Chapter 18

Frischlin’s prolific and versatile genius produced a great variety of works, which entitle him to some rank both among poets and among scholars. In his Latin verse he often successfully imitated the classical models; his comedies are not without freshness and vivacity; and some of his versions and commentaries, particularly those on theGeorgicsandBucolicsof Virgil, though now well-nigh forgotten, were important contributions to the scholarship of his time. There is no collected edition of his works, but hisOpera poëticawere published twelve times between 1535 and 1636. Among those most widely known may be mentioned theHebraeis(1590), a Latin epic based on the Scripture history of the Jews; theElegiaca(1601), his collected lyric poetry, in twenty-two books; theOpera scenica(1604) consisting of six comedies and two tragedies (among the former,Julius Caesar redivivus, completed 1584); theGrammatica Latina(1585); the versions of Callimachus and Aristophanes; and the commentaries on Persius and Virgil. See the monograph of D. F. Strauss (Leben und Schriften des Dichters und Philologen Frischlin, 1856).

FRISI, PAOLO(1728-1784), Italian mathematician and astronomer, was born at Milan on the 13th of April 1728. He was educated at the Barnabite monastery and afterwards at Padua. When twenty-one years of age he composed a treatise on the figure of the earth, and the reputation which he soon acquired led to his appointment by the king of Sardinia to the professorship of philosophy in the college of Casale. His friendship with Radicati, a man of liberal opinions, occasioned Frisi’s removal by his clerical superiors to Novara, where he was compelled to do duty as a preacher. In 1753 he was elected a corresponding member of the Paris Academy of Sciences, and shortly afterwards he became professor of philosophy in the Barnabite College of St Alexander at Milan. An acrimonious attack by a young Jesuit, about this time, upon his dissertation on the figure of the earth laid the foundation of his animosity against the Jesuits, with whose enemies, including J. d’Alembert, J. A. N. Condorcet and other Encyclopedists, he later closely associated himself. In 1756 he was appointed by Leopold, grand-duke of Tuscany, to the professorship of mathematics in the university of Pisa, a post which he held for eight years. In 1757 he became an associate of the Imperial Academy of St Petersburg, and a foreign member of the Royal Society of London, and in 1758 a member of the Academy of Berlin, in 1766 of that of Stockholm, and in 1770 of the Academies of Copenhagen and of Bern. From several European crowned heads he received, at various times, marks of special distinction, and the empress Maria Theresa granted him a yearly pension of 100 sequins (£50). In 1764 he was created professor of mathematics in the palatine schools at Milan, and obtained from Pope Pius VI. release from ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and authority to become a secular priest. In 1766 he visited France and England, and in 1768 Vienna. In 1777 he became director of a school of architecture at Milan. His knowledge of hydraulicscaused him to be frequently consulted with respect to the management of canals and other watercourses in various parts of Europe. It was through his means that lightning-conductors were first introduced into Italy for the protection of buildings. He died on the 22nd of November 1784.

His publications include:—Disquisitio mathematica in causam physicam figurae et magnitudinis terrae(Milan, 1751);Saggio della morale filosofia(Lugano, 1753);Nova electricitatis theoria(Milan, 1755);Dissertatio de motu diurno terrae(Pisa, 1758);Dissertationes variae(2 vols. 4to, Lucca, 1759, 1761);Del modo di regolare i fiumi e i torrenti(Lucca, 1762);Cosmographia physica et mathematica(Milan, 1774, 1775, 2 vols. 4to, his chief work);Dell’ architettura, statica e idraulica(Milan, 1777); and other treatises.See Verri,Memorie ... del signor dom Paolo Frisi(Milan, 1787), 4to; Fabbroni, “Elogi d’ illustri Italiani,”Atti di Milano, vol. ii.; J. C. Poggendorff,Biograph. litterar. Handwörterbuch, vol. i.

See Verri,Memorie ... del signor dom Paolo Frisi(Milan, 1787), 4to; Fabbroni, “Elogi d’ illustri Italiani,”Atti di Milano, vol. ii.; J. C. Poggendorff,Biograph. litterar. Handwörterbuch, vol. i.

FRISIAN ISLANDS,a chain of islands, lying from 3 to 20 m. from the mainland, and stretching from the Zuider Zee E. and N. as far as Jutland, along the coasts of Holland and Germany. They are divided into three groups:—(1) The West Frisian, (2) the East Frisian, and (3) the North Frisian.

The chain of the Frisian Islands marks the outer fringe of the former continental coast-line, and is separated from the mainland by shallows, known as Wadden or Watten, answering to themaria vadosaof the Romans. Notwithstanding the protection afforded by sand-dunes and earthen embankments backed by stones and timber, the Frisian Islands are slowly but surely crumbling away under the persistent attacks of storm and flood, and the old Frisian proverb “de nich will diken mut wiken” (“who will not build dikes must go away”) still holds good. Many of the Frisian legends and folk-songs deal with the submerged villages and hamlets, which lie buried beneath the treacherous waters of the Wadden. Heinrich Heine made use of these legends in hisNordseebilder, composed during a visit to Norderney in 1825. The Prussian and Dutch governments annually expend large sums for the protection of the islands, and in some cases the erosion on the seaward side is counterbalanced by the accretion of land on the inner side, fine sandy beaches being formed well suited for sea-bathing, whichattractmany visitors in summer. The inhabitants of these islands support themselves by seafaring, pilotage, grazing of cattle and sheep, fishing and a little agriculture, chiefly potato-growing.

