[1] This was the celebrated "bapteme de feu" of the prince imperial.
[2] The II. corps had not yet arrived from Germany.
[3] Of the I. army the I. corps was retained on the east side of
Metz. The II. corps belonged to the II. army, but had not yet reached
the front.
[4] The 13th corps (Vinoy), which had followed MacMahon's army at
some distance, was not involved in the catastrophe of Sedan, and by
good luck as well as good management evaded the German pursuit and
returned safely to Paris.
[5] Jules Favre, it appears, neglected to inform Gambetta of the
exception.
FRANCOIS DE NEUFCHATEAU, NICOLAS LOUIS, COUNT (1750-1828), French
statesman and poet, was born at Saffais near Rozieres in Lorraine on the
17th of April 1750, the son of a school-teacher. He studied at the
Jesuit college of Neufchateau in the Vosges, and at the age of fourteen
published a volume of poetry which obtained the approbation of Rousseau
and of Voltaire. Neufchateau conferred on him its name, and he was
elected member of some of the principal academies of France. In 1783 he
was named _procureur-general_ to the council of Santo Domingo. He had
previously been engaged on a translation of Ariosto, which he finished
before his return to France five years afterwards, but it perished
during the shipwreck which occurred during his voyage home. After the
Revolution he was elected deputy _suppleant_ to the National Assembly,
was charged with the organization of the Department of the Vosges, and
was elected later to the Legislative Assembly, of which he first became
secretary and then president. In 1793 he was imprisoned on account of
the political sentiments, in reality very innocent, of his drama _Pamela
ou la vertu recompensee_ (Theatre de la Nation, 1st August 1793), but
was set free a few days afterwards at the revolution of the 9th
Thermidor. In 1797 he became minister of the interior, in which office
he distinguished himself by the thoroughness of his administration in
all departments. It is to him that France owes its system of inland
navigation. He inaugurated the museum of the Louvre, and was one of the
promoters of the first universal exhibition of industrial products. From
1804 to 1806 he was president of the Senate, and in that capacity the
duty devolved upon him of soliciting Napoleon to assume the title of
emperor. In 1808 he received the dignity of count. Retiring from public
life in 1814, he occupied himself chiefly in the study of agriculture,
until his death on the 10th of January 1828.
Francois de Neufchateau had very multifarious accomplishments, and
interested himself in a great variety of subjects, but his fame rests
chiefly on what he did as a statesman for the encouragement and
development of the industries of France. His maturer poetical
productions did not fulfil the promise of those of his early years, for
though some of his verses have a superficial elegance, his poetry
generally lacks force and originality. He had considerable
qualifications as a grammarian and critic, as is witnessed by his
editions of the _Provinciales_ and _Pensees_ of Pascal (Paris, 1822 and
1826) and _Gil Blas_ (Paris, 1820). His principal poetical works are
_Poesies diverses_ (1765); _Ode sur les parlements_ (1771); _Nouveaux
Contes moraux_ (1781); _Les Vosges_ (1796); _Fables et contes_ (1814);
and _Les Tropes, ou les figures de mots_ (1817). He was also the author
of a large number of works on agriculture.
See _Recueil des lettres, circulaires, discours et autres actes
publics emanes du Cte. Francois pendant ses deux exercices du
ministere de l'interieur_ (Paris, An. vii.-viii., 2 vols.); _Notice
biographique sur M. le comte Francois de Neufchateau_ (1828), by A. F.
de Sillery; H. Bonnelier, _Memoires sur Francois de Neufchateau_
(Paris, 1829); J. Lamoureux, _Notice historique et litteraire sur la
vie et les ecrits de Francois de Neufchateau_ (Paris, 1843); E.
Meaume, _Etude historique et biographique sur les Lorrains
revolutionnaires: Palissot, Gregoire, Francois de Neufchateau_ (Nancy,
1882); Ch. Simian, _Francois de Neufchateau et les expositions_
(Paris, 1889).
FRANCONIA (Ger. _Franken_), the name of one of the stem-duchies of
medieval Germany. It stretched along the valley of the Main from the
Rhine to Bohemia, and was bounded on the north by Saxony and Thuringia,
and on the south by Swabia and Bavaria. It also included a district
around Mainz, Spires and Worms, on the left bank of the Rhine. The word
_Franconia_, first used in a Latin charter of 1053, was applied like the
words _France_, _Francia_ and _Franken_, to a portion of the land
occupied by the Franks.
About the close of the 5th century this territory was conquered by
Clovis, king of the Salian Franks, was afterwards incorporated with the
kingdom of Austrasia, and at a later period came under the rule of
Charlemagne. After the treaty of Verdun in 843 it became the centre of
the East Frankish or German kingdom, and in theory remained so for a
long period, and was for a time the most important of the duchies which
arose on the ruins of the Carolingian empire. The land was divided into
counties, or _gauen_, which were ruled by counts, prominent among whom
were members of the families of Conradine and Babenberg, by whose feuds
it was frequently devastated. Conrad, a member of the former family, who
took the title of "duke in Franconia" about the year 900, was chosen
German king in 911 as the representative of the foremost of the German
races. Conrad handed over the chief authority in Franconia to his
brother Eberhard, who remained on good terms with Conrad's successor
Henry I. the Fowler, but rose against the succeeding king, Otto the
Great, and was killed in battle in 939, when his territories were
divided. The influence of Franconia began to decline under the kings of
the Saxon house. It lacked political unity, had no opportunities for
extension, and soon became divided into Rhenish Franconia (_Francia
rhenensis_, Ger. _Rheinfranken_) and Eastern Franconia (_Francia
orientalis_, Ger. _Ostfranken_). The most influential family in Rhenish
Franconia was that of the Salians, the head of which early in the 10th
century was Conrad the Red, duke of Lorraine, and son-in-law of Otto the
Great. This Conrad, his son Otto and his grandson Conrad are sometimes
called dukes of Franconia, and in 1024 his great-grandson Conrad, also
duke of Franconia, was elected German king as Conrad II. and founded the
line of Franconian or Salian emperors. Rhenish Franconia gradually
became a land of free towns and lesser nobles, and under the earlier
Franconian emperors sections passed to the count palatine of the Rhine,
the archbishop of Mainz, the bishops of Worms and Spires and other
clerical and lay nobles; and the name Franconia, or _Francia orientalis_
as it was then called, was confined to the eastern portion of the duchy.
Clerical authority was becoming predominant in this region. A series of
charters dating from 822 to 1025 had granted considerable powers to the
bishops of Wuerzburg, who, by the time of the emperor Henry II.,
possessed judicial authority over the whole of eastern Franconia. The
duchy was nominally retained by the emperors in their own hands until
1115, when the emperor Henry V., wishing to curb the episcopal influence
in this neighbourhood, appointed his nephew Conrad of Hohenstaufen as
duke of Franconia. Conrad's son Frederick took the title of duke of
Rothenburg instead of duke of Franconia, but in 1196, on the death of
Conrad of Hohenstaufen, son of the emperor Frederick I., the title fell
into disuse. Meanwhile the bishop of Wuerzburg had regained his former
power in the duchy, and this was confirmed in 1168 by the emperor
Frederick I.
The title remained in abeyance until the early years of the 15th
century, when it was assumed by John II., bishop of Wuerzburg, and
retained by his successors until the bishopric was secularized in 1802.
The greater part of the lands were united with Bavaria, and the name
Franconia again fell into abeyance. It was revived in 1837, when Louis
I., king of Bavaria, gave to three northern portions of his kingdom the
names of Upper, Middle and Lower Franconia. In 1633 Bernhard, duke of
Saxe-Weimar, hoping to create a principality for himself out of the
ecclesiastical lands, had taken the title of duke of Franconia, but his
hopes were destroyed by his defeat at Noerdlingen in 1634. When Germany
was divided into circles by the emperor Maximilian I. in 1500, the name
Franconia was given to that circle which included the eastern part of
the old duchy. The lands formerly comprised in the duchy of Franconia
are now divided between the kingdoms of Bavaria and Wuerttemberg, the
grand-duchies of Baden and Hesse, and the Prussian province of
Hesse-Nassau.
