ALEXANDER

born Aug. 5, 1461, Krakw, Pol. died Aug. 19, 1506, Vilnius, Lithuania Polish in full Aleksander Jagiellonczyk king of Poland (150106) of the Jagiellonian dynasty, successor to his brother John Albert. Alexander carried on the hopeless struggle of the crown against the growing power of the Polish senate and nobles, who deprived him of financial control and curtailed his prerogative. For want of funds, Alexander was unable to assist the Grand Master of the Order of the Sword against Muscovite aggression, or prevent Tsar Ivan III from ravaging Lithuania with the Tatars. The utmost that the King could do was to garrison Smolensk and several other fortresses in his keep and to employ his wife, Helena, the Tsar's daughter, to mediate a truce between his father-in-law and himself. Only the death of Stephen, the great hospodar (ruler) of Moldavia, enabled Poland still to hold her own on the Danube. The liberality of Pope Julius II, who granted Alexander much-needed financial help, enabled the Polish king to restrain somewhat the arrogance of the Teutonic Knights in the Prussian provinces. born Oct. 11 [Sept. 29, old style], 1806, Topola, Serbia died May 4 [April 22, O.S.], 1885, Temesvr, Banat, Austria-Hungary Serbo-Croatian in full Aleksandar Karageorgevic prince of Serbia from 1842 to 1858. The third son of Karageorge, who had led the movement to win Serb autonomy from the Ottoman Turks (180413), Alexandar lived in exile until 1842, when the Skuptina (Serb parliament) elected him prince of Serbia. Assuming the throne despite Russian challenges to his election and Turkish refusals to make his office hereditary, Alexander allowed his administration to be dominated by an oligarchy consisting of an elite group of senators. In an effort to modernize the Serb bureaucracy, it attempted to improve the principality's educational, legal, and judicial systems, as well as to foster the use of money and credit in Serbia's economy. Although Alexander and his senator-advisers were well intentioned, their innovations, which were quickly undermined by corruption and abuse, stimulated widespread discontent in Serbia's traditional peasant society. In addition, the new intelligentsia, created to provide trained personnel for the reformed bureaucracy, constituted another centre of opposition that encouraged emulation of western European parliamentary government, rather than the simple adoption of bureaucratic reforms. Alexander responded to a revolt of the Serbs of south Hungary against the Hungarians in 1848 by refusing to support the revolutionary movement but allowing volunteers to cross the border. He later succumbed to Austrian demands that Serbia refrain from aiding Russia and again maintain neutrality during the Crimean War (185356). Thus, he lost the support of the many Serbs who advocated pan-Slavism. Although he overthrew some of the main oligarchs in 1857, the Skuptina, which met the following year, insisted that he abdicate. Reluctantly agreeing, Alexander spent the remainder of his life in exile. born 870 died June 6, 913, Constantinople Byzantine emperor from May 12, 912, third son of the emperor Basil I, who founded the Macedonian dynasty and caused the renewal of warfare between Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire. Alexander was crowned co-emperor with his brother Leo VI in 879 after the death of their elder brother, Constantine, but he remained inactive in state affairs until after Leo's death in May 912. Sending Leo VI's fourth wife, Zoe, to a nunnery, he replaced Leo's advisers and reinstated the deposed patriarch, Nicholas Mysticus. Alexander's refusal to pay the annual tribute owed to the Bulgars by the treaty of 896 precipitated war with Symeon, their powerful and aggressive king. Alexander declared his nephew, Leo's young son, later Constantine VII, his heir to the Byzantine throne and was co-regent with him for several months. born July 20, 1893, Athens died Oct. 25, 1920, Tatoi Palace, near Athens king of Greece from 1917 to 1920. The second son of King Constantine (ruled 191317 and 192022) and Queen Sophia, Alexander became king (June 12, 1917) when his father was forced by the Allies of World War I to abdicate and thereby allow his country to join them in the war. Shortly after Alexander's accession to the throne, Eleuthrios Venizlos became premier of Greece, dominating Alexander and the government. Venizlos made Greece a participant in the war and subsequently attained a series of diplomatic triumphs at the peace conference, gaining the territories of Smyrna and eastern and western Thrace from Turkey and Bulgaria (treaties of Svres and Neuilly, 1920 and 1919) and presenting Alexander with the prospect of expanding Greece's frontiers farther into Anatolia. Before Alexander was able to pursue that objective, however, he was bitten by a pet monkey and died from blood poisoning. born Aug. 14 [Aug. 2, Old Style], 1876, Belgrade, Serbia died June 11 , 1903, Belgrade Serbo-Croatian in full Aleksandar Obrenovic king of Serbia (18891903), whose unpopular authoritarian reign resulted not only in his assassination but also in the end of the Obrenovic dynasty. The only child of Prince (later King) Milan (reigned 186889) and his consort, Natalie, Alexander ascended the Serbian throne on March 6 (Feb. 22), 1889, after his father had abdicated and named a regency council for the youthful Alexander. On April 13 (April 1), 1893, Alexander dismissed the regency council and assumed active control of the government. Initially well received, Alexander soon alienated a large segment of his supporters by excluding the popular pro-Russian Radical Party from his cabinets, abolishing (1894) the liberal constitution of 1889 in favour of the 1869 constitution (which limited the legislature's powers), frequently changing his cabinet ministers, and bringing his pro-Austrian father (who had been living abroad since 1889) back to Serbia to become commander in chief of the armed forces (1897). When the press voiced its bitter opposition to Alexander's policies and authoritarian manner, the king, urged by his father, restricted the freedoms of the press and of association. An unsuccessful attempt on Milan's life (1899) brought more repressive measures, which particularly curtailed the activities of the Radicals. Alexander's prestige reached a low point in 1900, when, despite the strong objections of his father and other political advisers, he declared his intention to marry his mistress, Draga Main, ne Lunjevica, the widow of a Bohemian engineer, a former lady-in-waiting to Alexander's mother, and a woman 10 years his senior with a dubious reputation. Alexander's entire cabinet resigned in protest. The scandal forced Alexander to grant a more liberal constitution (1901) and to create a senate as the second house in the legislature. During his reign he also improved his state's economy, reformed the army, and tried to improve Serbia's international position by encouraging the revival of the Balkan alliances that were originally negotiated between 1865 and 1868 by King Michael (Mihailo Obrenovic; reigned 186068). But Alexander also made a mockery of constitutional government by suspending the constitution for a few hours when he wanted to make unconstitutional changes (1903). He also seemed on the verge of proclaiming Draga's brother as heir to the throne. Consequently, with opposition to Alexander mounting, the country generally welcomed the coup d'tat by the military conspirators who invaded the royal palace and murdered Alexander, Draga, and some members of the court.