The islands, though well lighted, are dangerous to navigation, and a glance at a wreck chart will show the entire chain to be densely dotted. One of the most remarkable disasters was the loss of H.M.S. “La Lutine,” 32 guns, which was wrecked off Vlieland in October 1799, only one hand being saved, who died before reaching England. “La Lutine,” which had been captured from the French by Admiral Duncan, was carrying a large quantity of bullion and specie, which was underwritten at Lloyd’s. The Dutch government claimed the wreck and granted one-third of the salvage to bullion-fishers. Occasional recoveries were made of small quantities which led to repeated disputes and discussions, until eventually the king of the Netherlands ceded to Great Britain, for Lloyd’s, half the remainder of the wreck. A Dutch salvage company, which began operations in August 1857, recovered £99,893 in the course of two years, but it was estimated that some £1,175,000 are still unaccounted for. The ship’s rudder, which was recovered in 1859, has been fashioned into a chair and a table, now in the possession of Lloyd’s.

The West Frisian Islands belong to the kingdom of the Netherlands, and embrace Texel or Tessel (71 sq. m.), Vlieland (19 sq. m.), Terschelling (41 sq. m.), Ameland (23 sq. m.), Schiermonnikoog (19 sq. m.), as well as the much smallerWest Frisian.islands of Boschplaat and Rottum, which are practically uninhabited. The northern end of Texel is called Eierland, or “island of eggs,” in reference to the large number of sea-birds’ eggs which are found there. It was joined to Texel by a sand-dike in 1629-1630, and is now undistinguishable from the main island. Texel was already separated from the mainland in the 8th century, but remained a Frisian province and countship, which once extended as far as Alkmaar in North Holland, until it came into the possession of the counts of Holland. The island was occupied by British troops from August to December 1799. The village of Oude Schild has a harbour. The island of Terschelling once formed a separate lordship, but was sold to the states of Holland. The principal village of West-Terschelling has a harbour. As early as the beginning of the 9th century Ameland was a lordship of the influential family of Cammingha who held immediately of the emperor, and in recognition of their independence the Amelanders were in 1369 declared to be neutral in the fighting between Holland and Friesland, while Cromwell made the same declaration in 1654 with respect to the war between England and the United Netherlands. The castle of the Camminghas in the village of Ballum remained standing till 1810, and finally disappeared in 1829 after four centuries. This island is joined to the mainland of Friesland by a stone dike constructed in 1873 for the purpose of promoting the deposit of mud. The island of Schiermonnikoog has a village and a lighthouse. Rottum was once the property of the ancient abbey at Rottum, 8 m. N. of Groningen, of which there are slight remains.

With the exception of Wangeroog, which belongs to the grand duchy of Oldenburg, the East Frisian Islands belong to Prussia. They comprise Borkum (12½ sq. m.), with two lighthouses and connected by steamer with Emden andEast Frisian.Leer; Memmert; Juist (2¼ sq. m.), with two lifeboat stations, and connected by steamer with Norddeich and Greetsiel; Norderney (5½ sq. m.); Baltrum, with a lifeboat station; Langeoog (8 sq. m.), connected by steamer with the adjacent islands, and with Bensersiel on the mainland; Spiekeroog (4 sq. m.), with a tramway for conveyance to the bathing beach, and connected by steamer with Carolinenziel; and Wangeroog (2 sq. m.), with a lighthouse and lifeboat station. All these islands are visited for sea-bathing. In the beginning of the 18th century Wangeroog comprised eight times its present area. Borkum and Juist are two surviving fragments of the original island of Borkum (computed at 380 sq. m.), known to Drusus asFabaria, and to Pliny asBurchana, which was rent asunder by the sea in 1170. Neuwerk and Scharhörn, situated off the mouth of the Elbe, are islands belonging to the state of Hamburg. Neuwerk, containing some marshland protected by dikes, has two lighthouses and a lifeboat station. At low water it can be reached from Duhnen by carriage.

About the year 1250 the area of the North Frisian Islands was estimated at 1065 sq. m.; by 1850 this had diminished to only 105 sq. m. This group embraces the islands of Nordstrand (17¼ sq. m.), which up to 1634 formed oneNorth Frisian.larger island with the adjoining Pohnshallig and Nordstrandisch-Moor; Pellworm (16¼ sq. m.), protected by a circle of dikes and connected by steamer with Husum on the mainland; Amrum (10½ sq. m.); Föhr (32 sq. m.); Sylt (38 sq. m.); Röm (16 sq. m.), with several villages, the principal of which is Kirkeby; Fanö (21 sq. m.); and Heligoland (¼ sq. m.). With the exception of Fanö, which is Danish, all these islands belong to Prussia. In the North Frisian group there are also several smaller islands called Halligen. These rise generally only a few feet above the level of the sea, and are crowned by a single house standing on an artificial mound and protected by a surrounding dike or embankment.

Bibliography.—Staring,De Bodem van Nederland(1856); Blink,Nederland en zijne Bewoners(1892); P. H. Witkamp,Aardrijkskundig Woordenboek van Nederland(1895); P. W. J. Teding van Berkhout,De Landaanwinning op de Friesche Wadden(1869); J. de Vries and T. Focken,Ostfriesland(1881); Dr D. F. Buitenrust Hettema,Fryske Bybleteek(Utrecht, 1895); Dr Eugen Traeger,Die Halligen der Nordsee(Stuttgart, 1892); alsoGlobus, vol. lxxviii. (1900), No. 15; P. Axelsen, inDeut. Rundschau für Geog. u. Statistik(1898); Christian Jensen,Vom Dünenstrand der Nordsee und vom Wattenmeer(Schleswig, 1901), which contains a bibliography;Osterloh, Wangeroog und sein Seebad(Emden, 1884); Zwickert,Führer durch das Nordseebad Wangeroog(Oldenburg, 1894); Nellner,Die Nordseeinsel Spickeroog(Emden, 1884); Tongers,Die Nordseeinsel Langeoog(2nd ed., Norden, 1892); Meier,Die Nordseeinsel Borkum(10th ed., Emden, 1894); Herquet,Die Insel Borkum, &c. (Emden, 1886); Scherz,Die Nordseeinsel Juist(2nd ed., Norden, 1893); von Bertouch,Vor 40 Jahren: Natur und Kultur auf der Insel Nordstrand(Weimar, 1891); W. G. Black,Heligoland and the Islands of the North Sea(Glasgow, 1888).