See J. G. ab Eckhart, _Commentarii de rebus Franciae orientalis et
episcopatus Wirceburgensis_ (Wuerzburg, 1729); F. Stein, _Geschichte
Frankens_ (Schweinfurt, 1885-1886); T. Henner, _Die herzogliche Gewalt
der Bischoefe von Wuerzburg_ (Wuerzburg, 1874).
FRANCS-ARCHERS. The institution of the _francs-archers_ was the first
attempt at the formation of regular infantry in France. They were
created by the ordinance of Montils-les-Tours on the 28th of August
1448, which prescribed that in each parish an archer should be chosen
from among the most apt in the use of arms; this archer to be exempt
from the _taille_ and certain obligations, to practise shooting with the
bow on Sundays and feast-days, and to hold himself ready to march fully
equipped at the first signal. Under Charles VII. the _francs-archers_
distinguished themselves in numerous battles with the English, and
assisted the king to drive them from France. During the succeeding
reigns the institution languished, and finally disappeared in the middle
of the 16th century. The _francs-archers_ were also called
_francs-taupins_.
See Daniel, _Histoire de la milice francaise_ (1721); and E. Boutaric,
_Institutions militaires de la France avant les armees permanentes_
(1863).
FRANCS-TIREURS ("Free-Shooters"), irregular troops, almost exclusively
infantry, employed by the French in the war of 1870-1871. They were
originally rifle clubs or unofficial military societies formed in the
east of France at the time of the Luxemburg crisis of 1867. The members
were chiefly concerned with the practice of rifle-shooting, and were
expected in war to act as light troops. As under the then system of
conscription the greater part of the nation's military energy was
allowed to run to waste, the francs-tireurs were not only popular, but
efficient workers in their sphere of action. As they wore no uniforms,
were armed with the best existing rifles and elected their own officers,
the government made repeated attempts to bring the societies, which were
at once a valuable asset to the armed strength of France and a possible
menace to internal order, under military discipline. This was
strenuously resisted by the societies, to their sorrow as it turned out,
for the Germans treated captured francs-tireurs as irresponsible
non-combatants found with arms in their hands and usually exacted the
death penalty. In July 1870, at the outbreak of the war, the societies
were brought under the control of the minister of war and organized for
field service, but it was not until the 4th of November--by which time
the _levee en masse_ was in force--that they were placed under the
orders of the generals in the field. After that they were sometimes
organized in large bodies and incorporated in the mass of the armies,
but more usually they continued to work in small bands, blowing up
culverts on the invaders' lines of communication, cutting off small
reconnoitring parties, surprising small posts, &c. It is now
acknowledged, even by the Germans, that though the francs-tireurs did
relatively little active mischief, they paralysed large detachments of
the enemy, contested every step of his advance (as in the Loire
campaign), and prevented him from gaining information, and that their
soldierly qualities improved with experience. Their most celebrated
feats were the blowing up of the Moselle railway bridge at Fontenoy on
the 22nd of January 1871 (see _Les Chasseurs des Vosges_ by
Lieut.-Colonel St Etienne, Toul, 1906), and the heroic defence of
Chateaudun by Lipowski's Paris corps and the francs-tireurs of Cannes
and Nantes (October 18, 1870). It cannot be denied that the original
members of the rifle clubs were joined by many bad characters, but the
patriotism of the majority was unquestionable, for little mercy was
shown by the Germans to those francs-tireurs who fell into their hands.
The severity of the German reprisals is itself the best testimony to the
fear and anxiety inspired by the presence of active bands of
francs-tireurs on the flanks and in rear of the invaders.
FRANEKER, a town in the province of Friesland, Holland, 5 m. E. of
Harlingen on the railway and canal to Leeuwarden. Pop. (1900) 7187. It
was at one time a favourite residence of the Frisian nobility, many of
whom had their castles here, and it possessed a celebrated university,
founded by the Frisian estates in 1585. This was suppressed by Napoleon
I. in 1811, and the endowments were diverted four years later to the
support of an athenaeum, and afterwards of a gymnasium, with which a
physiological cabinet and a botanical garden are connected. Franeker
also possesses a town hall (1591), which contains a _planetarium_, made
by one Eise Eisinga in 1774-1881. The fine observatory was founded about
1780. The church of St Martin (1420) contains several fine tombs of the
15th-17th centuries. The industries of the town include silk-weaving,
woollen-spinning, shipbuilding and pottery-making. It is also a
considerable market for agricultural produce.
FRANK, JAKOB (1726-1791), a Jewish theologian, who founded in Poland, in
the middle of the 18th century, a sect which emanated from Judaism but
ended by merging with Christianity. The sect was the outcome of the
Messianic mysticism of Sabbetai Zebi. It was an antinomian movement in
which the authority of the Jewish law was held to be superseded by
personal freedom. The Jewish authorities, alarmed at the moral laxity
which resulted from the emotional rites of the Frankists, did their
utmost to suppress the sect. But the latter, posing as an anti-Talmudic
protest in behalf of a spiritual religion, won a certain amount of
public sympathy. There was, however, no deep sincerity in the tenets of
the Frankists, for though in 1759 they were baptized _en masse_, amid
much pomp, the Church soon became convinced that Frank was not a genuine
convert. He was imprisoned on a charge of heresy, but on his release in
1763 the empress Maria Theresa patronized him, regarding him as a
propagandist of Christianity among the Jews. He thenceforth lived in
state as baron of Offenbach, and on his death (1791) his daughter Eva
succeeded him as head of the sect. The Frankists gradually merged in the
general Christian body, the movement leaving no permanent trace in the
synagogue. (I. A.)
FRANK-ALMOIGN (_libera eleemosyna_, free alms), in the English law of
real property, a species of spiritual tenure, whereby a religious
corporation, aggregate or sole, holds lands of the donor to them and
their successors for ever. It was a tenure dating from Saxon times, held
not on the ordinary feudal conditions, but discharged of all services
except the _trinoda necessitas_. But "they which hold in frank-almoign
are bound of right before God to make orisons, prayers, masses and other
divine services for the souls of their grantor or feoffor, and for the
souls of their heirs which are dead, and for the prosperity and good
life and good health of their heirs which are alive. And therefore they
shall do no fealty to their lord, because that this divine service is
better for them before God than any doing of fealty" (Litt. s. 135). It
was the tenure by which the greater number of the monasteries and
religious houses held their lands; it was expressly exempted from the
statute 12 Car. II. c. 24 (1660), by which the other ancient tenures
were abolished, and it is the tenure by which the parochial clergy and
many ecclesiastical and eleemosynary foundations hold their lands at the
present day. As a form of donation, however, it came to an end by the
passing of the statute _Quia Emptores_, for by that statute no new
tenure of frank-almoign could be created, except by the crown.
See Pollock and Maitland, _History of English Law_, where the history
of frank-almoign is given at length.
FRANKEL, ZECHARIAS (1801-1875), Jewish theologian, one of the founders
of the Breslau school of "historical Judaism." This school attempts to
harmonize critical treatment of the documents of religion with fidelity
to traditional beliefs and observances. For a time at least, the
compromise succeeded in staying the disintegrating effects of the
liberal movement in Judaism. Frankel was the author of several valuable
works, among them _Septuagint Studies_, an _Introduction to the Mishnah_
(1859), and a similar work on the Palestinian Talmud (1870). He also
edited the _Monatsschrift_, devoted to Jewish learning on modern lines.
But his chief claim to fame rests on his headship of the Breslau
Seminary. This was founded in 1854 for the training of rabbis who should
combine their rabbinic studies with secular courses at the university.
The whole character of the rabbinate has been modified under the
influence of this, the first seminary of the kind. (I. A.)
FRANKENBERG, a manufacturing town of Germany, in the kingdom of Saxony,
on the Zschopau, 7 m. N.E. of Chemnitz, on the railway
Niederwiesa-Rosswein. Pop. (1905) 13,303. The principal buildings are
the large Evangelical parish church, restored in 1874-1875, and the
town-hall. Its industries include I extensive woollen, cotton and silk
weaving, dyeing, the manufacture of brushes, furniture and cigars,
iron-founding and machine building. It is well provided with schools,
including one of weaving.
