FRANC-T1REUR 



331 4 



FRANK EN WALD 



Franc-tireur (Fr., free shooter). 

 Term employed to designate the 

 bands of men who, though uncon- 

 nected in any way with the regular 

 troops, greatly harassed the Ger- 

 mans during the Franco-Prussian 

 War. These bands wore no uniform, 

 and, if detected, posed as civilians. 

 Despite the fact that if caught 

 they were immediately hanged, 

 many alien French sympathisers 

 served the country in this way, and 

 it is estimated that not less than 

 35,000 men were so employed. The 

 term francs-tireurswas also applied 

 to organized bodies of volunteers, 

 notably the Gardes Mobiles and an 

 Italian contingent who cooperated 

 with the I^ench troops round Or- 

 leans in 1870. At the best, francs- 

 tireurs are therefore organized 

 corps of irregular troops, acting 

 under a permanent leader, who 

 wear some kind of uniform, if only 

 a brassard, and who conform to 

 the usages of war; while at their 

 worst they are merely bands of 

 tolerated assassins, whose conduct 

 exasperates trained troops and 

 results in innocent civilians suffer- 

 ing for their deeds. During the 

 Great War the Germans made 

 many accusations, more especially 



Xinst the Belgians, of the em- 

 yment of francs -tireurs against 

 their invading armies. 



Franeker. Town of Holland. In 

 the province of Friesland, it is 10 m. 

 W. of Leeuwarden, and is served 

 by both rly. and canal. It has 

 a celebrated school, the successor 

 of the university that flourished 

 here from 1585 to 1811. S. Mar- 

 tin's, a 15th century building, is the 

 chief church. There is a 16th cen- 

 tury town hall and an observatory. 

 The town has small manufactures 

 and a trade in agricultural pro- 

 duce. Pop. 7,642. 



Frangip^ni. Name of a power- 

 ful Roman family. It arose in the 

 llth century, and was conspicuous 

 in the struggles of Guelph and Ghi- 

 belline in the two following cen- 

 turies. Members of it still exist in 

 Italy. Frangipani is also the name 

 of a powerful scent, and of a kind 

 of sweetmeat. 



Frank Almoign. Term of 

 French origin, meaning free alms. 

 It is used for the kind of land 

 tenure by which religious houses 

 and corporations held their lands, 

 and to some extent do so still. 

 The idea behind it is that the 

 land is held on the condition that, 

 instead of military service, religious 

 offices shall be performed. '.This 

 form of tenure is very old, and was 

 not confined to England. There it 

 was largely stopped by the famous 

 Act of 1290, which, forbade any 

 such tenures to be created save 

 by the king. See Land Laws ; Quia 



Emptores ; Tenure ; consult also 

 History of English Law, Pollock 

 and Maitland, 2nd ed. 1898. 



Gilbert Frankau, 

 British author 



9th E. Surrey 



Frankau,GiLBERT(b.l884). Brit- 

 ish author. Born April 21, 1884, the 

 son of Arthur and Julia Frankau, he 

 was educated 

 at Eton and 

 spent some 

 years in busi- 

 ness before 

 turning to 

 literature. He 

 travelled round 

 the world, 1912 

 --14, and in 

 Oct., 1914, re- 

 ceived a com- 

 mission in the 

 regiment. In 



1915 he transferred to the R.F.A., 

 fighting at Loos, Ypres, and on the 

 Somme. He was promoted staff 

 captain for special duty in Italy, 

 Oct., 1916, and in Feb., 1918, was 

 invalided from the army. His pub- 

 lications include One of Us, 1912 ; 

 The Guns, 1916 ; The City of Fear, 

 1917; One of Them, and Peter 

 Jackson, Cigar Merchant, 1919; 

 Life and Erica, 1925. 



Frankau, JULIA. British novel- 

 ist, whowrote under the pseudonym 

 of Frank Danby (q.v.). 



