FRANCISCANS (otherwise called Friars Minor, or Minorites; also the
Seraphic Order; and in England Grey Friars, from the colour of the
habit, which, however, is now brown rather than grey), a religious order
founded by St Francis of Assisi (q.v.). It was in 1206 that St Francis
left his father's house and devoted himself to a life of poverty and to
the service of the poor, the sick and the lepers; and in 1209 that he
felt the call to add preaching to his other ministrations, and to lead a
life in the closest imitation of Christ's life. Within a few weeks
disciples began to join themselves to him; the condition was that they
should dispose of all their possessions. When their number was twelve
Francis led the little flock to Rome to obtain the pope's sanction for
their undertaking. Innocent III. received them kindly, but with some
misgivings as to the feasibility of the proposed manner of life; these
difficulties were overcome, and the pope accorded a provisional approval
by word of mouth: they were to become clerics and to elect a superior.
Francis was elected and made a promise of obedience to the pope, and the
others promised obedience to Francis.
This formal inauguration of the institute was in 1209 or (as seems more
probable) 1210. Francis and his associates were first known as
"Penitents of Assisi," and then Francis chose the title of "Minors." On
their return to Assisi they obtained from the Benedictine abbey on Mount
Subasio the use of the little chapel of St Mary of the Angels, called
the Portiuncula, in the plain below Assisi, which became the cradle and
headquarters of the order. Around the Portiuncula they built themselves
huts of branches and twigs, but they had no fixed abode; they wandered
in pairs over the country, dressed in the ordinary clothes of the
peasants, working in the fields to earn their daily bread, sleeping in
barns or in the hedgerows or in the porches of the churches, mixing with
the labourers and the poor, with the lepers and the outcasts, ever
joyous--the "joculatores" or "jongleurs" of God--ever carrying out their
mission of preaching to the lowly and to the wretched religion and
repentance and the kingdom of God. The key-note of the movement was the
imitation of the public life of Christ, especially the poverty of
Christ. Francis and his disciples were to aim at possessing nothing,
absolutely nothing, so far as was compatible with life; they were to
earn their bread from day to day by the work of their hands, and only
when they could not do so were they to beg; they were to make no
provision for the morrow, lay by no store, accumulate no capital,
possess no land; their clothes should be the poorest and their dwellings
the meanest; they were forbidden to receive or to handle money. On the
other hand they were bound only to the fast observed in those days by
pious Christians, and were allowed to eat meat--the rule said they
should eat whatever was set before them; no austerities were imposed,
beyond those inseparable from the manner of life they lived.
Thus the institute in its original conception was quite different from
the monastic institute, Benedictine or Canon Regular. It was a
confraternity rather than an order, and there was no formal novitiate,
no organization. But the number of brothers increased with extraordinary
rapidity, and the field of work soon extended itself beyond the
neighbourhood of Assisi and even beyond Umbria--within three or four
years there were settlements in Perugia, Cortona, Pisa, Florence and
elsewhere, and missions to the Saracens and Moors were attempted by
Francis himself. About 1217 Franciscan missions set out for Germany,
France, Spain, Hungary and the Holy Land; and in 1219 a number of
provinces were formed, each governed by a provincial minister. These
developments, whereby the little band of Umbrian apostles had grown into
an institute spread all over Europe and even penetrating to the East,
and numbering thousands of members, rendered impossible the continuance
of the original free organization whereby Francis's word and example
were the sufficient practical rule of life for all: it was necessary as
a condition of efficiency and even of existence and permanence that some
kind of organization should be provided. From an early date yearly
meetings or chapters had been held at the Portiuncula, at first attended
by the whole body of friars; but as the institute extended this became
unworkable, and after 1219 the chapter consisted only of the officials,
provincial ministers and others. During Francis's absence in the East
(1219-1220) a deliberate movement was initiated by the two vicars whom
he had left in charge of the order, towards assimilating it to the
monastic orders. Francis hurried back, bringing with him Elias of
Cortona, the provincial minister of Syria, and immediately summoned an
extraordinary general chapter (September 1220). Before it met he had an
interview on the situation with Cardinal Hugolino of Ostia (afterwards
Gregory IX.), the great friend and supporter of both Francis and
Dominic, and he went to Honorius III. at Orvieto and begged that
Hugolino should be appointed the official protector of the order. The
request was granted, and a bull was issued formally approving the order
of Friars Minor, and decreeing that before admission every one must pass
a year's novitiate, and that after profession it was not lawful to leave
the order. By this bull the Friars Minor were constituted an order in
the technical sense of the word. When the chapter assembled, Francis, no
doubt from a genuine feeling that he was not able to govern a great
world-wide order, practically abdicated the post of minister-general by
appointing a vicar, and the policy of turning the Friars Minor into a
great religious order was consistently pursued, especially by Elias, who
a year later became Francis's vicar.