FRISIANS(Lat.Frisii; in Med. Lat.Frisones,Frisiones,Fresones; in their own tongueFrêsa,Frêsen), a people of Teutonic (Low-German) stock, who in the first century of our era were found by the Romans in occupation of the coast lands stretching from the mouth of the Scheldt to that of the Ems. They were nearly related both by speech and blood to the Saxons and Angles, and other Low German tribes, who lived to the east of the Ems and in Holstein and Schleswig. The first historical notices of the Frisians are found in theAnnalsof Tacitus. They were rendered (or a portion of them) tributary by Drusus, and becamesociiof the Roman people. InA.D.28 the exactions of a Roman official drove them to revolt, and their subjection was henceforth nominal. They submitted again to Cn. Domitius Corbulo in the year 47, but shortly afterwards the emperor Claudius ordered the withdrawal of all Roman troops to the left bank of the Rhine. In 58 they attempted unsuccessfully to appropriate certain districts between the Rhine and the Yssel, and in 70 they took part in the campaign of Claudius Civilis. From this time onwards their name practically disappears. As regards their geographical position Ptolemy states that they inhabited the coast above the Bructeri as far as the Ems, while Tacitus speaks of them as adjacent to the Rhine. But there is some reason for believing that the part of Holland which lies to the west of the Zuider Zee was at first inhabited by a different people, the Canninefates, a sister tribe to the Batavi. A trace of this people is perhaps preserved in the name Kennemerland or Kinnehem, formerly applied to the same district. Possibly, therefore, Tacitus’s statement holds good only for the period subsequent to the revolt of Civilis, when we hear of the Canninefates for the last time.

In connexion with the movements of the migration period the Frisians are hardly ever mentioned, though some of them are said to have surrendered to the Roman prince Constantius about the year 293. On the other hand we hear very frequently of Saxons in the coast regions of the Netherlands. Since the Saxons (Old Saxons) of later times were an inland people, one can hardly help suspecting either that the two nations have been confused or, what is more probable, that a considerable mixture of population, whether by conquest or otherwise, had taken place. Procopius (Goth.iv. 20) speaks of the Frisians as one of the nations which inhabited Britain in his day, but we have no evidence from other sources to bear out his statement. In Anglo-Saxon poetry mention is frequently made of a Frisian king named Finn, the son of Folcwalda, who came into conflict with a certain Hnaef, a vassal of the Danish king Healfdene, about the middle of the 5th century. Hnaef was killed, but his followers subsequently slew Finn in revenge. The incident is obscure in many respects, but it is perhaps worth noting that Hnaef’s chief follower, Hengest, may quite possibly be identical with the founder of the Kentish dynasty. About the year 520 the Frisians are said to have joined the Frankish prince Theodberht in destroying a piratical expedition which had sailed up the Rhine under Chocilaicus (Hygelac), king of the Götar. Towards the close of the century they begin to figure much more prominently in Frankish writings. There is no doubt that by this time their territories had been greatly extended in both directions. Probably some Frisians took part with the Angles and Saxons in their sea-roving expeditions, and assisted their neighbours in their invasions and subsequent conquest of England and the Scottish lowlands.

The rise of the power of the Franks and the advance of their dominion northwards brought on a collision with the Frisians, who in the 7th century were still in possession of the whole of the seacoast, and apparently ruled over the greater part of modern Flanders. Under the protection of the Frankish king Dagobert (622-638), the Christian missionaries Amandus (St Amand) and Eligius (St Eloi) attempted the conversion of these Flemish Frisians, and their efforts were attended with a certain measure of success; but farther north the building of a church by Dagobert at Trajectum (Utrecht) at once aroused the fierce hostility of the heathen tribesmen of the Zuider Zee. The “free” Frisians could not endure this Frankish outpost on their borders. Utrecht was attacked and captured, and the church destroyed. The first missionary to meet with any success among the Frisians was the Englishman Wilfrid of York, who, being driven by a storm upon the coast, was hospitably received by the king, Adgild or Adgisl, and was allowed to preach Christianity in the land. Adgild appears to have admitted the overlordship of the Frankish king, Dagobert II. (675). Under his successor, however, Radbod (Frisian Rêdbâd), an attempt was made to extirpate Christianity and to free the Frisians from the Frankish subjection. He was, however, beaten by Pippin of Heristal in the battle of Dorstadt (689), and was compelled to cede West Frisia (Frisia citerior) from the Scheldt to the Zuider Zee to the conqueror. On Pippin’s death Radbod again attacked the Franks and advanced as far as Cologne, where he defeated Charles Martel, Pippin’s natural son. Eventually, however, Charles prevailed and compelled the Frisians to submit. Radbod died in 719, but for some years his successors struggled against the Frankish power. A final defeat was, however, inflicted upon them by Charles Martel in 734, which secured the supremacy of the Franks in the north, though it was not until the days of Charles the Great (785) that the subjection of the Frisians was completed. Meanwhile Christianity had been making its conquests in the land, mainly through the lifelong labours and preaching of the Englishman Willibrord, who came to Frisia in 692 and made Utrecht his headquarters. He was consecrated (695) at Rome archbishop of the Frisians, and on his return founded a number of bishoprics in the northern Netherlands, and continued his labours unremittingly until his death in 739. It is an interesting fact that both Wilfrid and Willibrord appear to have found no difficulty from the first in preaching to the Frisians in their native dialect, which was so nearly allied to their own Anglo-Saxon tongue. The see of Utrecht founded by Willibrord has remained the chief see of the Northern Netherlands from his day to our own. Friesland was likewise the scene of a portion of the missionary labours of a greater than Willibrord, the famous Boniface, the Apostle of the Germans, also an Englishman. It was at Dokkum in Friesland that he met a martyr’s death (754).

