FRANKFORT-ON-ODER 



3316 



FRANKINCENSE 



dating from the 14th century. On 

 it are the mill, a statue of Charle- 

 magne, and a crucifix crowned with 

 a cock. The memorials include a 

 fine one to Gutenberg and the early 

 printers on the Rossmarkt, one 

 to the Hessians who fell round 

 the city in Dec., 1792, and one 

 to Goethe on the Goethe Platz. 

 The city has a zoological garden, 

 and of its public grounds the finest 

 is the palm garden. On the Rom- 

 erberg is the Justitia Fountain 

 dating from 1543 and restored in 

 1887. The Eschenheimer Tor, a 

 gateway with a tower, is one of the 

 few remains of the fortifications. 



For centuries Frankfort has been 

 a great commercial centre. It is 

 now served by a network of railway 

 lines, while the river adds to its 

 facilities for transport. It has al- 

 ways been noted as a banking 

 centre, while some of the earliest 

 printing was done here. Two great 

 fairs are held every year. Clothing, 

 soap, chemicals, glass, leather, ma- 

 chinery, fancy goods, and other 

 articles are manufactured in large 

 quantities. There is a large trade in 

 leather and other articles. News- 

 papers include the influential 

 Frankfurter Zeitung. 



Frankfort, the ford of the Franks, 

 was a Roman and afterwards a 

 Franki sh settlement. Charlemagne 

 and his successors, notably Louis 

 the German, resided here and called 

 here many of their diets. From the 

 12th century the German kings 

 were elected here, and the Golden 

 Bull of 1356 declared it to be the 

 regular place for such elections. By 

 this time it had taken a place 

 among the free cities, and in the 

 Reformation period the wealth and 

 independence of the citizens were 

 abundantly manifest. 



The free city accepted the re- 

 formed teaching, joined the league 

 of Schmalkalden, and was besieged 

 by the forces of the emperor Charles 

 V. The Swedes held it for a time 

 during the Civil War. In 1806 

 Napoleon put an end to the privi- 

 leges of the free city, but at the 

 settlement of 1815 these were re- 

 stored. It was the capital of a 

 grand duchy (1810-14), the meeting 



?lace of the national parliament of 

 848, and the seat of the diet of the 

 German Confederation. In 1866 

 Frankfort fought on the side of 

 Austria, and as the penalty of de- 

 feat was incorporated in the king- 

 dom of Prussia. v A university was 

 founded here in 1914. Frankfort 

 was several times bombed during 

 the Great War and after its con- 

 clusion was occupied by the French 

 April-May, 1920, during the tem- 

 porary invasion of the Ruhr area 

 by the German military party. 

 They evacuated it, however, on 



May 17, as soon as the number of 

 German troops in the district had 

 been reduced to that laid down by 

 the treaty of Versailles. 



Frankfort- on- Oder. Town of 

 Germany, in the Prussian prov. of 

 Brandenburg. It stands on the 

 left bank of the Oder, with the 

 suburb of Damm on the right. 

 It is about 50 m. E. of Berlin. Of 

 its old buildings the chief are the 

 13th century church dedicated to 

 S. Mary, and the town hall. Its 

 numerous more recent buildings 

 give it the appearance of a modern 

 city. Frankfort has manufactures of 

 machinery, chemicals, etc., but its 

 prosperity is chiefly due to its trade. 

 It is a port on the Oder, and also a 

 big rly. junction ; Frankfort was 

 settled by merchants from Fran- 

 conia in the 13th century. It was 

 then part of the electorate of 

 Brandenburg, and for a time was a 

 member of the Hanseatic League. 

 Its situation has brought many 

 sieges and sufferings upon it, and 

 made it an important military 

 centre before the Great War. From 

 1506 to 1811 there was a university 

 here. Pop. 68,230. 