St Francis's attitude towards this change is of primary importance for
the interpretation of Franciscan history. There can be little doubt
that his affections never altered from his first love, and that he
looked back regretfully on the "Umbrian idyll" that had passed away;
on the other hand, there seems to be no reason for doubting that he
saw that the methods of the early days were now no longer possible,
and that he acquiesced in the inevitable. This seems to be Professor
Goetz's view, who holds that Sabatier's picture of Francis's agonized
sadness at witnessing the destruction of his great creation going on
under his eyes, has no counterpart in fact, and who rejects the view
that the changes were forced on Francis against his better judgment by
Hugolino and Elias (see "Note on Sources" at end of article FRANCIS OF
ASSISI; also ELIAS OF CORTONA); Goetz holds that the only conflict was
the inevitable one between an unrealizable ideal and its practical
working among average men. But there does seem to be evidence that
Francis deplored tendencies towards a departure from the severe
simplicity of life and from the strict observance of poverty which he
considered the ground-idea of his institute. In the final redaction of
his Rule made in 1223 and in his Testament, made after it, he again
clearly asserts his mind on these subjects, especially on poverty; and
in the Testament he forbids any glosses in the interpretation of the
Rule, declaring that it is to be taken simply as it stands. Sabatier's
view as to the difference between the "First Rule" and that of 1223 is
part of his general theory, and is, to say the least, a grave
exaggeration. No doubt the First Rule, which is fully four times as
long, gives a better picture of St Francis's mind and character; the
later Rule has been formed from the earlier by the elimination of the
frequent scripture texts and the edificatory element; but the greater
portion of it stood almost verbally in the earlier.
On Francis's death in 1226 the government of the order rested in the
hands of Elias until the chapter of 1227. At this chapter Elias was not
elected minister-general; the building of the great basilica and
monastery at Assisi was so manifest a violation of St Francis's ideas
and precepts that it produced a reaction, and John Parenti became St
Francis's first successor. He held fast to St Francis's ideas, but was
not a strong man. At the chapter of 1230 a discussion arose concerning
the binding force of St Francis's Testament, and the interpretation of
certain portions of the Rule, especially concerning poverty, and it was
determined to submit the questions to Pope Gregory IX., who had been St
Francis's friend and had helped in the final redaction of the Rule. He
issued a bull, _Quo elongati_, which declared that as the Testament had
not received the sanction of the general chapter it was not binding on
the order, and also allowed trustees to hold and administer money for
the order. John Parenti and those who wished to maintain St Francis's
institute intact were greatly disturbed by these relaxations; but a
majority of the chapter of 1232, by a sort of _coup d'etat_, proclaimed
Elias minister-general, and John retired, though in those days the
office was for life. Under Elias the order entered on a period of
extraordinary extension and prosperity: the number of friars in all
parts of the world increased wonderfully, new provinces were formed, new
missions to the heathen organized, the Franciscans entered the
universities and vied with the Dominicans as teachers of theology and
canon law, and as a body they became influential in church and state.
With all this side of Elias's policy the great bulk of the order
sympathized; but his rule was despotic and tyrannical and his private
life was lax--at least according to any Franciscan standard, for no
charge of grave irregularity was ever brought against him. And so a
widespread movement against his government arose, the backbone of which
was the university element at Paris and Oxford, and at a dramatic scene
in a chapter held in the presence of Gregory IX. Elias was deposed
(1239).
The story of these first years after St Francis's death is best told
by Ed. Lempp, _Frere Elie de Cortone_ (1901) (but see the warning at
the end of the article ELIAS OF CORTONA).
At this time the Franciscans were divided into three parties: there were
the Zealots, or Spirituals, who called for a literal observance of St
Francis's Rule and Testament; they deplored all the developments since
1219, and protested against turning the institute into an order, the
frequentation of the universities and the pursuit of learning; in a
word, they wished to restore the life to what it had been during the
first few years--the hermitages and the huts of twigs, and the care of
the lepers and the nomadic preaching. The Zealots were few in number but
of great consequence from the fact that to them belonged most of the
first disciples and the most intimate companions of St Francis. They had
been grievously persecuted under Elias--Br. Leo and others had been
scourged, several had been imprisoned, one while trying to escape was
accidentally killed, and Br. Bernard, the "first disciple," passed a
year in hiding in the forests and mountains hunted like a wild beast. At
the other extreme was a party of relaxation, that abandoned any serious
effort to practise Franciscan poverty and simplicity of life. Between
these two stood the great middle party of moderates, who desired indeed
that the Franciscans should be really poor and simple in their manner of
life, and really pious, but on the other hand approved of the
development of the Order on the lines of other orders, of the
acquisition of influence, of the cultivation of theology and other
sciences, and of the frequenting of the universities.
The questions of principle at issue in these controversies is
reasonably and clearly stated, from the modern Capuchin standpoint, in
the "Introductory Essay" to _The Friars and how they came to England_,
by Fr. Cuthbert (1903).