FRANKENHAUSEN, a town of Germany, in the principality of
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, on an artificial arm of the Wipper, a tributary
of the Saale, 36 m. N.N.E. of Gotha. Pop. (1905) 6534. It consists of an
old and a new town, the latter mostly rebuilt since a destructive fire
in 1833, and has an old chateau of the princes of Schwarzburg, three
Protestant churches, a seminary for teachers, a hospital and a modern
town-hall. Its industries include the manufacture of sugar, cigars and
buttons, and there are brine springs, with baths, in the vicinity. At
Frankenhausen a battle was fought on the 15th of May 1525, in which the
insurgent peasants under Thomas Muenzer were defeated by the allied
princes of Saxony and Hesse.
FRANKENSTEIN, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Silesia, on
the Pausebach, 35 m. S. by W. of Breslau. Pop. (1905) 7890. It is still
surrounded by its medieval walls, has two Evangelical and three Roman
Catholic churches, among the latter the parish church with a curious
overhanging tower, and a monastery. The industries include the
manufacture of artificial manures, bricks, beer and straw hats. There
are also mills for grinding the magnesite found in the neighbourhood.
FRANKENTHAL, a town of Germany, in the Bavarian Palatinate, on the
Isenach, connected with the Rhine by a canal 3 m. in length, 6 m. N.W.
from Mannheim, and on the railways Neunkirchen-Worms and
Frankenthal-Grosskarlbach. Pop. (1905) 18,191. It has two Evangelical
and a Roman Catholic church, a fine medieval town-hall, two interesting
old gates, remains of its former environing walls, several public
monuments, including one to the veterans of the Napoleonic wars, and a
museum. Its industries include the manufacture of machinery, casks,
corks, soap, dolls and furniture, iron-founding and bell-founding--the
famous "Kaiserglocke" of the Cologne cathedral was cast here.
Frankenthal was formerly famous for its porcelain factory, established
here in 1755 by Paul Anton Hannong of Strassburg, who sold it in 1762 to
the elector palatine Charles Theodore. Its fame is mainly due to the
modellers Konrad Link (1732-1802) and Johann Peter Melchior (d. 1796)
(who worked at Frankenthal between 1779 and 1793). The best products of
this factory are figures and groups representing contemporary life, or
allegorical subjects in the rococo taste of the period, and they are
surpassed only by those of the more famous factory at Meissen. In 1795
the factory was sold to Peter von Reccum, who removed it to Gruenstadt.
Frankenthal (Franconodal) is mentioned as a village in the 8th century.
A house of Augustinian canons established here in 1119 by Erkenbert,
chamberlain of Worms, was suppressed in 1562 by the elector palatine
Frederick III., who gave its possessions to Protestant refugees from the
Netherlands. In 1577 this colony received town rights from the elector
John Casimir, whose successor fortified the place. From 1623 until 1652,
save for two years, it was occupied by the Spaniards, and in 1688-1689
it was stormed and burned by the French, the fortifications being razed.
In 1697 it was reconstituted as a town, and under the elector Charles
Theodore it became the capital of the Palatinate. From 1798 to 1814 it
was incorporated in the French department of Mont Tonnerre.
See Wille, _Stadt u. Festung Frankenthal waehrend des dreissigjaehrigen
Krieges_ (Heidelberg, 1877); Hildenbrand, Gesch. _der Stadt
Frankenthal_ (1893). For the porcelain see Heuser, _Frankenthaler
Gruppen und Figuren_ (Spires, 1899).
FRANKENWALD, a mountainous district of Germany, forming the geological
connexion between the Fichtelgebirge and the Thuringian Forest. It is a
broad well-wooded plateau, running for about 30 m. in a north-westerly
direction, descending gently on the north and eastern sides towards the
Saale, but more precipitously to the Bavarian plain in the west, and
attaining its highest elevation in the Kieferle near Steinheid (2900
ft.). Along the centre lies the watershed between the basins of the Main
and the Saale, belonging to the systems of the Rhine and Elbe
respectively. The principal tributaries of the Main from the Frankenwald
are the Rodach and Hasslach, and of the Saale, the Selbitz.
See H. Schmid, _Fuehrer durch den Frankenwald_ (Bamberg, 1894); Meyer,
_Thueringen und der Frankenwald_ (15th ed., Leipzig, 1900), and Guembel,
_Geognostische Beschreibung des Fichtelgebirges mit dem Frankenwald_
(Gotha, 1879).
FRANKFORT, a city and the county-seat of Clinton county, Indiana,
U.S.A., 40 m. N.W. of Indianapolis. Pop. (1890) 5919; (1900) 7100 (144
foreign-born); (1910) 8634. Frankfort is served by the Chicago,
Indianapolis & Louisville, the Lake Erie & Western, the Vandalia, and
the Toledo, St Louis & Western railways, and by the Indianapolis &
North-Western Traction Interurban railway (electric). The city is a
division point on the Toledo, St Louis & Western railway, which has
large shops here. Frankfort is a trade centre for an agricultural and
lumbering region; among its manufactures are handles, agricultural
implements and foundry products. The first settlement in the
neighbourhood was made in 1826; in 1830 the town was founded, and in
1875 it was chartered as a city. The city limits were considerably
extended immediately after 1900.
FRANKFORT, the capital city of Kentucky, U.S.A., and the county-seat of
Franklin county, on the Kentucky river, about 55 m. E. of Louisville.
Pop. (1890) 7892; (1900) 9487, of whom 3316 were negroes; (1910 census)
10,465. The city is served by the Chesapeake & Ohio, the Louisville &
Nashville, and the Frankfort & Cincinnati railways, by the Central
Kentucky Traction Co. (electric), and by steamboat lines to Cincinnati,
Louisville and other river ports. It is built among picturesque hills on
both sides of the river, and is in the midst of the famous Kentucky
"blue grass region" and of a rich lumber-producing region. The most
prominent building is the Capitol, about 400 ft. long and 185 ft. wide,
built of granite and white limestone in the Italian Renaissance style,
with 70 large Ionic columns, and a dome 205 ft. above the terrace line,
supported by 24 other columns. The Capitol was built in 1905-1907 at a
cost of more than $2,000,000; in it are housed the state library and the
library of the Kentucky State Historical Society. At Frankfort, also,
are the state arsenal, the state penitentiary and the state home for
feeble-minded children, and just outside the city limits is the state
coloured normal school. The old capitol (first occupied in 1829) is
still standing. In Franklin cemetery rest the remains of Daniel Boone
and of Theodore O'Hara (1820-1867), a lawyer, soldier, journalist and
poet, who served in the U.S. army in 1846-1848 during the Mexican War,
took part in filibustering expeditions to Cuba, served in the
Confederate army, and is best known as the author of "The Bivouac of the
Dead," a poem written for the burial in Frankfort of some soldiers who
had lost their lives at Buena Vista. Here also are the graves of Richard
M. Johnson, vice-president of the United States in 1837-1841, and the
sculptor Joel T. Hart (1810-1877). The city has a considerable trade
with the surrounding country, in which large quantities of tobacco and
hemp are produced; its manufactures include lumber, brooms, chairs,
shoes, hemp twine, canned vegetables and glass bottles. The total value
of the city's factory product in 1905 was $1,747,338, being 31.6% more
than in 1900. Frankfort (said to have been named after Stephen Frank,
one of an early pioneer party ambushed here by Indians) was founded in
1786 by General James Wilkinson, then deeply interested in trade with
the Spanish at New Orleans, and in the midst of his Spanish intrigues.
In 1792 the city was made the capital of the state. In 1862, during the
famous campaign in Kentucky of General Braxton Bragg (Confederate) and
General D. C. Buell (Federal), Frankfort was occupied for a short time
by Bragg, who, just before being forced out by Buell, took part in the
inauguration of Richard J. Hawes, chosen governor by the Confederates of
the state. Hawes, however, never discharged the duties of his office.
During the bitter contest for the governorship in 1900 between William
Goebel (Democrat) and William S. Taylor (Republican), each of whom
claimed the election, Goebel was assassinated at Frankfort. (See also
KENTUCKY.) Frankfort received a city charter in 1839.