Frankfort Parliament. Meet- 

 ing of representatives of the Ger- 

 man people at Frankfort-on-Main 

 in 1848. In that year there was 

 general unrest in Europe, and the 

 idea of a closer union of the various 

 German-speaking peoples was gain- 

 ing strength. Certain prominent 

 Germans met at Heidelberg and in- 

 vited past and present members of 

 the various diets and other impor- 

 tant personages to meet at Frank- 

 fort. About 500 responded and 

 made arrangements for calling an 

 assembly that should be truly 

 national and representative. It 

 was agreed that each 50,000 per- 

 sons should send one member 

 chosen by universal suffrage. The 

 diet of the German Confederation 

 gave its assent, and, although the 

 various governments were more or 

 less hostile, the elections went 

 through. 



The parliament met on May 18, 

 and after much discussion decided 

 that for the present united Ger- 

 many should be ruled by a regent 

 who should choose his own mini- 

 sters. The archduke John of 

 Austria was elected to this office, 

 and then the assembly began to 

 discuss the fundamental laws of 

 the proposed empire. Meanwhile 

 Prussia and Denmark had come to 

 blows ; the parliament ordered the 

 Prussians to withdraw from Sles- 

 vig, but had no power to enforce 

 this decree. The quarrel became 

 so acute that civil war broke out 

 in the streets and further meetings 

 were only possible owing to the pro- 

 tection given by Prussian soldiers. 



Discredited but not yet de- 

 stroyed, the parliament decided on 

 the fundamental laws and then 

 turned to constitutional matters. 

 Here trouble arose over theposition 

 of Austria, with its large non- 

 German population. The majority 

 were against admitting them to the 

 new union, but Austria protested, 

 and an alternative proposal was 

 accepted that the whole of the 

 Austrian empire should be excluded 

 and its relations to the rest of Ger- 

 many specially regulated. Austria 

 again protested, but this time in 

 vain, for the idea found strong sup- 

 port in Prussia. Eventually it was 

 decided to offer the crown to a 

 German prince, who should be 

 called German emperor. Austria 

 and Bavaria objected, but the 

 counter plan of an imperial vicar, 

 an Austrian and a Prussian to fill 

 the place alternatively, was re- 

 jected, and the majority chose 

 Frederick William IV of Prussia 

 as head of united Germany, the 

 honour to be hereditary in his 

 house. Realizing the strong op- 

 position, he refused it. 



The parliament, however, strug- 

 gled on and tried to work the new 

 constitution, although Prussia, fol- 

 lowing the example of Austria, 

 soon withdrew her representatives. 

 Many others resigned in May, 

 1849, and the few that remained 

 went to sit at Stuttgart until they 

 were ejected, June 18, 1849. The 

 idea of a united Germany failed 

 owing to the impossibility of ad- 

 justing the rival claims of Austria 

 and Prussia, a knot cut by the war 

 of 1866. See Germany : History. 



Frankfurter Zeitung (Frank- 

 fort Gazette). Founded in 1856 as 

 the Frankfurter Handelszeitung 

 (Trade Gazette) by Leopold Sonne- 

 mann, it became the first paper in 

 the German empire in authority 

 and influence, the leading financial 

 organ, and on foreign affairs a 

 mouthpiece of the foreign office in 

 Berlin. 



Frankincense (old Fr. franc en- 

 cens, true incense). Fragrant gum 

 exuded from several trees of the 

 genus Boswellia. It is abundant on 

 the Somali coast and in South 

 Arabia. A cut is made in the tree 

 trunk, and the weeping resin co- 

 agulates in breast-shaped globules 

 which are scraped off and shipped 

 to Bombay. Here the commodity 

 is graded and re-exported to the 

 various markets. 



The ceremonial religious use of 

 frankincense is of great antiquity, 

 having been practised by the 

 Egyptians, Persians, Babylonians, 

 and Assyrians; by the Jews as a 

 constituent of the incense of the 

 sanctuary (Ex. xxx, 34), and by 

 the Greeks and Romans. It was 