The moderate party was by far the largest, and embraced nearly all the
friars of France, England and Germany. It was the Moderates and not the
Zealots that brought about Elias's deposition, and the next general
ministers belonged to this party. Further relaxations of the law of
poverty, however, caused a reaction, and John of Parma, one of the
Zealots, became minister-general, 1247-1257. Under him the more extreme
of the Zealots took up and exaggerated the theories of the Eternal
Gospel of the Calabrian Cistercian abbot Joachim of Fiore (Floris); some
of their writings were condemned as heretical, and John of Parma, who
was implicated in these apocalyptic tendencies, had to resign. He was
succeeded by St Bonaventura (1257-1274), one of the best type of the
middle party. He was a man of high character, a theologian, a mystic, a
holy man and a strong ruler. He set himself with determination to effect
a working compromise, and proceeded with firmness against the extremists
on both sides. But controversy and recrimination and persecution had
stiffened the more ardent among the Zealots into obstinate
fanatics--some of them threw themselves into a movement that may best be
briefly described as a recrudescence of Montanism (see Emile Gebhart's
_Italie mystique_, 1899, cc. v. and vi.), and developed into a number of
sects, some on the fringe of Catholic Christianity and others beyond its
pale. But the majority of the Zealot party, or Spirituals, did not go so
far, and adopted as the principle of Franciscan poverty the formula "a
poor and scanty use" (_usus pauper et tenuis_) of earthly goods, as
opposed to the "moderate use" advocated by the less strict party. The
question thus posed came before the Council of Vienne, 1312, and was
determined, on the whole, decidedly in favour of the stricter view. Some
of the French Zealots were not satisfied and formed a semi-schismatical
body in Provence; twenty-five of them were tried before the Inquisition,
and four were burned alive at Marseilles as obstinate heretics, 1318.
After this the schism in the Order subsided. But the disintegrating
forces produced by the Great Schism and by the other disorders of the
14th century caused among the Franciscans the same relaxations and
corruptions, and also the same reactions and reform movements, as among
the other orders.
The chief of these reforms was that of the Observants, which began at
Foligno about 1370. The Observant reform was on the basis of the "poor
and scanty use" of worldly goods, but it was organized as an order and
its members freely pursued theological studies; thus it did not
represent the position of the original Zealot party, nor was it the
continuation of it. The Observant reform spread widely throughout Italy
and into France, Spain and Germany. The great promoters of the movement
were St Bernardine of Siena and St John Capistran. The council of
Constance, 1415, allowed the French Observant friaries to be ruled by a
vicar of their own, under the minister-general, and the same privilege
was soon accorded to other countries. By the end of the middle ages the
Observants had some 1400 houses divided into 50 provinces. This movement
produced a "half-reform" among the Conventuals or friars of the
mitigated observance; it also called forth a number of lesser imitations
or congregations of strict observance.
After many attempts had been made to bring about a working union among
the many observances, in 1517 Leo X. divided the Franciscan order into
two distinct and independent bodies, each with its own minister-general,
its own provinces and provincials and its own general chapter: (1) The
Conventuals, who were authorized to use the various papal dispensations
in regard to the observance of poverty, and were allowed to possess
property and fixed income, corporately, like the monastic orders; (2)
The Observants, who were bound to as close an observance of St Francis's
Rule in regard to poverty and all else as was practically possible.
At this time a great number of the Conventuals went over to the
Observants, who have ever since been by far the more numerous and
influential branch of the order. Among the Observants in the course of
the sixteenth century arose various reforms, each striving to approach
more and more nearly to St Francis's ideal; the chief of these reforms
were the Alcantarines in Spain (St Peter of Alcantara, St Teresa's
friend, d. 1562), the Riformati in Italy and the Recollects in France:
all of these were semi-independent congregations. The Capuchins (q.v.),
established c. 1525, who claim to be the reform which approaches nearest
in its conception to the original type, became a distinct order of
Franciscans in 1619. Finally Leo XIII. grouped the Franciscans into
three bodies or orders--the Conventuals; the Observants, embracing all
branches of the strict observance, except the Capuchins; and the
Capuchins--which together constitute the "First Order." For the "Second
Order," or the nuns, see CLARA, ST, and CLARES, POOR; and for the "Third
Order" see TERTIARIES. Many of the Tertiaries live a fully monastic life
in community under the usual vows, and are formed into Congregations of
Regular Tertiaries, both men and women. They have been and are still
very numerous, and give themselves up to education, to the care of the
sick and of orphans and to good works of all kinds.
No order has had so stormy an internal history as the Franciscans; yet
in spite of all the troubles and dissensions and strivings that have
marred Franciscan history, the Friars Minor of every kind have in each
age faithfully and zealously carried on St Francis's great work of
ministering to the spiritual needs of the poor. Always recruited in
large measure from among the poor, they have ever been the order of the
poor, and in their preaching and missions and ministrations they have
ever laid themselves out to meet the needs of the poor. Another great
work of the Franciscans throughout the whole course of their history has
been their missions to the Mahommedans, both in western Asia and in
North Africa, and to the heathens in China, Japan and India, and North
and South America; a great number of the friars were martyred. The news
of the martyrdom of five of his friars in Morocco was one of the joys of
St Francis's closing years. Many of these missions exist to this day. In
the Universities, too, the Franciscans made themselves felt alongside of
the Dominicans, and created a rival school of theology, wherein, as
contrasted with the Aristotelianism of the Dominican school, the
Platonism of the early Christian doctors has been perpetuated.
The Franciscans came to England in 1224 and immediately made foundations
in Canterbury, London and Oxford; by the middle of the century there
were fifty friaries and over 1200 friars in England; at the Dissolution
there were some 66 Franciscan friaries, whereof some six belonged to the
Observants (for list see _Catholic Dictionary_ and F. A. Gasquet's
_English Monastic Life_, 1904). Though nearly all the English houses
belonged to what has been called the "middle party," as a matter of fact
they practised great poverty, and the commissioners of Henry VIII. often
remark that the Franciscan Friary was the poorest of the religious
houses of a town. The English province was one of the most remarkable in
the order, especially in intellectual achievement; it produced Friar
Roger Bacon, and, with the single exception of St Bonaventure, all the
greatest doctors of the Franciscan theological school--Alexander Hales,
Duns Scotus and Occam.