FRANKFORT-ON-MAIN (Ger. _Frankfurt am Main_), a city of Germany, in the
Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, principally on the right bank of the
Main, 24 m. above its confluence with the Rhine at Mainz, and 16 m. N.
from Darmstadt. Always a place of great trading importance, long the
place of election for the German kings, and until 1866, together with
Hamburg, Bremen and Luebeck, one of the four free cities of Germany, it
still retains its position as one of the leading commercial centres of
the German empire. Its situation in the broad and fertile valley of the
Main, the northern horizon formed by the soft outlines of the Taunus
range, is one of great natural beauty, the surrounding country being
richly clad with orchard and forest.
Frankfort is one of the most interesting, as it is also one of the
wealthiest, of German cities. Apart from its commercial importance, its
position, close to the fashionable watering-places of Homburg, Nauheim
and Wiesbaden, has rendered it "cosmopolitan" in the best sense of the
term. The various stages in the development of the city are clearly
indicated in its general plan and the surviving names of many of its
streets. The line of the original 12th century walls and moat is marked
by the streets of which the names end in _-graben_, from the
Hirschgraben on the W. to the Wollgraben on the E. The space enclosed by
these and by the river on the S. is known as the "old town"
(_Altstadt_). The so-called "new town" (_Neustadt_), added in 1333,
extends to the _Anlagen_, the beautiful gardens and promenades laid out
(1806-1812) on the site of the 17th century fortifications, of which
they faithfully preserve the general ground plan. Of the medieval
fortifications the picturesque Eschenheimer Tor, a round tower 155 ft.
high, dating from 1400 to 1428, the Rententurm (1456) on the Main and
the Kuhhirtenturm (_c._ 1490) in Sachsenhausen, are the sole remains.
Since the demolition of the fortifications the city has greatly
expanded. Sachsenhausen on the south bank of the river, formerly the
seat of a commandery of the Teutonic Order (by treaty with Austria in
1842 all property and rights of the order in Frankfort territory were
sold to the city, except the church and house), is now a quarter of the
city. In other directions also the expansion has been rapid; the village
of Bornheim was incorporated in Frankfort in 1877, the former Hessian
town of Bockenheim in 1895, and the suburbs of Niederrad, Oberrad and
Seckbach in 1900.
The main development of the city has been to the north of the river,
which is crossed by numerous bridges and flanked by fine quays and
promenades. The Altstadt, though several broad streets have been opened
through it, still preserves many of its narrow alleys and other medieval
features. The Judengasse (Ghetto), down to 1806 the sole Jews' quarter,
has been pulled down, with the exception of the ancestral house of the
Rothschild family--No. 148--which has been restored and retains its
ancient facade. As the Altstadt is mainly occupied by artisans and petty
tradesmen, so the Neustadt is the principal business quarter of the
city, containing the chief public buildings and the principal hotels.
The main arteries of the city are the Zeil, a broad street running from
the Friedberger Anlage to the Rossmarkt and thence continued, by the
Kaiserstrasse, through the fine new quarter built after 1872, to the
magnificent principal railway station; and the Steinweg and
Goethestrasse, which lead by the Bockenheimer Tor to the Bockenheimer
Landstrasse, a broad boulevard intersecting the fashionable residential
suburb to the N.W.
_Churches._--The principal ecclesiastical building in Frankfort is the
cathedral (Dom). Built of red sandstone, with a massive tower
terminating in a richly ornamented cupola and 300 ft. in height, it is
the most conspicuous object in the city. This building, in which the
Roman emperors were formerly elected and, since 1562, crowned, was
founded in 852 by King Louis the German, and was later known as the
Salvator Kirche. After its reconstruction (1235-1239), it was dedicated
to St Bartholomew. From this period date the nave and the side aisles;
the choir was completed in 1315-1338 and the long transepts in
1346-1354. The cloisters were rebuilt in 1348-1447, and the electoral
chapel, on the south of the choir, was completed in 1355. The tower was
begun in 1415, but remained unfinished. On the 15th of August 1867 the
tower and roof were destroyed by fire and considerable damage was done
to the rest of the edifice. The restoration was immediately taken in
hand, and the whole work was finished in 1881, including the completion
of the tower, according to the plans of the 15th century architect, Hans
von Ingelheim. In the interior is the tomb of the German king Guenther of
Schwarzburg, who died in Frankfort in 1349, and that of Rudolph, the
last knight of Sachsenhausen, who died in 1371. Among the other Roman
Catholic churches are the Leonhardskirche, the Liebfrauenkirche (church
of Our Lady) and the Deutschordenskirche (14th century) in
Sachsenhausen. The Leonhardskirche (restored in 1882) was begun in 1219,
it is said on the site of the palace of Charlemagne. It was originally a
three-aisled basilica, but is now a five-aisled _Hallenkirche_; the
choir was added in 1314. It has two Romanesque towers. The
Liebfrauenkirche is first mentioned in 1314 as a collegiate church; the
nave was consecrated in 1340. The choir was added in 1506-1509 and the
whole church thoroughly restored in the second half of the 18th century,
when the tower was built (1770). Of the Protestant churches the oldest
is the Nikolaikirche, which dates from the 13th century; the fine
cast-iron spire erected in 1843 had to be taken down in 1901. The
Paulskirche, the principal Evangelical (Lutheran) church, built between
1786 and 1833, is a red sandstone edifice of no architectural
pretensions, but interesting as the seat of the national parliament of
1848-1849. The Katharinenkirche, built 1678-1681 on the site of an older
building, is famous in Frankfort history as the place where the first
Protestant sermon was preached in 1522. Among the more noteworthy of the
newer Protestant churches are the Peterskirche (1892-1895) in the North
German Renaissance style, with a tower 256 ft. high, standing north from
the Zeil, the Christuskirche (1883) and the Lutherkirche (1889-1893). An
English church, in Early English Gothic style, situated adjacent to the
Bockenheimer Landstrasse, was completed and consecrated in 1906.
Of the five synagogues, the chief (or Hauptsynagoge), lying in the
Boernestrasse, is an attractive building of red sandstone in the
Moorish-Byzantine style.
_Public Buildings._--Of the secular buildings in Frankfort, the Roemer,
for almost five hundred years the Rathaus (town hall) of the city, is of
prime historical interest. It lies on the Roemerberg, a square flanked by
curious medieval houses. It is first mentioned in 1322, was bought with
the adjacent hostelry in 1405 by the city and rearranged as a town hall,
and has since, from time to time, been enlarged by the purchase of
adjoining patrician houses, forming a complex of buildings of various
styles and dates surmounted by a clock tower. The facade was rebuilt
(1896-1898) in late Gothic style. It was here, in the Wahlzimmer (or
election-chamber) that the electors or their plenipotentiaries chose the
German kings, and here in the Kaisersaal (emperors' hall) that the
coronation festival was held, at which the new king or emperor dined
with the electors after having shown himself from the balcony to the
people. The Kaisersaal retained its antique appearance until 1843, when,
as also again in 1904, it was restored and redecorated; it is now
furnished with a series of modern paintings representing the German
kings and Roman emperors from Charlemagne to Francis II., in all
fifty-two, and a statue of the first German emperor, William I. New
municipal buildings adjoining the "Roemer" on the north side were erected
in 1900-1903 in German Renaissance style, with a handsome tower 220 ft.
high; beneath it is a public wine-cellar, and on the first storey a
grand municipal hall. The palace of the princes of Thurn and Taxis in
the Eschenheimer Gasse was built (1732-1741) from the designs of Robert
de Cotte, chief architect to Louis XIV. of France. From 1806 to 1810 it
was the residence of Karl von Dalberg, prince-primate of the
Confederation of the Rhine, with whose dominions Frankfort had been
incorporated by Napoleon. From 1816 to 1866 it was the seat of the
German federal diet. It is now annexed to the principal post office
(built 1892-1894), which lies close to it on the Zeil. The Saalhof,
built on the site of the palace erected by Louis the Pious in 822,
overlooking the Main, has a chapel of the 12th century, the substructure
dating from Carolingian times. This is the oldest building in Frankfort.
The facade of the Saalhof in the Saalgasse dates from 1604, the southern
wing with the two gables from 1715 to 1717. Of numerous other medieval
buildings may be mentioned the Leinwandhaus (linendrapers' hall), a 15th
century building reconstructed in 1892 as a municipal museum. In the
Grosser Hirschgraben is the Goethehaus, a 16th century building which
came into the possession of the Goethe family in 1733. Here Goethe lived
from his birth in 1749 until 1775. In 1863 the house was acquired by the
_Freies deutsche Hochstift_ and was opened to the public. It has been
restored, from Goethe's account of it in _Dichtung und Wahrheit_, as
nearly as possible to its condition in the poet's day, and is now
connected with a Goethemuseum (1897), with archives and a library of
25,000 volumes representative of the Goethe period of German literature.