Charles the Great granted the Frisians important privileges under a code known as theLex Frisionum, based upon the ancient laws of the country. They received the title of freemen and were allowed to choose their ownpodestator imperial governor. In theLex Frisionumthree districts are clearly distinguished: West Frisia from the Zwin to the Flie; Middle Frisia from the Flie to the Lauwers; East Frisia from the Lauwers to the Weser. At the partition treaty of Verdun (843) Frisia became part of Lotharingia or Lorraine; at the treaty of Mersen (870) it was divided between the kingdoms of the East Franks (Austrasia) and the West Franks (Westrasia); in 880 the whole country was united to Austrasia; in 911 it fell under the dominion of Charles the Simple, king of the West Franks, but the districts of East Frisia asserted their independence and for a long time governed themselves after a very simple democratic fashion. The history of West Frisia gradually loses itself in that of the countship of Holland and the see of Utrecht (seeHollandandUtrecht).

The influence of the Frisians during the interval between the invasion of Britain and the loss of their independence must have been greater than is generally recognized. They were a seafaring people and engaged largely in trade, especially perhaps the slave trade, their chief emporium being Wyk te Duurstede. During the period in question there is considerable archaeological evidence for intercourse between the west coast of Norway and the regions south of the North Sea, and it is worth noting that this seems to have come to an end early in the 9th century. Probably it is no mere accident that the first appearance, or rather reappearance, of Scandinavian pirates in the west took place shortly after the overthrow of the Frisians. Since Radbod’s dominions extended from Duerstede to Heligoland his power must have been by no means inconsiderable.

Besides the Frisians discussed above there is a people called North Frisians, who inhabit the west coast of Schleswig. At present a Frisian dialect is spoken only between Tondern andHusum, but formerly it extended farther both to the north and south. In historical times these North Frisians were subjects of the Danish kingdom and not connected in any way with the Frisians of the empire. They are first mentioned by Saxo Grammaticus in connexion with the exile of Knud V. Saxo recognized that they were of Frisian origin, but did not know when they had first settled in this region. Various opinions are still held with regard to the question; but it seems not unlikely that the original settlers were Frisians who had been expelled by the Franks in the 8th century. Whether the North Frisian language is entirely of Frisian origin is somewhat doubtful owing to the close relationship which Frisian bears to English. The inhabitants of the neighbouring islands, Sylt, Amrum and Föhr, who speak a kindred dialect, have apparently never regarded themselves as Frisians, and it is the view of many scholars that they are the direct descendants of the ancient Saxons.

In 1248 William of Holland, having become emperor, restored to the Frisians in his countship their ancient liberties in reward for the assistance they had rendered him in the siege of Aachen; but in 1254 they revolted, and William lost his life in the contest which ensued. After many struggles West Friesland became completely subdued, and was henceforth virtually absorbed in the county of Holland. But the Frieslanders east of the Zuider Zee obstinately resisted repeated attempts to bring them into subjection. In the course of the 14th century the country was in a state of anarchy; petty lordships sprang into existence, the interests of the common weal were forgotten or disregarded, and the people began to be split up into factions, and these were continually carrying on petty warfare with one another. Thus the Fetkoopers (Fatmongers) of Oostergoo had endless feuds with the Schieringers (Eelfishers) of Westergoo.

This state of affairs favoured the attempts of the counts of Holland to push their conquests eastward, but the main body of the Frisians was still independent when the countship of Holland passed into the hands of Philip the Good of Burgundy. Philip laid claim to the whole country, but the people appealed to the protection of the empire, and Frederick III., in August 1457, recognized their direct dependence on the empire and called on Philip to bring forward formal proof of his rights. Philip’s successor, Charles the Bold, summoned an assembly of notables at Enkhuizen in 1469, in order to secure their homage; but the conference was without result, and the duke’s attention was soon absorbed by other and more important affairs. The marriage of Maximilian of Austria with the heiress of Burgundy was to be productive of a change in the fortunes of that part of Frisia which lies between the Vlie and the Lauwers. In 1498 Maximilian reversed the policy of his father Frederick III., and detached this territory, known afterwards as the province of Friesland, from the empire. He gave it as a fief to Albert of Saxony, who thoroughly crushed out all resistance. In 1523 it fell with all the rest of the provinces of the Netherlands under the strong rule of the emperor Charles, the grandson of Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy.

That part of Frisia which lies to the east of the Lauwers had a divided history. The portion which lies between the Lauwers and the Ems after some struggles for independence had, like the rest of the country, to submit itself to Charles. It became ultimately the province of the town and district of Groningen (Stadt en Landen) (seeGroningen). The easternmost part between the Ems and the Weser, which had since 1454 been a county, was ruled by the descendants of Edzard Cirksena, and was attached to the empire. The last of the Cirksenas, Count Charles Edward, died in 1744 and in default of heirs male the king of Prussia took possession of the county.

The province of Friesland was one of the seven provinces which by the treaty known as the Union of Utrecht bound themselves together to resist the tyranny of Spain. From 1579 to 1795 Friesland remained one of the constituent parts of the republic of the United Provinces, but it always jealously insisted on its sovereign rights, especially against the encroachments of the predominant province of Holland. It maintained throughout the whole of the republican period a certain distinctiveness of nationality, which was marked by the preservation of a different dialect and of a separate stadtholder. Count William Lewis of Nassau-Siegen, nephew and son-in-law of William the Silent, was chosen stadtholder, and through all the vicissitudes of the 17th and 18th centuries the stadtholdership was held by one of his descendants. Frederick Henry of Orange was stadtholder of six provinces, but not of Friesland, and even during the stadtholderless periods which followed the deaths of William II. and William III. of Orange the Frisians remained stanch to the family of Nassau-Siegen. Finally, by the revolution of 1748, William of Nassau-Siegen, stadtholder of Friesland (who, by default of heirs male of the elder line, had become William IV., prince of Orange), was made hereditary stadtholder of all the provinces. His grandson in 1815 took the title of William I., king of the Netherlands. The male line of the “Frisian” Nassaus came to an end with the death of King William III. in 1890.