The Franciscans have always been the most numerous by far of the
religious orders; it is estimated that about the period of the
Reformation the Friars Minor must have numbered nearly 100,000. At the
present day the statistics are roughly (including lay-brothers):
Observants, 15,000, Conventuals, 1500; to these should be added 9500
Capuchins, making the total number of Franciscan friars about 26,000.
There are various houses of Observants and Capuchins in England and
Ireland; and the old Irish Conventuals survived the penal times and
still exist.
There have been four Franciscan popes: Nicholas IV. (1288-1292), Sixtus
IV. (1471-1484), Sixtus V. (1585-1590), Clement XIV. (1769-1774); the
three last were Conventuals.
The great source for Franciscan history is Wadding's _Annales_; it has
been many times continued, and now extends in 25 vols. fol. to the
year 1622. The story is also told by Helyot, _Hist. des ordres
religieux_ (1714), vol. vii. Abridgments, with references to recent
literature, will be found in Max Heimbucher, _Orden und
Kongregationen_ (1896), i. Sec.Sec. 37-51; in Wetzer und Welte,
_Kirchenlexicon_ (2nd ed.), articles "Armut (III.)," "Franciscaner
orden" (this article contains the best account of the inner history
and the polity of the order up to 1886); in Herzog, _Realencyklopaedie_
(3rd ed.), articles "Franz von Assisi" (fullest references to
literature up to 1899), "Fraticellen." Of modern critical studies on
Franciscan origins, K. Mueller's _Anfaenge des Minoritenordens und der
Bussbruderschaften_ (1885), and various articles by F. Ehrle in
_Archiv fuer Litteratur- und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters_ and
_Zeitschrift fuer Katholische Theologie_, deserve special mention.
Eccleston's charming chronicle of "The Coming of the Friars Minor into
England" has been translated into English by the Capuchin Fr.
Cuthbert, who has prefixed an Introductory Essay giving by far the
best account in English of "the Spirit and Genius of the Franciscan
Friars" (_The Friars and how they came to England_, 1903). Fuller
information on the English Franciscans will be found in A. G. Little's
_Grey Friars in Oxford_ (Oxford Hist. Soc., 1892). (E. C. B.)
FRANCK. The name of Franck has been given indiscriminately but
improperly to painters of the school of Antwerp who belong to the
families of Francken (q.v.) and Vrancx (q.v.). One artist truly entitled
to be called Franck is Gabriel, who entered the gild of Antwerp in 1605,
became its president in 1636 and died in 1639. But his works cannot now
be traced.
FRANCK, CESAR (1822-1890), French musical composer, a Belgian by birth,
who came of German stock, was born at Liege on the 10th of December
1822. Though one of the most remarkable of modern composers, Cesar
Franck laboured for many years in comparative obscurity. After some
preliminary studies at Liege he came to Paris in 1837 and entered the
conservatoire. He at once obtained the first prize for piano,
transposing a fugue at sight to the astonishment of the professors, for
he was only fifteen. He won the prize for the organ in 1841, after which
he settled down in the French capital as teacher of the piano. His
earliest compositions date from this period, and include four trios for
piano and strings, besides several piano pieces. _Ruth_, a biblical
cantata was produced with success at the Conservatoire in 1846. An opera
entitled _Le Valet de ferme_ was written about this time, but has never
been performed. For many years Franck led a retired life, devoting
himself to teaching and to his duties as organist, first at
Saint-Jean-Saint-Francois, then at Ste Clotilde, where he acquired a
great reputation as an improviser. He also wrote a mass, heard in 1861,
and a quantity of motets, organ pieces and other works of a religious
character.
Franck was appointed professor of the organ at the Paris conservatoire,
in succession to Benoist, his old master, in 1872, and the following
year he was naturalized a Frenchman. Until then he was esteemed as a
clever and conscientious musician, but he was now about to prove his
title to something more. A revival of his early oratorio, _Ruth_, had
brought his name again before the public, and this was followed by the
production of _Redemption_, a work for solo, chorus and orchestra, given
under the direction of M. Colonne on the 10th of April 1873. The
unconventionality of the music rather disconcerted the general public,
but the work nevertheless made its mark, and Franck became the central
figure of an enthusiastic circle of pupils and adherents whose devotion
atoned for the comparative indifference of the masses. His creative
power now manifested itself in a series of works of varied kinds, and
the name of Franck began gradually to emerge from its obscurity. The
following is an enumeration of his subsequent compositions: _Rebecca_
(1881), a biblical idyll for solo, chorus and orchestra; Les Beatitudes,
an oratorio composed between 1870 and 1880, perhaps his greatest work;
the symphonic poems, _Les Eolides_ (1876), _Le Chasseur maudit_ (1883),
_Les Djinns_ (1884), for piano and orchestra; _Psyche_ (1888), for
orchestra and chorus; symphonic variations for piano and orchestra
(1885); symphony in D (1889); quintet for piano and strings (1880);
sonata for piano and violin (1886); string quartet (1889); prelude,
choral and fugue for piano (1884); prelude, aria and finale for piano
(1889); various songs, notably "La Procession" and "Les Cloches du
Soir." Franck also composed two four-act operas, _Hulda_ and _Ghiselle_,
both of which were produced at Monte Carlo after his death, which took
place in Paris on the 8th of November 1890. The second of these was left
by the master in an unfinished state, and the instrumentation was
completed by several of his pupils.