_Literary and Scientific Institutions._--Few cities of the same size as
Frankfort are so richly endowed with literary, scientific and artistic
institutions, or possess so many handsome buildings appropriated to
their service. The opera-house, erected near the Bockenheimer Tor in
1873-1880, is a magnificent edifice in the style of the Italian
Renaissance and ranks among the finest theatres in Europe. There are
also a theatre (_Schauspielhaus_) in modern Renaissance style
(1899-1902), devoted especially to drama, a splendid concert hall
(_Saalbau_), opened in 1861, and numerous minor places of theatrical
entertainment. The public picture gallery in the Saalhof possesses works
by Hans Holbein, Gruenewald, Van Dyck, Teniers, Van der Neer, Hans von
Kulmbach, Lucas Cranach and other masters. The Staedel Art Institute
(Staedel'sches Kunstinstitut) in Sachsenhausen, founded by the banker J.
F. Staedel in 1816, contains a picture gallery and a cabinet of
engravings extremely rich in works of German art. The municipal library,
with 300,000 volumes, boasts among its rarer treasures a Gutenberg
Bible printed at Mainz between 1450 and 1455, another on parchment dated
1462, the _Institutiones Justiniani_ (Mainz, 1468), the _Theuerdank_,
with woodcuts by Hans Schaeufelein, and numerous valuable autographs. It
also contains a fine collection of coins. The Bethmann Museum owes its
celebrity principally to Dannecker's "Ariadne," but it also possesses
the original plaster model of Thorwaldsen's "Entrance of Alexander the
Great into Babylon." There may also be mentioned the Industrial Art
Exhibition of the Polytechnic Association and two conservatories of
music. Among the scientific institutions the first place belongs to the
_Senckenberg'sches naturhistorische Museum_, containing valuable
collections of birds and shells. Next must be mentioned the Kunstgewerbe
(museum of arts and crafts) and the Musical Museum, with valuable MSS.
and portraits. Besides the municipal library (_Stadtbibliothek_)
mentioned above there are three others of importance, the Rothschild,
the Senckenberg and the Jewish library (with a well-appointed
reading-room). There are numerous high-grade schools, musical and other
learned societies and excellent hospitals. The last include the large
municipal infirmary and the Senckenberg'sches Stift, a hospital and
almshouses founded by a doctor, Johann C. Senckenberg (d. 1772). The
Royal Institute for experimental therapeutics (_Koenigl. Institut fuer
experimentelle Therapie_), moved to Frankfort in 1899, attracts numerous
foreign students, and is especially concerned with the study of
bacteriology and serums.
_Bridges._--Seven bridges (of which two are railway) cross the Main. The
most interesting of these is the Alte Mainbruecke, a red sandstone
structure of fourteen arches, 815 ft. long, dating from the 14th
century. On it are a mill, a statue of Charlemagne and an iron crucifix
surmounted by a gilded cock. The latter commemorates, according to
tradition, the fowl which was the first living being to cross the bridge
and thus fell a prey to the devil, who in hope of a nobler victim had
sold his assistance to the architect. Antiquaries, however, assert that
it probably marks the spot where criminals were in olden times flung
into the river. Other bridges are the Obermainbruecke of five iron
arches, opened in 1878; an iron foot (suspension) bridge, the
Untermainbruecke; the Wilhelmsbruecke, a fine structure, which from 1849
to 1890 served as a railway bridge and was then opened as a road bridge;
and two new iron bridges at Gutleuthof and Niederrad (below the city),
which carry the railway traffic from the south to the north bank of the
Main, where all lines converge in a central station of the Prussian
state railways. This station, which was built in 1883-1888 and has
replaced the three stations belonging to private companies, which
formerly stood in juxtaposition on the Anlagen (or promenades) near the
Mainzer Tor, lies some half-mile to the west. The intervening ground
upon which the railway lines and buildings stood was sold for building
sites, the sum obtained being more than sufficient to cover the cost of
the majestic central terminus (the third largest in the world), which,
in addition to spacious and handsome halls for passenger accommodation,
has three glass-covered spans of 180 ft. width each. Yet the exigencies
of traffic demand further extensions, and another large station was in
1909 in process of construction at the east end of the city, devised to
receive the local traffic of lines running eastward, while a through
station for the north to south traffic was projected on a site farther
west of the central terminus.
Frankfort lies at the junction of lines of railway connecting it
directly with all the important cities of south and central Germany.
Here cross and unite the lines from Berlin to Basel, from Cologne to
Wuerzburg and Vienna, from Hamburg and Cassel, and from Dresden and
Leipzig to France and Switzerland. The river Main has been dredged so as
to afford heavy barge traffic with the towns of the upper Main and with
the Rhine, and cargo boats load and unload alongside its busy quays. A
well-devised system of electric tramways provides for local
communication within the city and with the outlying suburbs.
_Trade, Commerce and Industries._--Frankfort has always been more of a
commercial than an industrial town, and though of late years it has
somewhat lost its pre-eminent position as a banking centre it has
counterbalanced the loss in increased industrial development. The
suburbs of Sachsenhausen and Bockenheim have particularly developed
considerable industrial activity, especially in publishing and printing,
brewing and the manufacture of quinine. Other sources of employment are
the cutting of hair for making hats, the production of fancy goods,
type, machinery, soap and perfumery, ready-made clothing, chemicals,
electro-technical apparatus, jewelry and metal wares. Market gardening
is extensively carried on in the neighbourhood and cider largely
manufactured. There are two great fairs held in the town,--the
Ostermesse, or spring fair, and the Herbstmesse, or autumn fair. The
former, which was the original nucleus of all the commercial prosperity
of the city, begins on the second Wednesday before Easter; and the
latter on the second Wednesday before the 8th of September. They last
three weeks, and the last day save one, called the _Nickelchestag_, is
distinguished by the influx of people from the neighbouring country. The
trade in leather is of great and growing importance. A horse fair has
been held twice a year since 1862 under the patronage of the
agricultural society; and the wool market was reinstituted in 1872 by
the German Trade Society (Deutscher Handelsverein). Frankfort has long
been famous as one of the principal banking centres of Europe, and is
now only second to Berlin, in this respect, among German cities, and it
is remarkable for the large business that is done in government stock.
In the 17th century the town was the seat of a great book-trade; but it
has long been distanced in this department by Leipzig. The _Frankfurter
Journal_ was founded in 1615, the _Postzeitung_ in 1616, the _Neue
Frankfurter Zeitung_ in 1859, and the _Frankfurter Presse_ in 1866.
Of memorial monuments the largest and most elaborate in Frankfort is
that erected in 1858 in honour of the early German printers. It was
modelled by Ed. von der Launitz and executed by Herr von Kreis. The
statues of Gutenberg, Fust and Schoeffer form a group on the top; an
ornamented frieze presents medallions of a number of famous printers;
below these are figures representing the towns of Mainz, Strassburg,
Venice and Frankfort; and on the corners of the pedestal are allegorical
statues of theology, poetry, science and industry. The statue of Goethe
(1844) in the Goetheplatz is by Ludwig von Schwanthaler. The Schiller
statue, erected in 1863, is the work of a Frankfort artist, Johann
Dielmann. A monument in the Bockenheim Anlage, dated 1837, preserves the
memory of Guiollett, the burgomaster, to whom the town is mainly
indebted for the beautiful promenades which occupy the site of the old
fortifications; and similar monuments have been reared to Senckenberg
(1863), Schopenhauer, Klemens Brentano the poet and Samuel Thomas
Soemmerring (1755-1830), the anatomist and inventor of an electric
telegraph. In the Opernplatz is an equestrian statue of the emperor
Wilhelm I. by Buscher.