Bibliography—See Tacitus,Ann.iv. 72 f., xi. 19 f., xiii. 54;Hist.iv. 15 f.;Germ.34; Ptolemy,Geogr.ii. 11, § 11; Dio Cassius liv. 32; Eumenius,Paneg.iv. 9; the Anglo-Saxon poems, Finn, Beowulf and Widsith;Fredegarii Chronici continuatioand various German Annals;Gesta regum Francorum; Eddius,Vita Wilfridi, cap. 25 f.; Bede,Hist. Eccles, iv. 22, v. 9 f.; Alcuin,Vita Willebrordi; I. Undset,Aarbger for nordisk Oldkyndighed(1880), p. 89 ff. (cf. E. Mogk in Paul’sGrundriss d. germ. Philologieii. p. 623 ff.); Ubbo Emmius,Rerum Frisicarum historia(Leiden, 1616); Pirius Winsemius,Chronique van Vriesland(Franoker, 1822); C. Scotanus,Beschryvinge end Chronyck van des Heerlickheydt van Frieslandt(1655);Groot Placaat en Charter-boek van Friesland(ed. Baron C. F. zu Schwarzenberg) (5 vols., Leeuwarden, 1768-1793); T. D. Wiarda,Ost-frieschische Gesch.(vols. i.-ix., Aurich, 1791) (vol. x., Bremen, 1817); J. Dirks,Geschiedkundig onderzoek van den Koophandel der Friezen(Utrecht, 1846); O. Klopp,Gesch. Ostfrieslands(3 vols., Hanover, 1854-1858); Hooft van Iddekinge,Friesland en de Friezen in de Middeleeuwen(Leiden, 1881); A. Telting,Het Oudfriesche Stadrecht(The Hague, 1882); P. J. Blok,Friesland im Mittelalter(Leer, 1891).

FRITH(orFryth),JOHN(c.1503-1533), English Reformer and Protestant martyr, was born at Westerham, Kent. He was educated at Eton and King’s College, Cambridge, where Gardiner, afterwards bishop of Winchester, was his tutor. At the invitation of Cardinal Wolsey, after taking his degree he migrated (December 1525) to the newly founded college of St Frideswide or Cardinal College (now Christ Church), Oxford. The sympathetic interest which he showed in the Reformation movement in Germany caused him to be suspected as a heretic, and led to his imprisonment for some months. Subsequently he appears to have resided chiefly at the newly founded Protestant university of Marburg, where he became acquainted with several scholars and reformers of note, especially Patrick Hamilton (q.v.). Frith’s first publication was a translation of Hamilton’sPlaces, made shortly after the martyrdom of its author; and soon afterwards theRevelation of Antichrist, a translation from the German, appeared, along withA Pistle to the Christen Reader, by “Richard Brightwell” (supposed to be Frith), andAn Antithesis wherein are compared togeder Christes Actes and our Holye Father the Popes, dated “at Malborow in the lande of Hesse,” 12th July 1529. HisDisputacyon of Purgatorye, a treatise in three books, against Rastell, Sir T. More and Fisher (bishop of Rochester) respectively, was published at the same place in 1531. While at Marburg, Frith also assisted Tyndale, whose acquaintance he had made at Oxford (or perhaps in London) in his literary labours. In 1532 he ventured back to England, apparently on some business in connexion with the prior of Reading. Warrants for his arrest were almost immediately issued at the instance of Sir T. More, then lord chancellor. Frith ultimately fell into the hands of the authorities at Milton Shore in Essex, as he was on the point of making his escape to Flanders. The rigour of his imprisonment in the Tower was somewhat abated when Sir T. Audley succeeded to the chancellorship, and it was understood that both Cromwell and Cranmer were disposed to show great leniency. But the treacherous circulation of a manuscript “lytle treatise” on the sacraments, which Frith had written for the information of a friend, and without any view to publication, served further to excite thehostility of his enemies. In consequence of a sermon preached before him against the “sacramentaries,” the king ordered that Frith should be examined; he was afterwards tried and found guilty of having denied, with regard to the doctrines of purgatory and of transubstantiation, that they were necessary articles of faith. On the 23rd of June 1533 he was handed over to the secular arm, and at Smithfield on the 4th of July following he was burnt at the stake. During his captivity he wrote, besides several letters of interest, a reply to More’s letter against Frith’s “lytle treatise”; also two tracts entitledA Mirror or Glass to know thyself, andA Mirror or Looking-glass wherein you may behold the Sacrament of Baptism.

Frith is an interesting and so far important figure in English ecclesiastical history as having been the first to maintain and defend that doctrine regarding the sacrament of Christ’s body and blood, which ultimately came to be incorporated in the English communion office. Twenty-three years after Frith’s death as a martyr to the doctrine of that office, that “Christ’s natural body and blood are in Heaven, not here,” Cranmer, who had been one of his judges, went to the stake for the same belief. Within three years more, it had become the publicly professed faith of the entire English nation.

See A. à Wood,Athenae Oxonienses(ed. P. Bliss, 1813), i. p. 74; John Foxe,Acts and Monuments(ed. G. Townshend, 1843-1849), v. pp. 1-16 (also Index); G. Burnet,Hist. of the Reformation of the Church of England(ed. N. Pocock, 1865), i. p. 273; L. Richmond,The Fathers of the English Church, i. (1807);Life and Martyrdom of John Frith(London, 1824), published by the Church of England Tract Society; Deborah Alcock,Six Heroic Men(1906).

