Francesca, Piero della See Piero della Francesca
Francesco di Cristofano de Giudicis See Franciabigio
Franche-Comte \,fra n sh-k6 n -'ta\ Region (pop., 1999: 1,117,100), east- central France. It covers 6,256 sq mi (16,202 sq km), and its capital is Besangon. Included in the original kingdom of Burgundy in the 5th cen¬ tury ad, it later became the county of Burgundy, as distinct from the duchy of Burgundy. Part of the German (later Holy Roman) empire in the 11th century, it came under the control of Philip II (the Bold) in 1384. It passed to Maximilian I in the 15th century and, from him, to the Spanish Habsburgs. Occupied by Louis IX, it was ceded to him by Spain in 1678 and was a province of France until the 1789 Revolution, when it was split into sev¬ eral departments.
Francia \fran-'che-a\, Francesco orig. Francesco di Marco di Giacomo Raibolini (b. 1450, Bologna—d. Jan. 5, 1517/18, Bologna) Italian Renaissance artist, the major Bolognese painter of the late 15th and early 16th centuries. He was originally a goldsmith. His early works were influenced by the Ferrarese painter Lorenzo Costa (c. 1460-1535), though the strongest influences on his style were the works of Perugino and Raphael. His workshop produced numerous sweet, excessively refined Madonnas; he also specialized in portraiture.
Franciabigio N.fran-cha-'be-joV orig. Francesco di Cristofano de Giudicis \'ju-de-ches\ (b. 1482/83, Florence?, Republic of Florence—d. 1525, Florence) Italian painter. He was inspired by the work of Raphael and for some years maintained a studio with Andrea del Sarto in Florence. He and Andrea’s student Jacopo da Pontormo decorated the Medici family villa at Poggio a Caiano. He was a minor master of the High Renaissance style, best known for his portraits and religious paintings.
Francis I French Francois \fra n -'swa\ (b. Sept. 12, 1494, Cognac, France—d. March 31, 1547, Ram- bouillet) King of France (1515-47).
The cousin and son-in-law of Louis XII, Francis succeeded to the throne in 1515. Soon after his coronation he rode off to the Italian Wars (1515-16) and recovered the Duchy of Milan.
He was a Renaissance patron of the arts, a humanist, and a popular king who traveled throughout France, cur¬ tailing abuses by nobles and provid¬ ing games and processions for the people. All this ended with the elec¬ tion in 1519 of Charles V as Holy Roman emperor. Charles was already king of Spain, and his lands now encircled France. Francis vainly sought an alliance with Henry VIII on the Field of Cloth of Gold, then waged a series of wars with Charles from 1521. Francis was taken captive in 1525 and languished in prison, refus¬ ing to accede to Charles’s exorbitant demands, until in 1526 the French ambassadors concluded a treaty. The war with Charles resumed in 1536, and one of Francis’s last diplomatic achievements was an alliance with the Turks against the emperor.
Francis I German Franz (b. Dec. 8, 1708, Nancy, Duchy of Lorraine—d. Aug. 18, 1765, Innsbruck, Austria) Holy Roman emperor (1745-65). The son of the duke of Lorraine, he succeeded to the duchy in 1729 (as Francis Stephen). In 1736 he married Maria Theresa, heiress to Emperor Charles VI, who agreed to the marriage on the condition that Francis cede Lorraine to Stanislaw I of Poland, in compensation for which Francis was granted Tuscany (1737). He served with Maria Theresa as coregent (1740-45) and was elected emperor during the War of the Aus¬
trian Succession. He was overshadowed by his wife during his rule but was remembered for his cultural interests.
Francis II French Francois (b. Jan. 19, 1544, Fontainebleau, France—d. Dec. 5, 1560, Orleans) King of France (1559-60). He was the son of Henry II and Catherine de Medicis and was married in 1558 to Mary Stuart (later Mary, Queen of Scots), a relation of the powerful Guise fam¬ ily. Sickly and weak-willed, Francis was dominated throughout his brief reign by the Guises, who tried to use him to break the strength of the Huguenots. His premature death temporarily ended the Guises’ dominion. He was succeeded by his brother, Charles IX.