_Cemeteries._--The new cemetery (opened in 1828) contains the graves of
Arthur Schopenhauer and Feuerbach, of Passavant the biographer of
Raphael, Ballenberger the artist, Hessemer the architect, Soemmerring,
and Johann Friedrich Boehmer the historian. The Bethmann vault attracts
attention by three bas-reliefs from the chisel of Thorwaldsen; and the
Reichenbach mausoleum is a vast pile designed by Hessemer at the command
of William II. of Hesse, and adorned with sculptures by Zwerger and von
der Lausitz. In the Jewish section, which is walled off from the rest of
the burying-ground, the most remarkable tombs are those of the
Rothschild family.
_Parks._--In addition to the park in the south-western district,
Frankfort possesses two delightful pleasure grounds, which attract large
numbers of visitors, the Palmengarten in the west and the zoological
garden in the east of the city. The former is remarkable for the
collection of palms purchased in 1868 from the deposed duke Adolph of
Nassau.
_Government._--The present municipal constitution of the city dates from
1867 and presents some points of difference from the ordinary Prussian
system. Bismarck was desirous of giving the city, in view of its former
freedom, a more liberal constitution than is usual in ordinary cases.
Formerly fifty-four representatives were elected, but provision was made
(in the constitution) for increasing the number, and they at present
number sixty-four, elected for six years. Every two years a third of the
number retire, but they are eligible for re-election. These sixty-four
representatives elect twenty town-councillors, ten of whom receive a
salary and ten do not. The chief burgomaster (Oberbuergermeister) is
nominated by the emperor for twelve years, and the second burgomaster
must receive the emperor's approval.
Since 1885 the city has been supplied with water of excellent quality
from the Stadtwald, Goldstein and Hinkelstein, and the favourable
sanitary condition of the town is seen in the low death rate.
_Population._--The population of Frankfort has steadily increased since
the beginning of the 19th century; it amounted in 1817 to 41,458; (1840)
55,269; (1864) 77,372; (1871) 59,265; (1875) 103,136; (1890) 179,985;
and (1905), including the incorporated suburban districts, 334,951, of
whom 175,909 were Protestants, 88,457 Roman Catholics and 21,974 Jews.
_History._--Excavations around the cathedral have incontestably proved
that Frankfort-on-Main (_Trajectum ad Moenum_) was a settlement in Roman
times and was probably founded in the 1st century of the Christian era.
It may thus be accounted one of the earliest German--the so-called
"Roman"--towns. Numerous places in the valley of the Main are mentioned
in chronicles anterior to the time that Frankfort is first noticed.
Disregarding popular tradition, which connects the origin of the town
with a legend that Charlemagne, when retreating before the Saxons, was
safely conducted across the river by a doe, it may be asserted that the
first genuine historical notice of the town occurs in 793, when Einhard,
Charlemagne's biographer, tells us that he spent the winter in the villa
Frankonovurd. Next year there is mention more than once of a royal
palace here, and the early importance of the place is indicated by the
fact that in this year it was chosen as the seat of the ecclesiastical
council by which image-worship was condemned. The name Frankfort is also
found in several official documents of Charlemagne's reign; and from the
notices that occur in the early chronicles and charters it would appear
that the place was the most populous at least of the numerous villages
of the Main district. During the Carolingian period it was the seat of
no fewer than 16 imperial councils or colloquies. The town was probably
at first built on an island in the river. It was originally governed by
the royal officer or _actor dominicus_, and down even to the close of
the Empire it remained a purely imperial or royal town. It gradually
acquired various privileges, and by the close of the 14th century the
only mark of dependence was the payment of a yearly tax. Louis the Pious
dwelt more frequently at Frankfort than his father Charlemagne had done,
and about 823 he built himself a new palace, the basis of the later
Saalhof. In 822 and 823 two great diets were held in the palace, and at
the former there were present deputies from the eastern Slavs, the Avars
and the Normans. The place continued to be a favourite residence with
Louis the German, who died there in 876, and was the capital of the East
Frankish kingdom. By the rest of the Carolingian kings it was less
frequently visited, and this neglect was naturally greater during the
period of the Saxon and Salic emperors from 919 to 1137. Diets, however,
were held in the town in 951, 1015, 1069 and 1109, and councils in 1000
and 1006. From a privilege of Henry IV., in 1074, granting the city of
Worms freedom from tax in their trade with several royal cities, it
appears that Frankfort was even then a place of some commercial
importance.
Under the Hohenstaufens many brilliant diets were held within its walls.
That of 1147 saw, also, the first election of a German king at
Frankfort, in the person of Henry, son of Conrad III. But as the father
outlived the son, it was Frederick I., Barbarossa, who was actually the
first reigning king to be elected here (in 1152). With the beginning of
the 13th century the municipal constitution appears to have taken
definite shape. The chief official was the royal bailiff
(_Schultheiss_), who is first mentioned in 1193, and whose powers were
subsequently enlarged by the abolition, in 1219, of the office of the
royal _Vogt_ or _advocatus_. About this time a body of _Schoeffen_
(_scabini_, jurats), fourteen in number, was formed to assist in the
control of municipal affairs, and with their appointment the first step
was taken towards civic representative government. Soon, however, the
activity of the _Schoeffen_ became specifically confined to the
determination of legal disputes, and in their place a new body
(_Collegium_) of counsellors--_Ratmannen_--also fourteen in number, was
appointed for the general administration of local matters. In 1311, the
two burgomasters, now chiefs of the municipality, take the place of the
royal _Schultheiss_. In the 13th century, the Frankfort Fair, which is
first mentioned in 1150, and the origin of which must have been long
anterior to that date, is referred to as being largely frequented. No
fewer than 10 new churches were erected in the years from 1220 to 1270.
It was about the same period, probably in 1240, that the Jews first
settled in the town. In the contest which Louis the Bavarian maintained
with the papacy Frankfort sided with the emperor, and it was
consequently placed under an interdict for 20 years from 1329 to 1349.
On Louis' death it refused to accept the papal conditions of pardon, and
only yielded to Charles IV., the papal nominee, when Guenther of
Schwarzburg thought it more prudent to abdicate in his favour. Charles
granted the city a full amnesty, and confirmed its liberties and
privileges.
By the famous Golden Bull of 1356 Frankfort was declared the seat of the
imperial elections, and it still preserves an official contemporaneous
copy of the original document as the most precious of the eight imperial
bulls in its possession. From the date of the bull to the close of the
Empire Frankfort retained the position of "Wahlstadt," and only five of
the two-and-twenty monarchs who ruled during that period were elected
elsewhere. In 1388-1389 Frankfort assisted the South German towns in
their wars with the princes and nobles (the Staedtekrieg), and in a
consequent battle with the troops of the Palatinate, the town banner was
lost and carried to Kronberg, where it was long preserved as a trophy.
On peace being concluded in 1391, the town had to pay 12,562 florins,
and this brought it into great financial difficulties. In the course of
the next 50 years debt was contracted to the amount of 126,772 florins.
The diet at Worms in 1495 chose Frankfort as the seat of the newly
instituted imperial chamber, or "_Reichskammergericht_," and it was not
till 1527 that the chamber was removed to Spires. At the Reformation
Frankfort heartily joined the Protestant party, and in consequence it
was hardly treated both by the emperor Charles V. and by the archbishop
of Mainz. It refused to subscribe the Augsburg Recess, but at the same
time it was not till 1536 that it was persuaded to join the League of
Schmalkalden. On the failure of this confederation it opened its gates
to the imperial general Bueren on the 29th of December 1546, although he
had passed by the city, which he considered too strong for the forces
under his command. The emperor was merciful enough to leave it in
possession of its privileges, but he inflicted a fine of 80,000 gold
gulden, and until October 1547 the citizens had to endure the presence
of from 8000 to 10,000 soldiers. This resulted in a pestilence which not
only lessened the population, but threatened to give the death-blow to
the great annual fairs; and at the close of the war it was found that it
had cost the city no less than 228,931 gulden. In 1552 Frankfort was
invested for three weeks by Maurice of Saxony, who was still in arms
against the emperor Charles V., but it continued to hold out till peace
was concluded between the principal combatants. Between 1612 and 1616
occurred the great Fettmilch insurrection, perhaps the most remarkable
episode in the internal history of Frankfort. The magistracy had been
acquiring more and more the character of an oligarchy; all power was
practically in the hands of a few closely-related families; and the
gravest peculation and malversation took place without hindrance. The
ordinary citizens were roused to assert their rights, and they found a
leader in Vincenz Fettmilch, who carried the contest to dangerous
excesses, but lacked ability to bring it to a successful issue. An
imperial commission was ultimately appointed, and the three principal
culprits and several of their associates were executed in 1616. It was
not till 1801 that the last mouldering head of the Fettmilch company
dropped unnoticed from the Rententurm, the old tower near the bridge. In
the words of Dr Kriegk, _Geschichte von Frankfurt_, (1871), the
insurrection completely destroyed the political power of the gilds, gave
new strength to the supremacy of the patriciate, and brought no further
advantage to the rest of the citizens than a few improvements in the
organization and administration of the magistracy. The Jews, who had
been attacked by the popular party, were solemnly reinstated by imperial
command in all their previous privileges, and received full compensation
for their losses.