FRITH, WILLIAM POWELL(1819-1909), English painter, was born at Aldfield, in Yorkshire, on the 9th of January 1819. His parents moved in 1826 to Harrogate, where his father became landlord of the Dragon Inn, and it was then that the boy began his general education at a school at Knaresborough. Later he went for about two years to a school at St Margaret’s, near Dover, where he was placed specially under the direction of the drawing-master, as a step towards his preparation for the profession which his father had decided on as the one that he wished him to adopt. In 1835 he was entered as a student in the well-known art school kept by Henry Sass in Bloomsbury, from which he passed after two years to the Royal Academy schools. His first independent experience was gained in 1839, when he went about for some months in Lincolnshire executing several commissions for portraits; but he soon began to attempt compositions, and in 1840 his first picture, “Malvolio, cross-gartered before the Countess Olivia,” appeared at the Royal Academy. During the next few years he produced several notable paintings, among them “Squire Thornhill relating his town adventures to the Vicar’s family,” and “The Village Pastor,” which established his reputation as one of the most promising of the younger men of that time. This last work was exhibited in 1845, and in the autumn of that year he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy. His promotion to the rank of Academician followed in 1853, when he was chosen to fill the vacancy caused by Turner’s death. The chief pictures painted by him during his tenure of Associateship were: “An English Merry-making in the Olden Time,” “Old Woman accused of Witchcraft,” “The Coming of Age,” “Sancho and Don Quixote,” “Hogarth before the Governor of Calais,” and the “Scene from Goldsmith’s ’Good-natured Man,’” which was commissioned in 1850 by Mr Sheepshanks, and bequeathed by him to the South Kensington Museum. Then came a succession of large compositions which gained for the artist an extraordinary popularity. “Life at the Seaside,” better known as “Ramsgate Sands,” was exhibited in 1854, and was bought by Queen Victoria; “The Derby Day,” in 1858; “Claude Duval,” in 1860; “The Railway Station,” in 1862; “The Marriage of the Prince of Wales,” painted for Queen Victoria, in 1865; “The Last Sunday of Charles II.,” in 1867; “The Salon d’Or,” in 1871; “The Road to Ruin,” a series, in 1878; a similar series, “The Race for Wealth,” shown at a gallery in King Street, St James’s, in 1880; “The Private View,” in 1883; and “John Knox at Holyrood,” in 1886. Frith also painted a considerable number of portraits of well-known people. In 1889 he became an honorary retired academician. His “Derby Day” is in the National Gallery of British Art. In his youth, in common with the men by whom he was surrounded, he had leanings towards romance, and he scored many successes as a painter of imaginative subjects. In these he proved himself to be possessed of exceptional qualities as a colourist and manipulator, qualities that promised to earn for him a secure place among the best executants of the British School. But in his middle period he chose a fresh direction. Fascinated by the welcome which the public gave to his first attempts to illustrate the life of his own times, he undertook a considerable series of large canvases, in which he commented on the manners and morals of society as he found it. He became a pictorial preacher, a painter who moralized about the everyday incidents of modern existence; and he sacrificed some of his technical variety. There remained, however, a remarkable sense of characterization, and an acute appreciation of dramatic effect. Frith died on the 2nd of November 1909.

Frith published hisAutobiography and Reminiscencesin 1887, andFurther Reminiscencesin 1889.

FRITILLARY(Fritillaria: from Lat.fritillus, a chess-board, so called from the chequered markings on the petals), a genus of hardy bulbous plants of the natural order Liliaceae, containing about 50 species widely distributed in the northern hemisphere. The genus is represented in Britain by the fritillary or snake’s head, which occurs in moist meadows in the southern half of England, especially in Oxfordshire. A much larger plant is the crown imperial (F. imperialis), a native of western Asia and well known in gardens. This grows to a height of about 3 ft., the lower part of the stoutish stem being furnished with leaves, while near the top is developed a crown of large pendant flowers surmounted by a tuft of bright green leaves like those of the lower part of the stem, only smaller. The flowers are bell-shaped, yellow or red, and in some of the forms double. The plant grows freely in good garden soil, preferring a deep well-drained loam, and is all the better for a top-dressing of manure as it approaches the flowering stage. Strong clumps of five or six roots of one kind have a very fine effect. It is a very suitable subject for the back row in mixed flower borders, or for recesses in the front part of shrubbery borders. It flowers in April or early in May. There are a few named varieties, but the most generally grown are the single and double yellow, and the single and double red, the single red having also two variegated varieties, with the leaves striped respectively with white and yellow.

“Fritillary” is also the name of a kind of butterfly.

FRITZLAR,a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Hesse-Cassel, on the left bank of the Eder, 16 m. S.W. from Cassel, on the railway Wabern-Wildungen. Pop. (1905) 3448. It is a prettily situated old-fashioned place, with an Evangelical and two Roman Catholic churches, one of the latter, that of St Peter, a striking medieval edifice. As early as 732 Boniface, the apostle of Germany, established the church of St Peter and a small Benedictine monastery at Frideslar, “the quiet home” or “abode of peace.” Before long the school connected with the monastery became famous, and among its earlier scholars it numbered Sturm, abbot of Fulda, and Megingod, second bishop of Würzburg. When Boniface found himself unable to continue the supervision of the society himself, he entrusted the office to Wigbert of Glastonbury, who thus became the first abbot of Fritzlar. In 774 the little settlement was taken and burnt by the Saxons; but it evidently soon recovered from the blow. For a short time after 786 it was the seat of the bishopric of Buraburg, which had been founded by Boniface in 741. At the diet of Fritzlar in 919 Henry I. was elected German king. In the beginning of the 13th century the village received municipal rights; in 1232 it was captured and burned by the landgrave Conrad of Thuringia and his allies; in 1631 it was taken by William of Hesse; in 1760 it was successfully defended by General Luckner against the French; and in 1761 it was occupied by the French and unsuccessfully bombarded by the Allies. As a principality Fritzlar continued subject to the archbishopricof Mainz till 1802, when it was incorporated with Hesse. From 1807 to 1814 it belonged to the kingdom of Westphalia; and in 1866 passed with Hesse Cassel to Prussia.