Cesar Franck's influence on younger French composers has been very
great. Yet his music is German in character rather than French. A more
sincere, modest, self-respecting composer probably never existed. In the
centre of the brilliant French capital he was able to lead a laborious
existence consecrated to his threefold career of organist, teacher and
composer. He never sought to gain the suffrages of the public by
unworthy concessions, but kept straight on his path, ever mindful of an
ideal to be reached and never swerving therefrom. A statue was erected
to the memory of Cesar Franck in Paris on the 22nd of October 1904, the
occasion producing a panegyric from Alfred Bruneau, in which he speaks
of the composer's works as "cathedrals in sound."
FRANCK, or FRANK [latinized FRANCUS], SEBASTIAN (c. 1499-c. 1543),
German freethinker, was born about 1499 at Donauwoerth, whence he
constantly styled himself Franck von Woerd. He entered the university of
Ingoldstadt (March 26, 1515), and proceeded thence to the Dominican
College, incorporated with the university, at Heidelberg. Here he met
his subsequent antagonists, Bucer and Frecht, with whom he seems to have
attended the Augsburg conference (October 1518) at which Luther declared
himself a true son of the Church. He afterwards reckoned the Leipzig
disputation (June-July 1519) and the burning of the papal bull (December
1520) as the beginning of the Reformation. Having taken priest's orders,
he held in 1524 a cure in the neighbourhood of Augsburg, but soon (1525)
went over to the Reformed party at Nuremberg and became preacher at
Gustenfelden. His first work (finished September 1527) was a German
translation with additions (1528) of the first part of the _Diallage_,
or _Conciliatio locorum Scripturae_, directed against Sacramentarians
and Anabaptists by Andrew Althamer, then deacon of St Sebald's at
Nuremberg. On the 17th of March 1528 he married Ottilie Beham, a gifted
lady, whose brothers, pupils of Albrecht Duerer, had got into trouble
through Anabaptist leanings. In the same year he wrote a very popular
treatise against drunkenness. In 1529 he produced a free version
(_Klagbrief der armen Duerftigen in England_) of the famous _Supplycacyon
of the Beggers_, written abroad (1528?) by Simon Fish. Franck, in his
preface, says the original was in English; elsewhere he says it was in
Latin; the theory that his German was really the original is
unwarrantable. Advance in his religious ideas led him to seek the freer
atmosphere of Strassburg in the autumn of 1529. To his translation
(1530) of a Latin _Chronicle and Description_ of Turkey, by a
Transylvanian captive, which had been prefaced by Luther, he added an
appendix holding up the Turks as in many respects an example to
Christians, and presenting, in lieu of the restrictions of Lutheran,
Zwinglian and Anabaptist sects, the vision of an invisible spiritual
church, universal in its scope. To this ideal he remained faithful. At
Strassburg began his intimacy with Caspar Schwenkfeld, a congenial
spirit. Here, too, he published, in 1531, his most important work, the
_Chronica, Zeitbuch und Geschichtsbibel_, largely a compilation on the
basis of the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493), and in its treatment of social
and religious questions connected with the Reformation, exhibiting a
strong sympathy with heretics, and an unexampled fairness to all kinds
of freedom in opinion. It is too much to call him "the first of German
historians"; he is a forerunner of Gottfried Arnold, with more vigour
and directness of purpose. Driven from Strassburg by the authorities,
after a short imprisonment in December 1531, he tried to make a living
in 1532 as a soapboiler at Esslingen, removing in 1533 for a better
market to Ulm, where (October 28, 1534) he was admitted as a burgess.
His _Weltbuch_, a supplement to his _Chronica_, was printed at Tuebingen
in 1534; the publication, in the same year, of his _Paradoxa_ at Ulm
brought him into trouble with the authorities. An order for his
banishment was withdrawn on his promise to submit future works for
censure. Not interpreting this as applying to works printed outside Ulm,
he published in 1538 at Augsburg his _Guldin Arch_ (with pagan parallels
to Christian sentiments) and at Frankfort his _Germaniae chronicon_,
with the result that he had to leave Ulm in January 1539. He seems
henceforth to have had no settled abode. At Basel he found work as a
printer, and here, probably, it was that he died in the winter of
1542-1543. He had published in 1539 his _Kriegbuechlein des Friedens_
(pseudonymous), his _Schrifftliche und ganz gruendliche Auslegung des 64
Psalms_, and his _Das verbuetschierte mit sieben Siegeln verschlossene
Buch_ (a biblical index, exhibiting the dissonance of Scripture); in
1541 his _Spruchwoerter_ (a collection of proverbs, several times
reprinted with variations); in 1542 a new edition of his _Paradoxa_; and
some smaller works.