During the Thirty Years' War Frankfort did not escape. In 1631 Gustavus
Adolphus garrisoned it with 600 men, who remained in possession till
they were expelled four years later by the imperial general Lamboy. In
1792 the citizens had to pay 2,000,000 gulden to the French general
Custine; and in 1796 Kleber exacted 8,000,000 francs. The independence
of Frankfort was brought to an end in 1806, on the formation of the
Confederation of the Rhine; and in 1810 it was made the capital of the
grand-duchy of Frankfort, which had an area of 3215 sq. m. with 302,100
inhabitants, and was divided into the four districts of Frankfort,
Aschaffenburg, Fulda and Hanau. On the reconstitution of Germany in 1815
it again became a free city, and in the following year it was declared
the seat of the German Confederation. In April 1833 occurred what is
known as the Frankfort Insurrection (Frankfurter Attentat), in which a
number of insurgents led by Georg Bunsen attempted to break up the diet.
The city joined the German Zollverein in 1836. During the revolutionary
period of 1848 the people of Frankfort, where the united German
parliament held its sessions, took a chief part in political movements,
and the streets of the town were more than once the scene of conflict.
In the war of 1866 they were on the Austrian side. On the 16th of July
the Prussian troops, under General Vogel von Falkenstein, entered the
town, and on the 18th of October it was formally incorporated with the
Prussian state. A fine of 6,000,000 florins was exacted. In 1871 the
treaty which concluded the Franco-German War was signed in the Swan
Hotel by Prince Bismarck and Jules Favre, and it is consequently known
as the peace of Frankfort.
AUTHORITIES.--F. Rittweger, _Frankfurt im Jahre 1848_ (1898); R. Jung,
_Das historische Archiv der Stadt Frankfurt_ (1897); A. Horne,
_Geschichte von Frankfurt_ (4th ed., 1903); H. Grotefend, _Quellen zur
Frankfuerter Geschichte_ (Frankfort, 1884-1888); J. C. von Fichard,
_Die Entstehung der Reichsstadt Frankfurt_ (Frankfort, 1819); G. L.
Kriegk, _Geschichte von Frankfurt_ (Frankfort, 1871); J. F. Boehmer,
_Urkundenbuch der Reichsstadt Frankfurt_ (new ed., 1901); B. Weber,
_Zur Reformationsgeschichte der freien Reichsstadt Frankfurt_ (1895);
O. Speyer, _Die Frankfurter Revolution 1612-1616_ (1883); and L.
Woerl, _Guide to Frankfort_ (Leipzig, 1898).
FRANKFORT-ON-ODER, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of
Brandenburg, 50 m. S.E. from Berlin on the main line of railway to
Breslau and at the junction of lines to Cuestrin, Posen and Grossenhain.
Pop. (1905) 64,943. The town proper lies on the left bank of the river
Oder and is connected by a stone bridge (replacing the old historical
wooden structure) 900 ft. long, with the suburb of Damm. The town is
agreeably situated and has broad and handsome streets, among them the
"Linden," a spacious avenue. Above, on the western side, and partly
lying on the site of the old ramparts, is the residential quarter,
consisting mainly of villas and commanding a fine prospect of the Oder
valley. Between this suburb and the town lies the park, in which is a
monument to the poet Ewald Christian von Kleist, who died here of wounds
received in the battle of Kunersdorf. Among the more important public
buildings must be noticed the Evangelical Marienkirche (Oberkirche), a
handsome brick edifice of the 13th century with five aisles, the Roman
Catholic church, the Rathhaus dating from 1607, and bearing on its
southern gable the device of a member of the Hanseatic League, the
government offices and the theatre. The university of Frankfort, founded
in 1506 by Joachim I., elector of Brandenburg, was removed to Breslau in
1811, and the academical buildings are now occupied by a school. To
compensate it for the loss of its university, Frankfort-on-Oder was long
the seat of the court of appeal for the province, but of this it was
deprived in 1879. There are several handsome public monuments, notably
that to Duke Leopold of Brunswick, who was drowned in the Oder while
attempting to save life, on the 27th of April 1785. The town has a large
garrison, consisting of nearly all arms. Its industries are
considerable, including the manufacture of machinery, metal ware,
chemicals, paper, leather and sugar. Situated on the high road from
Berlin to Silesia, and having an extensive system of water communication
by means of the Oder and its canals to the Vistula and the Elbe, and
being an important railway centre, it has a lively export trade, which
is further fostered by its three annual fairs, held respectively at
_Reminiscere_ (the second Sunday in Lent), St Margaret's day and at
Martinmas. In the neighbourhood are extensive coal fields.
Frankfort-on-the-Oder owes its origin and name to a settlement of
Franconian merchants here, in the 13th century, on land conquered by the
margrave of Brandenburg from the Wends. In 1253 it was raised to the
rank of a town by the margrave John I. and borrowed from Berlin the
Magdeburg civic constitution. In 1379 it received from King Sigismund,
then margrave of Brandenburg, the right to free navigation of the Oder;
and from 1368 to about 1450 it belonged to the Hanseatic League. The
university, which is referred to above, was opened by the elector
Joachim I. in 1506, was removed in 1516 to Kottbus and restored again to
Frankfort in 1539, at which date the Reformation was introduced. It was
dispersed during the Thirty Years' War and again restored by the Great
Elector, but finally transferred to Breslau in 1811.
Frankfort has suffered much from the vicissitudes of war. In the 15th
century it successfully withstood sieges by the Hussites (1429 and
1432), by the Poles (1450) and by the duke of Sagan (1477). In the
Thirty Years' War it was successively taken by Gustavus Adolphus (1631),
by Wallenstein (1633), by the elector of Brandenburg (1634), and again
by the Swedes, who held it from 1640 to 1644. During the Seven Years'
War it was taken by the Russians (1759). In 1812 it was occupied by the
French, who remained till March 1813, when the Russians marched in.
See K. R. Hausen, _Geschichte der Universitaet und Stadt Frankfurt_
(1806), and Bieder und Gurnik, _Bilder aus der Geschichte der Stadt
Frankfurt-an-der-Oder_ (1898).
FRANKINCENSE,[1] or OLIBANUM[2] (Gr. [Greek: libanotos], later [Greek:
thyos]; Lat., _tus_ or _thus_; Heb., _lebonah_;[3] Ar., _luban_;[4]
Turk., _ghyunluk_; Hind., _ganda-birosa_[5]), a gum-resin obtained from
certain species of trees of the genus _Boswellia_, and natural order
_Burseraceae_. The members of the genus are possessed of the following
characters:--Bark often papyraceous; leaves deciduous, compound,
alternate and imparipinnate, with leaflets serrate or entire; flowers in
racemes or panicles, white, green, yellowish or pink, having a small
persistent, 5-dentate calyx, 5 petals, 10 stamens, a sessile 3 to
5-chambered ovary, a long style, and a 3-lobed stigma; fruit trigonal or
pentagonal; and seed compressed. Sir George Birdwood (_Trans. Lin. Soc._
xxvii., 1871) distinguishes five species of _Boswellia_: (A) _B.
thurifera_, Colebr. (_B. glabra_ and _B. serrata_, Roxb.), indigenous to
the mountainous tracts of central India and the Coromandel coast, and
_B. papyrifera_ (_Ploesslea floribunda_, Endl.) of Abyssinia, which,
though both thuriferous, are not known to yield any of the olibanum of
commerce; and (B) _B. Frereana_ (see ELEMI, vol. x. p. 259), _B.
