro-Protestant advisers, Archbishop [[Thomas Cranmer]] and [[Thomas Cromwell]].<ref name="EB1911"/> He briefly attended the court of Henry's queen, [[Anne Boleyn]], of whom he thought very highly and he was actually in London during her downfall, trial, and [[execution by beheading]], although it was Alesius' belief that Boleyn was not guilty of [[adultery]] or any of the other crimes for she was put to death. Later, during the reign of Queen [[Elizabeth I]], Anne Boleyn's daughter, Alesius wrote a letter to the new Queen detailing his memories of her mother.

After a short stay at [[Lambeth Palace]] he was appointed, through the influence of Cromwell, then chancellor of the university, to lecture on theology at the [[Queens' College, Cambridge]];<ref>{{acad|id=ALSS500A|name=Alesius, Alexander, ''alias'' Aless ''and'' Alane}}</ref> but when he had delivered a few expositions of the Hebrew [[psalms]], he was prevented from continuing by the anti-Protestant party.

Returning to London he supported himself for some time by practising as a physician. In 1537 he attended a convocation of the clergy, and at the request of Cromwell Alesius debated with [[John Stokesley]], [[Bishop of London]], on the nature of the [[sacrament]]s. His argument was published in 1544 under the title {{lang|enm|italic=yes|Of the auctorite of the word of god agaynst the bisshop of london wherein are conteyned certen disputacyons had in the parliament howse betwene the bisshops a bowt the nomber of the sacramen[n]ts and other things, very necessary to be known, made by Alexa[n]der Alane Scot and sent to the duke of Saxon.}}<ref name="EB1911"/>

In 1539 Alesius was compelled to flee for a second time to Germany, as a result of Thomas Cromwell's fall from the King's favour and the enactment of the statute of the [[Six Articles (1539)|Six Articles]]. He was appointed to a theological chair at the university of [[Frankfurt an der Oder]], where he was the first professor to teach Lutheran theology. He was in England again for a short time during [[Edward VI of England|Edward VI]]'s reign, and was commissioned by Cranmer to make a [[Latin]] translation of the ''[[First Prayer-Book (1549)]]'' for the use of [[Martin Bucer]], whose opinion was desired.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Returning to [[Leipzig]] he passed the remainder of his days in peace and honour, and was twice elected Rector of the [[University of Leipzig|University]].

== Works ==
His writings were both exegetical and controversial, but chiefly the latter. They include ''Expositio Libri Psalmorum Davidis'' (1550). His controversial works refer to such subjects as the translation of the Bible into the vernacular, against Servetus, etc.

Alesius published a large number of exegetical, dogmatic and polemical works, of which over twenty are mentioned by Bale in his ''List of English Writers''. In his controversial works he upholds the synergistic views of the Scottish theologian [[John Major (theologian)|John Major]]. He displayed his interest in his native land by the publication of a ''Cohortatio ad Concordiam Pietatis, missa in Patriam suam'' (1544), which had the express approval of Luther, and a ''Cohortatio ad Pietatis Concordiam ineundam'' (1559).<ref name="EB1911"/>

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
* {{cite DNB|wstitle=Alesius, Alexander}}
* {{A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature|wstitle=Alesius, Alexander}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Eminent Scotsmen|Ales or Alesse, Alexander|1|41-42}}
* Dickie, Robert J (2018). ''Alexander Alesius: Scotland's First International Reformer'' in ''Scotland's Debt to Martin Luther''. Edinburgh: Scottish Reformation Society, pp.&nbsp;72–104. ISBN 978-1-908727-13-8

== External links ==
{{wikisource|works=or}}
* The best early account of Alesius is the ''Oratio de Alexandra Alesio'' of [[Jacob Thomasius]] (April 1661), printed in the latter's ''Orationes'' (No. XIV., Leipzig, 1683) (Chisholm 1911).
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=93ErAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA7&vq=Alesius+Alexander&source=gbs_search_r&cad=1_1 Alesius, Alexander] in the Lutheran Cyclopedia
*{{prdl|27}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ales, Alexander}}
[[Category:1500 births]]
[[Category:1565 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century German Protestant theologians]]
[[Category:16th-century Lutheran theologians]]
[[Category:16th-century Scottish male writers]]
[[Category:16th-century Scottish theologians]]
[[Category:Academic staff of European University Viadrina]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Leipzig University]]
[[Category:Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of St Andrews]]
[[Category:Clergy from Edinburgh]]
[[Category:People excommunicated by the Catholic Church]]
[[Category:Protestant Reformers]]
[[Category:Scottish Christian theologians]]
[[Category:Scottish emigrants to Germany]]
[[Category:Scottish male non-fiction writers]]