EDOARDO D'ALENÇON. - Capuchin historiographer, b. at Alençon (Orne) on 10 April 1859, d. at Rome on 1 September 1928. He entered religious life in the province of Paris on 6 January 1879, and was archivist general in Rome (1892-1914), as well as definitor general (1924-1926).
Among the best-known modern students of Franciscan history, he became a valued contributor to the leading Franciscan historical journals and published numerous monographs, which are distinguished by their documentary research and critical accuracy. He studied with particular fondness the origins of Franciscanism (he published the work of Thomas of Celano, S. Francisci ass. vita et miracula, additis spicilegiis liturgicis, Rome 1906; Sacrum commercium b. Francisci cum domina Paupertate, offprint from Anal. Ord. Min. Cap., 15 [1899]; Spicilegium franciscanum, ibid., 14-17 [1898-1901]; La légende de St François dite des Trois Compagnons, Paris 1903; Frère Jacqueline... de Settesoli, ibid. 1899 and ibid. Rome 1927; Les origines de la Portioncule et les diverses dénominations, Paris 1904, etc.) and those of the Capuchin reform, which he set out with new documentation (De origine Min. Cap. Chronica Ioannis Romaei de Terranova, Rome 1908; Gian Pietro Carafa e la riforma nell'Ordine dei Min. dell'Osservatore, Foligno 1912; Tribulationes Ord. Min. Cap. [1534-41], Rome 1914; De primordiis Ord. Min. Cap. commentarium historicum [1525-
1534], ibid. 1921; Primigeniae legislationis Ord. Min. Cap. textus originales, ibid. 1928; etc.). He illustrated interesting aspects of the activity and the personnel of the Order (Les premiers pompiers de Paris, Paris 1892; S. Laurentii Brundinini de rebus Austriae et Bohemiae commentariorum autographum, Rome 1910; Collegii S. Fidelis pro missionibus Ordinis conspectus historicus, ibid. 1926; etc.) and gathered a rich bibliographical body of material, still consulted today, of which he published some samples (Bibliotheca Mariana Ord. Min. Cap., Rome 1910; Essai de bibliographie capucino-congolaise, in Neerlandia Franc., 1 [1914], pp. 33-42, 251-65; 2 [1919], pp. 101-26). Under the entry Frères Mineurs in the DThC, VI, coll. 509-63, he gives an erudite compendium of the literary production of the Franciscans in the sacred disciplines. His example and his method fostered the critical direction of Franciscan historical research.
Bibliography4 works
Ilarino da Milano
EDWARD [I] king of ENGLAND. - Firstborn son of King Alfred the Great, he reigned from 899 to 17 July 925, the year of his death. Although not as learned as his father, he was one of the best architects of national unity, for having freed a large part of England from the Danes.
When he ascended the throne, the kingdom was confined to the region of Wessex alone. But from 918 he undertook the campaign against the invaders, with the help of his sister Æthelflæd, courageous and bold, lady of English Mercia. While she conquered Derby and Leicester, E. freed Northampton, Huntingdon, Cambridge, East Anglia and, in the following years, Stamford, Nottingham and Lincoln. The Scots too sought his friendship and protection.
He also earned merit for the reorganization of the Church in the region of Wessex.