Bhua-Dajiana_, and _B. Carterii_, the "Yegaar," "Mohr Add," and "Mohr
Madow" of the Somali country, in East Africa, the last species including
a variety, the "Maghrayt d'Sheehaz" of Hadramaut, Arabia, all of which
are sources of true frankincense or olibanum. The trees on the Somali
coast are described by Captain G. B. Kempthorne as growing, without
soil, out of polished marble rocks, to which they are attached by a
thick oval mass of substance resembling a mixture of lime and mortar:
the purer the marble the finer appears to be the growth of the tree. The
young trees, he states, furnish the most valuable gum, the older
yielding merely a clear glutinous fluid resembling copal varnish.[6] To
obtain the frankincense a deep incision is made in the trunk of the
tree, and below it a narrow strip of bark 5 in. in length is peeled off.
When the milk-like juice ("spuma pinguis," Pliny) which exudes has
hardened by exposure to the atmosphere, the incision is deepened. In
about three months the resin has attained the required degree of
consistency. The season for gathering lasts from May until the first
rains in September. The large clear globules are scraped off into
baskets, and the inferior quality that has run down the tree is
collected separately. The coast of south Arabia is yearly visited by
parties of Somalis, who pay the Arabs for the privilege of collecting
frankincense.[7] In the interior of the country about the plain of
Dhofar,[8] during the south-west monsoon, frankincense and other gums
are gathered by the Beni Gurrah Bedouins, and might be obtained by them
in much larger quantities; their lawlessness, however, and the lack of a
safe place of exchange or sale are obstacles to the development of
trade. (See C. Y. Ward, _The Gulf of Aden Pilot_, p. 117, 1863.) Much as
formerly in the region of Sakhalites in Arabia (the tract between Ras
Makalla and Ras Agab),[9] described by Arrian, so now on the sea-coast
of the Somali country, the frankincense when collected is stored in
heaps at various stations. Thence, packed in sheep- and goat-skins, in
quantities of 20 to 40 lb., it is carried on camels to Berbera, for
shipment either to Aden, Makalla and other Arabian ports, or directly to
Bombay.[10] At Bombay, like gum-acacia, it is assorted, and is then
packed for re-exportation to Europe, China and elsewhere.[11] Arrian
relates that it was an import of Barbarike on the Sinthus (Indus). The
idea held by several writers, including Niebuhr, that frankincense was a
product of India, would seem to have originated in a confusion of that
drug with benzoin and other odoriferous substances, and also in the sale
of imported frankincense with the native products of India. The gum
resin of _Boswellia thurifera_ was described by Colebrooke (in _Asiatick
Researches_, ix. 381), and after him by Dr J. Fleming (Ib. xi. 158), as
true frankincense, or olibanum; from this, however, it differs in its
softness, and tendency to melt into a mass[12] (Birdwood, _loc. cit._,
p. 146). It is sold in the village bazaars of Khandeish in India under
the name of _Dup-Salai_, i.e. incense of the "Salai tree"; and according
to Mr F. Porter Smith, M.B. (_Contrib. towards the Mat. Med. and Nat.
Hist, of China_, p. 162, Shanghai, 1871), is used as incense in China.
The last authority also mentions olibanum as a reputed natural product
of China. Bernhard von Breydenbach,[13] Ausonius, Florus and others,
arguing, it would seem, from its Hebrew and Greek names, concluded that
olibanum came from Mount Lebanon; and Chardin (_Voyage en Perse_, &c.,
1711) makes the statement that the frankincense tree grows in the
mountains of Persia, particularly Caramania.
Frankincense, or olibanum, occurs in commerce in semi-opaque, round,
ovate or oblong tears or irregular lumps, which are covered externally
with a white dust, the result of their friction against one another. It
has an amorphous internal structure, a dull fracture; is of a yellow to
yellowish-brown hue, the purer varieties being almost colourless, or
possessing a greenish tinge, and has a somewhat bitter aromatic taste,
and a balsamic odour, which is developed by heating. Immersed in alcohol
it becomes opaque, and with water it yields an emulsion. It contains
about 72% of resin soluble in alcohol (Kurbatow); a large proportion of
gum soluble in water, and apparently identical with gum arabic; and a
small quantity of a colourless inflammable essential oil, one of the
constituents of which is the body oliben, C10H16. Frankincense burns
with a bright white flame, leaving an ash consisting mainly of calcium
carbonate, the remainder being calcium phosphate, and the sulphate,
chloride and carbonate of potassium (Braconnot).[14] Good frankincense,
Pliny tells us, is recognized by its whiteness, size, brittleness and
ready inflammability. That which occurs in globular drops is, he says,
termed "male frankincense"; the most esteemed, he further remarks, is in
breast-shaped drops, formed each by the union of two tears.[15] The best
frankincense, as we learn from Arrian,[16] was formerly exported from
the neighbourhood of Cape Elephant in Africa (the modern Ras Fiel); and
A. von Kremer, in his description of the commerce of the Red Sea
(_Aegypten_, &c., p. 185, ii. Theil, Leipzig, 1863), observes that the
African frankincense, called by the Arabs "asli," is of twice the value
of the Arabian "luban." Captain S. B. Miles (_loc. cit._, p. 64) states
that the best kind of frankincense, known to the Somali as "bedwi" or
"sheheri," comes from the trees "Mohr Add" and "Mohr Madow" (_vide
supra_), and from a taller species of _Boswellia_, the "Boido," and is
sent to Bombay for exportation to Europe; and that an inferior "mayeti,"
the produce of the "Yegaar," is exported chiefly to Jeddah and Yemen
ports.[17] The latter may possibly be what Niebuhr alludes to as "Indian
frankincense."[18] Garcias da Horta, in asserting the Arabian origin of
the drug, remarks that the term "Indian" is often applied by the Arabs
to a dark-coloured variety.[19]
According to Pliny (_Nat. Hist._ xiv. 1; cf. Ovid, _Fasti_ i. 337 sq.),
frankincense was not sacrificially employed in Trojan times. It was used
by the ancient Egyptians in their religious rites, but, as Herodotus
tells us (ii. 86), not in embalming. It constituted a fourth part of the
Jewish incense of the sanctuary (Ex. xxx. 34), and is frequently
mentioned in the Pentateuch. With other spices it was stored in a great
chamber of the house of God at Jerusalem (1 Chron. ix. 29, Neh. xiii.
5-9). On the sacrificial use and import of frankincense and similar
substances see INCENSE.
In the Red Sea regions frankincense is valued not only for its sweet
odour when burnt, but as a masticatory; and blazing lumps of it are not
infrequently used for illumination instead of oil lamps. Its fumes are
an excellent insectifuge. As a medicine it was in former times in high
repute. Pliny (_Nat. Hist._ xxv. 82) mentions it as an antidote to
hemlock. Avicenna (ed. Plempii, lib. ii. p. 161, Lovanii, 1658, fol.)
recommends it for tumours, ulcers of the head and ears, affections of
the breast, vomiting, dysentery and fevers. In the East frankincense has
been found efficacious as an external application in carbuncles, blind
boils and gangrenous sores, and as an internal agent is given in
gonorrhoea. In China it was an old internal remedy for leprosy and
struma, and is accredited with stimulant, tonic, sedative, astringent
and vulnerary properties. It is not used in modern medicine, being
destitute of any special virtues. (See Waring, _Pharm. of India_, p.
443, &c.; and F. Porter Smith, _op. cit._, p. 162.)
Common frankincense or thus, _Abietis resina_, is the term applied to a
resin which exudes from fissures in the bark of the Norway spruce fir,
_Abies excelsa_, D.C.; when melted in hot water and strained it
constitutes "Burgundy pitch," _Pix abietina_. The concreted turpentine
obtained in the United States by making incisions in the trunk of a
species of pine, _Pinus australis_, is also so designated. It is
commercially known as "scrape," and is similar to the French "galipot"
or "barras." Common frankincense is an ingredient in some ointments and
plasters, and on account of its pleasant odour when burned has been used
in incense as a substitute for olibanum. (See Flueckiger and Hanbury,
_Pharmacographia_.) The "black frankincense oil" of the Turks is stated
by Hanbury (_Science Papers_, p. 142, 1876) to be liquid storax.
(F. H. B.)