Frankenau, BATTLE OF. Fought 

 between the Germans and the Rus- 

 sians, Aug. 23-24, 1914. While the 

 Russian army of the Niemen, under 

 Rennenkampf, was advancing in 

 Aug., 1914, into East Prussia from 

 the N., the army of the Narev, led 

 by Samsonoff, invaded that prov. 

 from the S. by three routes. One 

 was along the rly. from Warsaw to 

 Mlava and Soldau, on the opposite 

 sides of the frontier ; the second 

 was by way of the rly. from 

 Ossoveitz to Lyck ; and the third 

 lay across country to Lyck, whence 

 Samsonoff struck S. of the Masu- 

 rian Lakes to Johannisberg. 



His advance was rapid. Soldau 

 and Niedenburg were quickly in 

 his hands, and he then captured 

 Allenstein, the headquarters of the 

 20th German Army Corps, which 

 had taken up a strong position be- 

 tween Frankenau and Orlau, N.W. 

 of the Masurian Lakes. Samsonoff 

 attacked it on Aug 23, 1914, and 

 heavy fighting continued all day 

 without a decision. The frontal 

 attacks of the Russians failed, but 

 next day the German line was out- 

 flanked on its right, and this 

 threat, coupled with a determined 

 renewal of the frontal attacks, 

 forced the enemy to retire hurriedly 

 on Osterode. Samsonoff's cavalry 

 advanced N., and came within a 

 few miles of KSnigsberg and also of 

 Rennenkampf's troops, seeming to 

 promise an early occupation of E. 

 Prussia. See Tannenberg, Battle of. 



Frankenberg. Town of Ger- 

 many, in Saxony. It stands on the 

 Zschopau, an affluent of the Mulde, 

 32 m. S.W. of Dresden. It is a 

 manufacturing centre, and among 

 its products are cotton, woollens, 

 and silk-stuffs. Its dyeworks, of 

 more than local renown, languished 

 somewhat in the 20th century. 

 Pop. 13,576. 



Frankenhausen. Town of Ger- 

 many, in Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt 

 (Thuringia). It stands on a branch 

 of the Wipper at the foot of the 

 Schlachtberg, 27 m. N. of Erfurt. 

 It has extensive natural deposits 

 and salt springs celebrated for 

 the cure of rheumatic complaints, 

 which are employed locally for 

 thermal baths and exported for 

 use as the basis of laxative salts. 

 The buildings include a palace and 

 a large secondary school. There 

 is a local market for undressed 

 wool, and several dye and glue 

 works. Near here the rebellious 

 peasants under Miinzer \*ere de- 

 feated in one of the last battles of 

 the Peasants' War (1525). A cave 

 in which Barbarossa, surrounded 

 by his warriors, is said to sleep, is in 

 the neighbourhood. Pop. 6,600. 



Frankeniaceae. Small natural 

 order of herbs and small shrubs. 

 Natives of temperate and warm 

 regions, they are chiefly seashore 

 plants. They bave jointed bran- 

 ches, small, opposite leaves, and 

 small, solitary, regular flowers. 

 The familiar sea heath (Frankenia 

 laevis) of salt-marshes is a type 

 of the order. 



Frankenstein. Novel by Mary 

 Wollstonecraft Shelley, first pub- 

 lished anonymously in 1818, with 

 the title Frankenstein, or the Mod- 

 ern Prometheus. It is the story of 

 a man who succeeds in making a 

 monster, and giving it life, and of 

 the awful consequences. Franken- 

 stein is the name of the man, not of 

 the monster he creates. 



Frankenthal. Town of Ger- 

 many, in Bavaria. It stands on the 

 Isenach, 7 m. S.W. of Worms. It 

 received a charter of township in 

 1577. It has a communication by 

 canal with the Rhine, 3i m. distant. 

 The place is distinguished by the 

 width and regularity of its streets 

 and its imposing public buildings, 

 which include a handsome town 

 hall. It has a considerable trade 

 in wine and paper, linen and iron 

 are manufactured, and its light beer 

 is famous. Ironfounding and the 

 manufacture of machinery, boilers, 

 and toys are carried on. Pop. 18,779. 



Frankenwald. North-western 

 group of the Fichtelgebirge Mts. in 

 Bavaria, situated between the 

 rivers Saale and Main. The highest 

 peak is the Dobraberg (2,605 ft.). 

 See Fichtelgebirge. 



