Franco-Russian Alliance or Dual Alliance (1894) Political and military pact between France and Russia that was one of the basic Euro¬ pean alignments of the pre-World War I era. In the event of war, France wanted support against Germany, and Russia against Austria-Hungary. The alliance was formalized through an exchange of letters in order to
Francis Joseph, 1908
COURTESY OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM; PHOTOGRAPH, J.R. FREEMAN & CO. LTD.
Saint Francis of Assisi, detail of a fresco by Cimabue, late 13th century; in the lower church of San Francesco, Assisi, Italy.
AUNARI—ANDERSON FROM ART RESOURCE
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
704 i Franconia ► Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
preserve secrecy, and it was to be in force as long as the opposing Triple Alliance. The alliance was renewed and strengthened in 1899 and 1912.
Franconia German Franken Former duchy, south-central Germany. Today it is divided between Rhenish Franconia, now located in the Lander (states) of Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden- Wiirttemberg, and Hesse, and East Franconia, now in the Lander of Baden-Wiirttemberg and Bavaria. A medi¬ eval duchy, after ad 843 it was the German part of the former Carolin- gian empire. After the Carolingian line died out, Franconia’s duke became the first elected German king, as Conrad I. The duchy was then divided into Rhenish (west) and East Franconia, the latter alone retaining the name of Franconia after the 12th century. The name was abolished in 1806 but revived in 1837 by the kingdom of Bavaria in its subdivisions.
frangipani \,fran-j3-'pa-ne\ Any of the shrubs or small trees that make up the genus Plumeria , in the dogbane family, native to the New World tropics and widely cultivated as ornamentals; also, a perfume derived from or imitating the odour of the flower of one species, P. rubra. The white- edged, yellow flowers of the Mexican frangipani (P rubra acutifolia) are a popular component of the Hawaiian lei.
Frank Member of a Germanic-speaking people who invaded the west¬ ern Roman Empire in the 5th century. The Franks lived east of the Rhine River in the 3rd century and came under Roman influence. They gained control of northern Gaul by 494 and southern Gaul by 507, and the con¬ version of their leader Clovis I to Catholic Christianity won them the sup¬ port of the clergy and the Gallo-Roman population in Gaul. The Franks established one of the most powerful kingdoms of the early Middle Ages, ruling lands in present-day France (to which they gave their name), Bel¬ gium, and western Germany. The Merovingian dynasty to which Clovis belonged was succeeded by the Carolingian dynasty, whose most notable ruler, Charlemagne, created a great empire across Christian Europe. The division of the realm in the 9th century and the subsequent dissolution of a unified Frankish empire foreshadowed the formation of the modern countries of western Europe.
Frank \'fraqk,\ English \'fraqk\, Anne(lies Marie) (b. June 12, 1929, Frankfurt am Main, Ger.—d. March 1945, Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, near Hannover) German diarist. Frank was a young Jewish girl who kept a record of the two years her family spent in hiding in Amsterdam to escape Nazi persecution. After their discovery by the Gestapo in 1944, the family was transported to concentration camps; Anne died of typhus at Bergen-Belsen. Friends searching the hiding place found her diary, which her father published as The Diary of a Young Girl (1947). Preco¬ cious in style and insight, it traces her emotional growth amid adversity and is a classic of war literature.
Frank \'fraqk\, Jacob orig. Jacob Leibowicz (b. 1726, Berezanka or Korolowka, Galicia, Pol.—d. Dec. 10, 1791, Offenbach, Hessen) Jew¬ ish false Messiah. He was an uneducated visionary who claimed to be the reincarnation of Shabbetai Tzevi. He proclaimed himself messiah in 1751 and founded the Frankist, or Zoharist, sect, based on the Sefer ha-zohar, which he sought to put in the place of the Torah. The sect rejected tra¬ ditional Judaism, and their practices, including orgiastic rites, led the Jewish community to excommunicate them in 1756. Protected by Roman Catholic authorities, who hoped Frank would help in the conversion of the Jews, Frank and his followers were baptized in Poland. In 1760 he was imprisoned by the Inquisition, who had realized that Frank’s follow¬ ers regarded Frank, not Jesus, as the messiah. Freed in 1773 by invading Russians, he settled in Germany and lived as a baron until his death.
Frank, Robert (b. Nov. 9, 1924, Zurich, Switz.) Swiss-born U.S. pho¬ tographer. In the 1940s he worked as a fashion photographer for Harp¬ er’s Bazaar in Paris. He abandoned fashion work in 1947 to travel in the U.S. and South America and explore the use of the 35-mm camera. His collection The Americans (1959), with its gritty, discordant images of 1950s America, had enormous influence and established him as a major figure. After 1959 Frank turned to filmmaking; his short film Pull My Daisy (1959), a collaboration with Jack Kerouac, became an underground classic. A major later collection is Robert Frank: Moving Out (1994).
Frankel, Zacharias (b. Sept. 30, 1801, Prague, Bohemia—d. Feb. 13, 1875, Breslau, Ger.) Hungarian German rabbi and theologian. He gradu¬ ated from the University of Budapest and served as rabbi in several Ger¬ man communities. As chief rabbi in Dresden (1836-54), he developed a theology called positive-historical Judaism, which diverged from Ortho¬ dox Judaism in its willingness to accept scientific and historical research
as well as changes in the liturgy but adhered to traditional customs more firmly than Reform Judaism. In 1854 he became president of Breslau’s Jewish Theological Seminary, and his theology spread through central Europe and to the U.S., where it took root as Conservative Judaism. His books include Introduction to the Mishna (1859) and Introduction to the Palestinian Talmud (1870).
Frankenthaler, Helen (b. Dec. 12, 1928, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. painter. She studied with Rufino Tamayo in high school and at Benning¬ ton College, then returned to her native New York City and joined the “second generation” of Abstract Expressionists. Influenced by Jackson Pol¬ lock and Arshile Gorky, she developed a style featuring abstract colour combinations within large expanses of bare canvas. She perfected the technique of colour staining, producing diaphanous colour by thinning the oils and letting them soak into the unprimed canvas. In the 1960s she began to use acrylic paints. Though abstract, many of her paintings (e.g.. Ocean Desert, 1975) evoke landscapes and are noted for their lyricism. Her work influenced the colour-field painters Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland. She was married to Robert Motherwell from 1958 to 1971.
Frankfort Vfraqk-fortA City (pop., 2000: 27,741), capital of Kentucky, U.S. Located on the Kentucky River, it was founded in 1786 and has been the capital since statehood (1792). Twice during its early history the capi- tol was burned, and both times the larger cities of Louisville and Lexington tried to become the state capital. Frankfort was retained, however, because of its central location. It is a trading centre for the Bluegrass region, pro¬ ducing tobacco, com, and Thoroughbred horses, and the site of Kentucky State University (1886).
Frankfurt (am Main) City (pop., 2002 est.: city, 641,076; metro, area, 1,896,741), western Germany. Located on the Main River, it was the site of a Roman military settlement in the 1st century ad. It served as a royal residence of the Carolingians from the 9th century through the Middle Ages. A free imperial city (1372-1806), it lost its status under Napoleon but regained it in 1815. It was the capital of Germany from 1816 until it was annexed by Prussia in 1866. Its Old Town, once the largest surviving medieval city in Germany, was mostly destroyed in World War II; some landmarks survive, including its red sandstone cathedral, dedicated in 1239. International trade fairs have been held in Frankfurt since 1240; in the modern era, book, automobile, and computer fairs are popular annual events. The city’s manufactures include machinery and printing materi¬ als, as well as the high-quality sausages known as frankfurters. Frankfurt is the birthplace of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.