Baring-Gould’s sources: Venerated as a saint in the diocese of Li^ge. Greven in his additions to Usuardus. Roman Martyrology with additions of Belgian saints, published at Liege in 1624. Authority: — Renier, monk of S. Laurence, at Liege, a contemporary, the Codex Alnenis quoted by Chape auville.] The contest on the subject of investitures that had broken out between Pope Gregory VII. and the Emperor Henry IV., was continued after the decease of both with unflagging energy. On the death of Obert, the fifty-fifth bishop of Li£ge, Alexander, canon and treasurer of S. Lambert’s, the cathedral church, at the Instigation of Godfrey, count of Louvain, bought his presentation to the vacant see from the Emperor Henry V. Henry invested Alexander with the cross and ring, and sent him to Lidge. But the dean, Frederick, assembled the chapter and clergy, and refused to receive him. The archbishop of Cologne at the same time sent them word on no account to recognize the authority of Alexander, and to proceed canonically to elect a new bishop. An assembly was held at Li£ge, but opinions were divided, some, were for accepting Alexander, backed up with the powerful support of the count of Louvain, others were for electing Frederick, the dean. As the election could not be proceeded with at Lidge, the chapter retired to Cologne, where they elected Frederick.

In 1 1 19, Calixtus. II excommunicated the Emperor Henry V. As soon as Frederick was consecrated, he returned to Li£ge, walking thither barefoot. In the mean time the rival bishop, Alexander, occupied the castle of Huy, higher up the Meuse. Frederick, supported by his brother, the Count of Namur, marched against his rival, and began the siege of the castle. But the count of Louvain speedily arrived to its relief, and a battle ensued. Night put an end to the bloodshed, and in the disorder that reigned, Alexander fled the castle, and coming to Frederick, submitted to his discretion.

The count of Louvain, enraged at the failure of his schemes, is said to have resolved on the destruction of the bishop by poison, and to have suborned a servant to administer the dose. But the contemporary historian, Renier, says nothing of this, and it is probably a later invention. Certainly the symptoms of death described by the Codex Alnensis are not those of poison. •S'. Heliconis.