FRIULI(in the local dialect,Furlanei), a district at the head of the Adriatic Sea, at present divided between Italy and Austria, the Italian portion being included in the province of Udine and the district of Portogruaro, and the Austrian comprising the province of Görz and Gradiska, and the so-called Idrian district. In the north and east Friuli includes portions of the Julian and Carnic Alps, while the south is an alluvial plain richly watered by the Isonzo, the Tagliamento, and many lesser streams which, although of small volume during the dry season, come down in enormous floods after rain or thaw. The inhabitants, known as Furlanians, are mainly Italians, but they speak a dialect of their own which contains Celtic elements. The area of the country is about 3300 sq. m.; it contains about 700,000 inhabitants.

Friuli derives its name from the Roman town ofForum Julii, orForojulium, the modern Cividale, which is said by Paulus Diaconus to have been founded by Julius Caesar. In the 2nd centuryB.C.the district was subjugated by the Romans, and became part of Gallia Transpadana. During the Roman period, besides Forum Julii, its principal towns were Concordia, Aquileia and Vedinium. On the conquest of the country by the Lombards during the 6th century it was made one of their thirty-six duchies, the capital being Forum Julii or, as they called it, Civitas Austriae. It is needless to repeat the list of dukes of the Lombard line, from Gisulf (d. 611) to Hrothgaud, who fell a victim to his opposition to Charlemagne about 776; their names and exploits may be read in theHistoria Langobardorumof Paulus Diaconus, and they were mainly occupied in struggles with the Avars and other barbarian peoples, and in resisting the pretensions of the Lombard kings. The discovery, however, of Gisulf’s grave at Cividale, in 1874, is an interesting proof of the historian’s authenticity. Charlemagne filled Hrothgaud’s place with one of his own followers, and the frontier position of Friuli gave the new line of counts, dukes or margraves (for they are variously designated) the opportunity of acquiring importance by exploits against the Bulgarians, Slovenians and other hostile peoples to the east. After the death of Charlemagne Friuli shared in general in the fortunes of northern Italy. In the 11th century the ducal rights over the greater part of Friuli were bestowed by the emperor Henry IV. on the patriarch of Aquileia; but towards the close of the 14th century the nobles called in the assistance of Venice, which, after defeating the archbishop, afforded a new illustration of Aesop’s well-known fable, by securing possession of the country for itself. The eastern part of Friuli was held by the counts of Görz till 1500, when on the failure of their line it was appropriated by the German king, Maximilian I., and remained in the possession of the house of Austria until the Napoleonic wars. By the peace of Campo Formio in 1797 the Venetian district also came to Austria, and on the formation of the Napoleonic kingdom of Italy in 1805 the department of Passariano was made to include the whole of Venetian and part of Austrian Friuli, and in 1809 the rest was added to the Illyrian provinces. The title of duke of Friuli was borne by Marshal Duroc. In 1815 the whole country was recovered by the emperor of Austria, who himself assumed the ducal title and coat of arms; and it was not till 1866 that the Venetian portion was again ceded to Italy by the peace of Prague. The capital of the country is Udine, and its arms are a crowned eagle on a field azure.

See Manzano,Annali del Friuli(Udine, 1858-1879); andCompendio di storia friulana(Udine, 1876); Antonini,Il Friuli orientale(Milan, 1865); von Zahn,Friaulische Studien(Vienna, 1878); Pirona,Vocabolario friulino(Venice, 1869); and L. Fracassetti,La Statistica etnografica del Friuli(Udine, 1903).

(T. As.)

FROBEN[Frobenius],JOANNES(c.1460-1527), German printer and scholar, was born at Hammelburg in Bavaria about the year 1460. After completing his university career at Basel, where he made the acquaintance of the famous printer Johannes Auerbach (1443-1513), he established a printing house in that city about 1491, and this soon attained a European reputation for accuracy and for taste. In 1500 he married the daughter of the bookseller Wolfgang Lachner, who entered into partnership with him. He was on terms of friendship with Erasmus (q.v.), who not only had his own works printed by him, but superintended Frobenius’s editions of St Jerome, St Cyprian, Tertullian, Hilary of Poitiers and St Ambrose. HisNeues Testamentin Greek (1516) was used by Luther for his translation. Frobenius employed Hans Holbein to illuminate his texts. It was part of his plan to print editions of the Greek Fathers. He did not, however, live to carry out this project, but it was very creditably executed by his son Jerome and his son-in-law Nikolaus Episcopius. Frobenius died in October 1527. His work in Basel made that city in the 16th century the leading centre of the German book trade. An extant letter of Erasmus, written in the year of Frobenius’s death, gives an epitome of his life and an estimate of his character; and in it Erasmus mentions that his grief for the death of his friend was far more poignant than that which he had felt for the loss of his own brother, adding that “all the apostles of science ought to wear mourning.” The epistle concludes with an epitaph in Greek and Latin.

FROBISHER, SIR MARTIN(c.1535-1594), English navigator and explorer, fourth child of Bernard Frobisher of Altofts in the parish of Normanton, Yorkshire, was born some time between 1530 and 1540. The family came originally from North Wales. At an early age he was sent to a school in London and placed under the care of a kinsman, Sir John York, who in 1544 placed him on board a ship belonging to a small fleet of merchantmen sailing to Guinea. By 1565 he is referred to as Captain Martin Frobisher, and in 1571-1572 as being in the public service at sea off the coast of Ireland. He married in 1559. As early as 1560 or 1561 Frobisher had formed a resolution to undertake a voyage in search of a North-West Passage to Cathay and India. The discovery of such a route was the motive of most of the Arctic voyages undertaken at that period and for long after, but Frobisher’s special merit was in being the first to give to this enterprise a national character. For fifteen years he solicited in vain the necessary means to carry his project into execution, but in 1576, mainly by help of the earl of Warwick, he was put in command of an expedition consisting of two tiny barks, the “Gabriel” and “Michael,” of about 20 to 25 tons each, and a pinnace of 10 tons, with an aggregate crew of 35.