Franck combined the humanist's passion for freedom with the mystic's
devotion to the religion of the spirit. His breadth of human sympathy
led him to positions which the comparative study of religions has made
familiar, but for which his age was unprepared. Luther contemptuously
dismissed him as a "devil's mouth." Pastor Frecht of Nuremberg pursued
him with bitter zeal. But his courage did not fail him, and in his last
year, in a public Latin letter, he exhorted his friend John Campanus to
maintain freedom of thought in face of the charge of heresy.
See Hegler, in Hauck's _Realencyklopaedie_ (1899); C. A. Hase,
_Sebastian Franck von Woerd_ (1869); J. F. Smith, in _Theological
Review_ (April 1874); E. Tausch, _Sebastian Franck von Donauwoerth und
seine Lehrer_ (1893). (A. Go.*)
FRANCKE, AUGUST HERMANN (1663-1727), German Protestant divine, was born
on the 22nd of March 1663 at Luebeck. He was educated at the gymnasium in
Gotha, and afterwards at the universities of Erfurt, Kiel, where he came
under the influence of the pietist Christian Kortholt (1633-1694), and
Leipzig. During his student career he made a special study of Hebrew and
Greek; and in order to learn Hebrew more thoroughly, he for some time
put himself under the instructions of Rabbi Ezra Edzardi at Hamburg. He
graduated at Leipzig, where in 1685 he became a _Privatdozent_. A year
later, by the help of his friend P. Anton, and with the approval and
encouragement of P. J. Spener, he founded the Collegium Philobiblicum,
at which a number of graduates were accustomed to meet for the
systematic study of the Bible, philologically and practically. He next
passed some months at Lueneburg as assistant or curate to the learned
superintendent, C. H. Sandhagen (1639-1697), and there his religious
life was remarkably quickened and deepened. On leaving Lueneburg he spent
some time in Hamburg, where he became a teacher in a private school, and
made the acquaintance of Nikolaus Lange (1659-1720). After a long visit
to Spener, who was at that time a court preacher in Dresden, he
returned to Leipzig in the spring of 1689, and began to give Bible
lectures of an exegetical and practical kind, at the same time resuming
the Collegium Philobiblicum of earlier days. He soon became popular as a
lecturer; but the peculiarities of his teaching almost immediately
aroused a violent opposition on the part of the university authorities;
and before the end of the year he was interdicted from lecturing on the
ground of his alleged pietism. Thus it was that Francke's name first
came to be publicly associated with that of Spener, and with pietism.
Prohibited from lecturing in Leipzig, Francke in 1690 found work at
Erfurt as "deacon" of one of the city churches. Here his evangelistic
fervour attracted multitudes to his preaching, including Roman
Catholics, but at the same time excited the anger of his opponents; and
the result of their opposition was that after a ministry of fifteen
months he was commanded by the civil authorities (27th of September
1691) to leave Erfurt within forty-eight hours. The same year witnessed
the expulsion of Spener from Dresden.
In December, through Spener's influence, Francke accepted an invitation
to fill the chair of Greek and oriental languages in the new university
of Halle, which was at that time being organized by the elector
Frederick III. of Brandenburg; and at the same time, the chair having no
salary attached to it, he was appointed pastor of Glaucha in the
immediate neighbourhood of the town. He afterwards became professor of
theology. Here, for the next thirty-six years, until his death on the
8th of June 1727, he continued to discharge the twofold office of pastor
and professor with rare energy and success. At the very outset of his
labours he had been profoundly impressed with a sense of his
responsibility towards the numerous outcast children who were growing up
around him in ignorance and crime. After a number of tentative plans, he
resolved in 1695 to institute what is often called a "ragged school,"
supported by public charity. A single room was at first sufficient, but
within a year it was found necessary to purchase a house, to which
another was added in 1697. In 1698 there were 100 orphans under his
charge to be clothed and fed, besides 500 children who were taught as
day scholars. The schools grew in importance and are still known as the
_Francke'sche Stiftungen_. The education given was strictly religious.
Hebrew was included, while the Greek and Latin classics were neglected;
the _Homilies_ of Macarius took the place of Thucydides. The same
principle was consistently applied in his university teaching. Even as
professor of Greek he had given great prominence in his lectures to the
study of the Scriptures; but he found a much more congenial sphere when,
in 1698, he was appointed to the chair of theology. Yet his first
courses of lectures in that department were readings and expositions of
the Old and New Testament; and to this, as also to hermeneutics, he
always attached special importance, believing that for theology a sound
exegesis was the one indispensable requisite. "Theologus nascitur in
scripturis," he used to say; but during his occupancy of the theological
chair he lectured at various times upon other branches of theology also.
Amongst his colleagues were Paul Anton (1661-1730), Joachim J.
Breithaupt (1658-1732) and Joachim Lange (1670-1744),--men like-minded
with himself. Through their influence upon the students, Halle became a
centre from which pietism (q.v.) became very widely diffused over
Germany.
His principal contributions to theological literature were:
_Manuductio ad lectionem Scripturae Sacrae_ (1693); _Praelectiones
hermeneuticae_ (1717); _Commentatio de scopo librorum Veteris et Novi
Testamenti_ (1724); and _Lectiones paraeneticae_ (1726-1736). The
_Manuductio_ was translated into English in 1813, under the title _A
Guide to the Reading and Study of the Holy Scriptures_. An account of
his orphanage, entitled _Segensvolle Fussstapfen_, &c. (1709), which
subsequently passed through several editions, has also been partially
translated, under the title _The Footsteps of Divine Providence: or,
The bountiful Hand of Heaven defraying the Expenses of Faith_. See H.