Francis II German Franz (b. Feb. 12, 1768, Florence—d. March 2, 1835, Vienna, Austria) Last Holy Roman emperor (1792-1806); as Fran¬ cis I, emperor of Austria (1804-35); as Francis, king of Hungary (1792- 1835) and king of Bohemia (1792-1835). He succeeded his father, Leopold II. as emperor in 1792. An absolutist who hated constitutionalism, Fran¬ cis supported the first coalition war against France (1792-97). Twice defeated by France, he elevated Austria to an empire (1804) soon after Napoleon made himself emperor of France. Napoleon dictated the disso¬ lution of the Holy Roman Empire, and Francis abdicated in 1806. Though he despised Napoleon, he was forced by reasons of state to marry his daughter Marie-Louise to Napoleon in 1810. Francis helped destroy Napo¬ leon’s power in battles in 1813-14. After the Congress of Vienna (1815), Francis supported his chief minister, Klemens, prince von Metternich, in instituting a conservative and restrictive political system in Germany and Europe.
Francis II Italian Francesco \fran-'cha-sko\ (b. Jan. 16, 1836, King¬ dom of Naples—d. Dec. 27, 1894, Arco, Italy) King of the Two Sicilies (1859-60), the last of the Bourbon kings of Naples. He succeeded his father, Ferdinand II. in 1859 and on his accession rejected proposals made by Count Cavour that he join Piedmont-Sardinia in the war against Aus¬ tria and grant liberal reforms on its conclusion. Alarmed by the invasion of Sicily by Giuseppe de Garibaldi in 1860, Francis capitulated to the lib¬ erals in his kingdom and restored the constitution of 1848, granted free¬ dom of the press, and promised new elections. It was too late to save the monarchy, however; the Bourbon forces were defeated by Garibaldi, and less than a month later Francis was deposed by a plebiscite. He then lived in exile in Rome and Paris.
Francis, James Bicheno (b. May 18, 1815, Southleigh, Devon, Eng.—d. Sept. 18, 1892, Lowell, Mass., U.S.) British-U.S. hydraulic engi¬ neer. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1833 and at 22 became chief engineer of the Proprietors of the Locks and Canals on the Merrimack River. In 40 years of managing the company’s waterpower interests and advising manufacturers on waterpower, he contributed greatly to the rise of Lowell as an industrial centre. He invented the mixed-flow, or Francis, turbine used for low-pressure installations. He is also known for his formulas for the flow of water over weirs and many other studies in hydraulics. He was considered one of the foremost civil engineers of his time.
Francis de Sales, Saint (b. Aug. 21, 1567, Thorens-Glieres, Savoy—d. Dec. 28, 1622, Lyon; canonized 1665; feast day January 24) Roman Catholic bishop of Geneva and Doctor of the Church. He studied in Paris and at Padua and was ordained in 1593. He was consecrated bishop of Geneva in 1602. In 1610, with St. Jane Frances de Chantal, he founded the Visitation of Holy Mary (the Visitation Nuns), a teaching order. His Introduction to a Devout Life (1609) argued that spiritual per¬ fection is possible for ordinary individuals busy with worldly affairs. He was an active opponent of Calvinism. Pius XI named him patron saint of writers.
Francis Ferdinand German Franz Ferdinand (b. Dec. 18, 1863, Graz, Austria—d. June 28, 1914, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina) Archduke of Austria, whose assassination was the immediate cause of World War I. Nephew of Emperor Francis Joseph, he became heir appar¬ ent in 1896. His desire to marry Sophie, countess von Chotek, a lady-in- waiting, brought him into sharp conflict with the emperor, and the marriage was only allowed after he agreed to renounce his future chil¬ dren’s rights to the throne. From 1906 he exerted influence in military matters and became inspector general of the army (1913). While on an official visit in Sarajevo in June 1914, he and his wife were assassinated by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. In July Austria declared war against Serbia, precipitating World War I.