He weighed anchor at Blackwall, and, after having received a good word from Queen Elizabeth at Greenwich, set sail on the 7th of June, by way of the Shetland Islands. Stormy weather was encountered in which the pinnace was lost, and some time afterwards the “Michael” deserted; but stoutly continuing the voyage alone, on the 28th of July the “Gabriel” sighted the coast of Labrador in lat. 62° 2′ N. Some days later the mouth of Frobisher Bay was reached, and a farther advance northwards being prevented by ice and contrary winds, Frobisher determined to sail westward up this passage (which he conceived to be a strait) to see “whether he mighte carrie himself through the same into some open sea on the backe syde.” Butcher’s Island was reached on the 18th of August, and some natives being met with here, intercourse was carried on with them for some days, the result being that five of Frobisher’s men were decoyed and captured, and never more seen. After vainly trying to get back his men, Frobisher turned homewards, and reached London on the 9th of October.

Among the things which had been hastily brought away by the men was some “black earth,” and just as it seemed as if nothing more was to come of this expedition, it was noised abroad that the apparently valueless “black earth” was really a lump of gold ore. It is difficult to say how this rumour arose, and whether there was any truth in it, or whether Frobisher was a party to a deception, in order to obtain means to carry out the great idea of his life. The story, at any rate, was so far successful; the greatest enthusiasm was manifested by the court and the commercial and speculating world of the time; and next year a much more important expedition than the former was fitted out, the queenlending the “Aid” from the royal navy and subscribing £1000 towards the expenses of the expedition. A Company of Cathay was established, with a charter from the crown, giving the company the sole right of sailing in every direction but the east; Frobisher was appointed high admiral of all lands and waters that might be discovered by him. On the 26th of May 1577 the expedition, consisting, besides the “Aid,” of the ships “Gabriel” and “Michael,” with boats, pinnaces and an aggregate complement of 120 men, including miners, refiners, &c., left Blackwall, and sailing by the north of Scotland reached Hall’s Island at the mouth of Frobisher Bay on the 17th of July. A few days later the country and the south side of the bay was solemnly taken possession of in the queen’s name. Several weeks were now spent in collecting ore, but very little was done in the way of discovery, Frobisher being specially directed by his commission to “defer the further discovery of the passage until another time.” There was much parleying and some skirmishing with the natives, and earnest but futile attempts made to recover the men captured the previous year. The return was begun on the 23rd of August, and the “Aid” reached Milford Haven on the 23rd of September; the “Gabriel” and “Michael,” having separated, arrived later at Bristol and Yarmouth.

Frobisher was received and thanked by the queen at Windsor. Great preparations were made and considerable expense incurred for the assaying of the great quantity of “ore” (about 200 tons) brought home. This took up much time, and led to considerable dispute among the various parties interested. Meantime the faith of the queen and others remained strong in the productiveness of the newly discovered territory, which she herself namedMeta Incognita, and it was resolved to send out a larger expedition than ever, with all necessaries for the establishment of a colony of 100 men. Frobisher was again received by the queen at Greenwich, and her Majesty threw a fine chain of gold around his neck. On the 31st of May 1578 the expedition, consisting in all of fifteen vessels, left Harwich, and sailing by the English Channel on the 20th of June reached the south of Greenland, where Frobisher and some of his men managed to land. On the 2nd of July the foreland of Frobisher Bay was sighted, but stormy weather and dangerous ice prevented the rendezvous from being gained, and, besides causing the wreck of the barque “Dennis” of 100 tons, drove the fleet unwittingly up a new (Hudson) strait. After proceeding about 60 m. up this “mistaken strait,” Frobisher with apparent reluctance turned back, and after many bufferings and separations the fleet at last came to anchor in Frobisher Bay. Some attempt was made at founding a settlement, and a large quantity of ore was shipped; but, as might be expected, there was much dissension and not a little discontent among so heterogeneous a company, and on the last day of August the fleet set out on its return to England, which was reached in the beginning of October. Thus ended what was little better than a fiasco, though Frobisher himself cannot be held to blame for the result; the scheme was altogether chimerical, and the “ore” seems to have been not worth smelting.

In 1580 Frobisher was employed as captain of one of the queen’s ships in preventing the designs of Spain to assist the Irish insurgents, and in the same year obtained a grant of the reversionary title of clerk of the royal navy. In 1585 he commanded the “Primrose,” as vice-admiral to Sir F. Drake in his expedition to the West Indies, and when soon afterwards the country was threatened with invasion by the Spanish Armada, Frobisher’s name was one of four mentioned by the lord high admiral in a letter to the queen of “men of the greatest experience that this realm hath,” and for his signal services in the “Triumph,” in the dispersion of the Armada, he was knighted. He continued to cruise about in the Channel until 1590, when he was sent in command of a small fleet to the coast of Spain. In 1591 he visited his native Altofts, and there married his second wife, a daughter of Lord Wentworth, becoming at the same time a landed proprietor in Yorkshire and Notts. He found, however, little leisure for a country life, and the following year took charge of the fleet fitted out by Sir Walter Raleigh to the Spanish coast, returning with a rich prize. In November 1594 he was engaged with a squadron in the siege and relief of Brest, when he received a wound at Fort Crozon from which he died at Plymouth on the 22nd of November. His body was taken to London and buried at St Giles’, Cripplegate. Though he appears to have been somewhat rough in his bearing, and too strict a disciplinarian to be much loved, Frobisher was undoubtedly one of the most able seamen of his time and justly takes rank among England’s great naval heroes.

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