E. F. Guericke's _A. H. Francke_ (1827), which has been translated
into English (_The Life of A. H. Francke_, 1837); Gustave Kramer's
_Beitraege zur Geschichte A. H. Francke's_ (1861), and _Neue Beitraege_
(1875); A. Stein, _A. H. Francke_ (3rd ed., 1894); article in
Herzog-Hauck's _Realencyklopaedie_ (ed. 1899); Knuth, _Die
Francke'schen Stiftungen_ (2nd ed., 1903).
FRANCKEN. Eleven painters of this family cultivated their art in Antwerp
during the 16th and 17th centuries. Several of these were related to
each other, whilst many bore the same Christian name in succession.
Hence unavoidable confusion in the subsequent classification of
paintings not widely differing in style or execution. When Franz
Francken the first found a rival in Franz Francken the second, he
described himself as the "elder," in contradistinction to his son, who
signed himself the "younger." But when Franz the second was threatened
with competition from Franz the third, he took the name of "the elder,"
whilst Franz the third adopted that of Franz "the younger."
It is possible, though not by any means easy, to sift the works of these
artists. The eldest of the Franckens, Nicholas of Herenthals, died at
Antwerp in 1596, with nothing but the reputation of having been a
painter. None of his works remain. He bequeathed his art to three
children. Jerom Francken, the eldest son, after leaving his father's
house, studied under Franz Floris, whom he afterwards served as an
assistant, and wandered, about 1560, to Paris. In 1566 he was one of the
masters employed to decorate the palace of Fontainebleau, and in 1574 he
obtained the appointment of court painter from Henry III., who had just
returned from Poland and visited Titian at Venice. In 1603, when Van
Mander wrote his biography of Flemish artists, Jerom Francken was still
in Paris living in the then aristocratic Faubourg St Germain. Among his
earliest works we should distinguish a "Nativity" in the Dresden museum,
executed in co-operation with Franz Floris. Another of his important
pieces is the "Abdication of Charles V." in the Amsterdam museum.
Equally interesting is a "Portrait of a Falconer," dated 1558, in the
Brunswick gallery. In style these pieces all recall Franz Floris. Franz,
the second son of Nicholas of Herenthals, is to be kept in memory as
Franz Francken the first. He was born about 1544, matriculated at
Antwerp in 1567, and died there in 1616. He, too, studied under Floris,
and never settled abroad, or lost the hard and gaudy style which he
inherited from his master. Several of his pictures are in the museum of
Antwerp; one dated 1597 in the Dresden museum represents "Christ on the
Road to Golgotha," and is signed by him as D. o (Den ouden) F. Franck.
Ambrose, the third son of Nicholas of Herenthals, has bequeathed to us
more specimens of his skill than Jerom or Franz the first. He first
started as a partner with Jerom at Fontainebleau, then he returned to
Antwerp, where he passed for his gild in 1573, and he lived at Antwerp
till 1618. His best works are the "Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes" and
the "Martyrdom of St Crispin," both large and ambitious compositions in
the Antwerp museum. In both these pieces a fair amount of power is
displayed, but marred by want of atmosphere and shadow or by hardness of
line and gaudiness of tone. There is not a trace in the three painters
named of the influence of the revival which took place under the lead of
Rubens. Franz Francken the first trained three sons to his profession,
the eldest of whom, though he practised as a master of gild at Antwerp
from 1600 to 1610, left no visible trace of his labours behind. Jerom
the second took service with his uncle Ambrose. He was born in 1578,
passed for his gild in 1607, and in 1620 produced that curious picture
of "Horatius Cocles defending the Sublician Bridge" which still hangs in
the Antwerp museum. The third son of Franz Francken the first is Franz
Francken the second, who signed himself in pictures till 1616 "the
younger," from 1630 till his death "the elder" F. Francken. These
pictures are usually of a small size, and are found in considerable
numbers in continental collections. Franz Francken the second was born
in 1581. In 1605 he entered the gild, of which he subsequently became
the president, and in 1642 he died. His earliest composition is the
"Crucifixion" in the Belvedere at Vienna, dated 1606. His latest
compositions as "the younger" F. Francken are the "Adoration of the
Virgin" (1616) in the gallery of Amsterdam, and the "Woman taken in
Adultery" (1628) in Dresden. From 1616 to 1630 many of his pieces are
signed F. Francken; then come the "Seven Works of Charity" (1630) at
Munich, signed "the elder F. F.," the "Prodigal Son" (1633) at the
Louvre, and other almost countless examples. It is in F. Francken the
second's style that we first have evidence of the struggle which
necessarily arose when the old customs, hardened by Van Orley and
Floris, or Breughel and De Vos, were swept away by Rubens. But F.
Francken the second, as before observed, always clung to small surfaces;
and though he gained some of the freedom of the moderns, he lost but
little of the dryness or gaudiness of the earlier Italo-Flemish
revivalists. F. Francken the third, the last of his name who deserves to
be recorded, passed in the Antwerp gild in 1639 and died at Antwerp in
1667. His practice was chiefly confined to adding figures to the
architectural or landscape pieces of other artists. As Franz Pourbus
sometimes put in the portrait figures for Franz Francken the second, so
Franz Francken the third often introduced the necessary personages into
the works of Pieter Neefs the younger (museums of St Petersburg, Dresden
and the Hague). In a "Moses striking the Rock," dated 1654, of the
Augsburg gallery, this last of the Franckens signs D. o (Den ouden) F.
