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FRANCONIA (Ger. Franken)

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 16 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FRANCONIA (Ger. Franken) , the name of one of the See also:stem-duchies of See also:medieval See also:Germany. It stretched along the valley of the See also:Main from the See also:Rhine to Bohemia, and was bounded on the See also:north by See also:Saxony and Thuringia, and on the See also:south by See also:Swabia and See also:Bavaria. It also included a See also:district around See also:Mainz, See also:Spires and See also:Worms, on the See also:left See also:bank of the Rhine. The word Franconia, first used in a Latin See also:charter of 1053, was applied like the words See also:France, See also:Francia and Franken, to a portion of the See also:land occupied by the See also:Franks. About the See also:close of the 5th See also:century this territory was conquered by See also:Clovis, See also:king of the Salian Franks, was afterwards incorporated with the See also:kingdom of See also:Austrasia, and at a later See also:period came under the See also:rule of See also:Charlemagne. After the treaty of See also:Verdun in 843 it became the centre of the See also:East Frankish or See also:German kingdom, and in theory remained so for a See also:long period, and was for a See also:time the most important of the duchies which arose on the ruins of the Carolingian See also:empire. The land was divided into counties, or gauen, which were ruled by See also:counts, prominent among whom were members of the families of Conradine and See also:Babenberg, by whose feuds it was frequently devastated. See also:Conrad, a member of the former See also:family, who took the See also:title of " See also:duke in Franconia " about the See also:year 900, was chosen German king in 911 as the representative of the foremost of the German races. Conrad handed over the See also:chief authority in Franconia to his See also:brother See also:Eberhard, who remained on See also:good terms with Conrad's successor See also:Henry I. the See also:Fowler, but See also:rose against the succeeding king, See also:Otto the See also:Great, and was killed in See also:battle in 939, when his territories were divided. The See also:influence of Franconia began to decline under the See also:kings of" the Saxon See also:house. It lacked See also:political unity, had no opportunities for See also: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 See also:

head of which See also:early in the loth century was Conrad the Red, duke of See also:Lorraine, and son-in-See also:law of Otto the Great. This Conrad, his son Otto and his See also:grandson Conrad are sometimes called See also:dukes of Franconia; and in 1024 his great-grandson Conrad, also duke of Franconia, was elected German king as Conrad II. and founded the See also:line of Franconian or Salian emperors. Rhenish Franconia gradually became a land of See also:free towns and lesser nobles, and under the earlier Franconianemperors sections passed to the See also:count See also:palatine of the Rhine, the See also:archbishop of Mainz, the bishops of Worms and Spires and' other clerical and See also: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 See also:series of charters dating from 822 to 1025 had granted considerable See also:powers to the bishops of See also:Wurzburg, who, by the time of the See also: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 See also:nephew Conrad of See also:Hohenstaufen as duke of Franconia. Conrad's son See also:Frederick took the title of duke of Rothenburg instead of duke of Franconia, but in 1196, on the See also:death of Conrad of Hohenstaufen, son of the emperor Frederick I., the title See also:fell into disuse. Meanwhile the See also:bishop of Wurzburg had regained his former See also:power in the duchy, and this was confirmed in 1168 by the emperor Frederick I. The title remained in See also:abeyance until the early years of the 15th century, when it was assumed by See also:John II., bishop of Wurzburg, and retained by his successors until the bishopric was secularized in 1802. The greater See also:part of the lands were See also:united with Bavaria, and the name Franconia again fell into abeyance.

It was revived in 1837, when See also:

Louis I., king of Bavaria, gave to three See also:northern portions of his kingdom the names of Upper, See also:Middle and See also:Lower Franconia. In 1633 Bernhard, duke of See also:Saxe-See also: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 See also:Nordlingen in 1634. When Germany was divided into circles by the emperor See also: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 See also:Wurttemberg, the See also:grand-duchies of See also:Baden and See also:Hesse, and the Prussian See also:province of Hesse-See also:Nassau. See J. G. ab See also:Eckhart, See also:Commentarii de See also:rebus Franciae orientalis et episcopalus Wirceburgensis (Wurzburg, 1729); F. See also:Stein, Geschichte Frankens (See also:Schweinfurt, 1885–1886); T. See also:Henner, See also:Die herzogliche Gewalt der Bischofe von Wurzburg (Wurzburg, 1874). FRANCS-ARCHERS. The institution of the francs-archers was the first See also:attempt at the formation of See also:regular See also:infantry in France. They were created by the See also:ordinance of Montils-See also:les-See also:Tours on the 28th of See also:August 1448, which prescribed that in each See also:parish an See also:archer should be chosen from among the most See also:apt in the use of arms; this archer to be exempt from the faille and certain obligations, to practise See also:shooting with the See also:bow on Sundays and feast-days, and to hold himself ready to See also:march fully equipped at the first See also:signal. Under See also:Charles VII. the francs-archers distinguished themselves in numerous battles with the See also: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-tau pins. See See also:

Daniel, Histoire de la milice francaise (1721) ; and E. Boutaric, Institutions militaires de la France avant lesarmees permanentes (1863). FRANCS-TIREURS (" Free-Shooters "), irregular troops, almost exclusively infantry, employed by the See also:French in the See also:war of 187o-1871. They were originally See also:rifle clubs or unofficial military See also:societies formed in the east of France at the time of the See also:Luxemburg crisis of 1867. The members were chiefly concerned with the practice of rifle-shooting, and were expected in war to See also:act as See also:light troops. As under the then See also:system of See also:conscription the greater part of the nation's military See also:energy was allowed to run to See also:waste, the francs-tireurs were not only popular, but efficient workers in their See also:sphere of See also:action. As they wore no See also:uniforms, were armed with the best existing rifles and elected their own See also:officers, the See also: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 See also:internal See also: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 See also:penalty. In See also:July 187o, at the outbreak of the war, the societies were brought under the See also:control of the See also:minister of war and organized for See also:field service, but it was not until the 4th of November—by which time the See also: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 See also:mass of the armies, but more usually they continued to See also: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 See also:

mischief, they paralysed large detachments of the enemy, contested every step of his advance (as in the See also:Loire See also:campaign), and prevented him from gaining See also:information, and that their soldierly qualities inproved with experience. Their most celebrated feats were the blowing up of the Moselle railway See also:bridge at See also:Fontenoy on the 22nd of See also:January 1871 (see Les Chasseurs See also:des See also:Vosges by Lieut.-See also:Colonel St See also:Etienne, See also:Toul, 1906), and the heroic See also:defence of See also:Chateaudun by Lipowski's See also:Paris See also:corps and the francs-tireurs of See also:Cannes and See also:Nantes (See also:October 18, 1870). It cannot be denied that the See also:original members of the rifle clubs were joined by many See also:bad characters, but the patriotism of the See also:majority was unquestionable, for little See also:mercy was shown by the Germans to those francs-tireurs who fell into their hands. The severity of the German See also: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 See also:rear of the invaders.

End of Article: FRANCONIA (Ger. Franken)

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