Franck. In the pictures of this artist we most clearly discern the
effects of Rubens's example.
FRANCO-GERMAN WAR (1870-1871). The victories of Prussia in 1866 over the
Austrians and their German allies (see SEVEN WEEKS' WAR) rendered it
evident to the statesmen and soldiers of France that a struggle between
the two nations could only be a question of time. Army reforms were at
once undertaken, and measures were initiated in France to place the
armament and equipment of the troops on a level with the requirements of
the times. The chassepot, a new breech-loading rifle, immensely superior
to the Prussian needle-gun, was issued; the artillery trains were
thoroughly overhauled, and a new machine-gun, the _mitrailleuse_, from
which much was expected, introduced. Wide schemes of reorganization (due
mainly to Marshal Niel) were set in motion, and, since these required
time to mature, recourse was had to foreign alliances in the hope of
delaying the impending rupture. In the first week of June 1870, General
Lebrun, as a confidential agent of the emperor Napoleon III., was sent
to Vienna to concert a plan of joint operations with Austria against
Prussia. Italy was also to be included in the alliance, and it was
agreed that in case of hostilities the French armies should concentrate
in northern Bavaria, where the Austrians and Italians were to join them,
and the whole immense army thus formed should march via Jena on Berlin.
To what extent Austria and Italy committed themselves to this scheme
remains uncertain, but that the emperor Napoleon believed in their _bona
fides_ is beyond doubt.
Whether the plan was betrayed to Prussia is also uncertain, and almost
immaterial, for Moltke's plans were based on an accurate estimate of the
time it would take Austria to mobilize and on the effect of a series of
victories on French soil. At any rate Moltke was not taken into
Bismarck's confidence in the affair of Ems in July 1870, and it is to be
presumed that the chancellor had already satisfied himself that the
schemes of operations prepared by the chief of the General Staff fully
provided against all eventualities. These schemes were founded on
Clausewitz's view of the objects to be pursued in a war against
France--in the first place the defeat of the French field armies and in
the second the occupation of Paris. On these lines plans for the
strategic deployment of the Prussian army were prepared by the General
Staff and kept up to date year by year as fresh circumstances (e.g. the
co-operation of the minor German armies) arose and new means of
communication came into existence. The campaign was actually opened on a
revise of 1868-1869, to which was added, on the 6th of May 1870, a
secret memorandum for the General Staff.
Strategic deployment of the German armies.
Under the German organization then existing the preliminary to all
active operations was of necessity full and complete mobilization. Then
followed transport by road and rail to the line selected for the
"strategic deployment," and it was essential that no part of these
operations should be disturbed by action on the part of the enemy. But
no such delay imposed itself of necessity upon the French, and a
vigorous offensive was so much in harmony with their traditions that
the German plan had to be framed so as to meet such emergencies. On the
whole, Moltke concluded that the enemy could not undertake this
offensive before the eighth day after mobilization. At that date about
five French army corps (150,000 men) could be collected near Metz, and
two corps (70,000) near Strassburg; and as it was six days' march from
Metz to the Rhine, no serious attack could be delivered before the
fourteenth day, by which day it could be met by superior forces near
Kirchheimbolanden. Since, however, the transport of the bulk of the
Prussian forces could not begin till the ninth day, their ultimate line
of detrainment need not be fixed until the French plans were disclosed,
and, as it was important to strike at the earliest moment possible, the
deployment was provisionally fixed to be beyond the Rhine on the line
Wittlich-Neunkirchen-Landau. Of the thirteen North German corps three
had to be left behind to guard the eastern frontier and the coast, one
other, the VIII., was practically on the ground already and could
concentrate by road, and the remaining nine were distributed to the nine
through railway lines available. These ten corps were grouped in three
armies, and as the French might violate Belgian neutrality or endeavour
to break into southern Germany, two corps (Prussian Guard and Saxon XII.
corps) were temporarily held back at a central position around Mainz,
whence they could move rapidly up or down the Rhine valley. If Belgian
neutrality remained unmolested, the reserve would join the III. army on
the left wing, giving it a two to one superiority over its adversary;
all three armies would then wheel to the right and combine in an effort
to force the French army into a decisive battle on the Saar on or about
the twenty-third day. As in this wheel the army on the right formed the
pivot and was required only to stand fast, two corps only were allotted
to it; two corps for the present formed the III. army, and the remaining
five were assigned to the II. army in the centre.
When (16th-17th July) the South German states decided to throw in their
lot with the rest, their three corps were allotted to the III. army, the
Guards and Saxons to the II. army, whilst the three corps originally
left behind were finally distributed one to each army, so that up to the
investment of Metz the order of battle was as follows:
Headquarters:
The king of Prussia (General v. Moltke, chief of staff).
I. Army: / (I. corps, v. Manteuffel)
General v. Steinmetz < VII. " v. Zastrow
(C. of S., v. Sperling) | VIII. " v. Goeben
\ (1st) and 3rd cavalry divisions