Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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framed building ... Franck, Sebastian

framed building: structure in which weight is carried by a skeleton or framework, as opposed to being supported by walls. The essential factor in a framed building is the frame's strength. Timber-framed or half-timbered houses were common in medieval Europe. In this ...
Framingham: town (township), Middlesex county, eastern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies along the Sudbury River, about 20 miles (32 km) west of Boston. Settled in 1650, it was incorporated in 1700 and derived its name from Framlingham, Suffolk, England. Framingham Center, just ...
Frampton, Sir George James: English sculptor and craftsman, the creator of some noted public monuments.
franc: originally a French coin but now the monetary unit of a number of countries, notably Switzerland, most French and former Belgian overseas territories, and some African states; at one time it was also the currency of France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. ...
Franca: city, in the highlands of northeastern Sao Paulo estado (state), southern Brazil. It lies at 3,314 feet (1,010 metres) above sea level. Known variously as Vila Franca del Rei and Vila Franca do Imperador, it was given ...
Francaix, Jean: French composer and pianist whose music in a light neoclassical style displays the wit and clarity of the traditional Gallic spirit.
France: country of northwestern Europe. Historically and culturally among the most important nations in the Western world, France has also played a highly significant role in international affairs, with former colonies in every corner of the globe. Bounded by the Atlantic ...
France, Anatole: writer and ironic, skeptical, and urbane critic who was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was elected to the French Academy in 1896 and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1921.
France, Banque de: national bank of France, created in 1800 to restore confidence in the French banking system after the financial upheavals of the revolutionary period. Headquarters are in Paris.
France, College de: state-supported research institution and centre for adult education in Paris. Founded in 1530 by Francis I, it was originally the Collegium Trilinguae (College of Three Languages). It offers lectures by scholars chosen for eminence in their particular fields without reference ...
France-Soir: daily newspaper published in Paris. Formerly titled Defense de la France ("Defense of France"), it was founded as an underground paper during the German occupation of France in World War II, and after the ...
Frances of Rome, Saint: founder of the Oblate Congregation of Tor de' Specchi (Oblates of St. Frances of Rome), a community that, with the Olivetan Benedictines, works for the sick and the poor.
Francesca Da Rimini: daughter of Guido da Polenta, lord of Ravenna, whose tragic love affair with Paolo Malatesta is renowned in literature and art. Married to Gianciotto Malatesta (called "the Lame") for reasons of state, she was murdered by him when he discovered ...
Francescatti, Zino: French virtuoso violinist known for his lyrical performance style and as a champion of contemporary violin music by such composers as Darius Milhaud, Leonard Bernstein, and Karol Szymanowski.
Franceschini, Baldassare: Italian painter of the Baroque era.
Franceschini, Marcantonio: Italian painter, a leading artist of the Bolognese school of the Baroque period.
Francesco Di Giorgio: (baptized Sept. 23, 1439, Siena, republic of Siena [Italy]-d. 1502, Siena), early Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, and designer.
Franceville: town, southeastern Gabon, on the east bank of the Ogooue River, just south of its confluence with the Mpassa. The French explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza founded it in 1880, and until 1946 it was a part of the Middle ...
Franche-Comte: region of France encompassing the eastern departements of Jura, Doubs, Haute-Saone, and the Territoire de Belfort. Franche-Comte is bounded by the regions of Rhone-Alpes to the south, Burgundy (Bourgogne) to the ...
Franchet d'Esperey, Louis-Felix-Francois: marshal of France and one of the most effective French military leaders of World War I. He was responsible for driving Bulgaria out of the war, thereby opening the road to Vienna for the Allies.
Francia: Italian Renaissance artist and the major Bolognese painter of the late 15th century. He was much influenced by such Ferrarese painters as Lorenzo Costa, Francesco del Cossa, and Ercole de' Roberti, but his later works clearly show the influence of ...
Francia, Jose Gaspar Rodriguez de: dictator of Paraguay whose intensely personal rule and policy of self-sufficiency left the nation both isolated and without alternative political institutions.
Franciabigio: Italian Renaissance painter, best known for his portraits and religious paintings, whose style included early Renaissance, High Renaissance, and Proto-Mannerist elements. His early style is filled with movement and attention to descriptive detail, strongly reminiscent of 15th-century Italian painting. Later, ...
Francien dialect: the medieval dialect of Old French that furnishes the basis for the literary and official form of the modern French language. Francien was spoken in the region of Ile-de-France, which included the city of Paris, and its preeminence is an ...
Francis: second grand duke (granduca) of Tuscany, a tool of the Habsburgs and father of Marie de Medicis, wife of Henry IV of France.
Francis Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria-este: Austrian archduke whose assassination was the immediate cause of World War I.
Francis I: duke of Brittany (from 1442), son of John V (or VI). He had his brother Gilles thrown into prison and put to death for allegedly spying for the English, with whom he warred (1449-50). The king of France intervened and ...
Francis I: king of France (1515-47), the first of five monarchs of the Angouleme branch of the House of Valois. A Renaissance patron of the arts and scholarship, a humanist, and a knightly king, he waged campaigns in Italy (1515-16) and fought ...
Francis I: Holy Roman emperor from Sept. 13, 1745; he was duke of Lorraine (as Francis Stephen) from 1729 to 1735 and grand duke of Tuscany from 1737. Although nominally outranking his wife, Maria Theresa, archduchess of Austria and queen of Hungary ...
Francis I: king of the Two Sicilies from 1825.
Francis II: duke of Brittany from 1458, who succeeded his uncle, Arthur III; he maintained a lifelong policy of Breton independence in the face of encroachments by the French crown. The problems of Breton independence were magnified by the fact that Francis ...
Francis II: king of the Two Sicilies from 1859 until his deposition in 1860, the last of the Bourbons of Naples.
Francis II: king of France from 1559, who was dominated throughout his reign by the powerful Guise family.
Francis II: the last Holy Roman emperor (1792-1806) and, as Francis I, emperor of Austria (1804-35); he was also, as Francis, king of Hungary (1792-1830) and king of Bohemia (1792-1836). He supported the conservative political system of Metternich in Germany and Europe ...
Francis Joseph: emperor of Austria (1848-1916) and king of Hungary (1867-1916), who divided his empire into the Dual Monarchy, in which Austria and Hungary coexisted as equal partners. In 1879 he formed an alliance with Prussian-led Germany, and in 1914 his ultimatum ...
Francis Joseph II, prince of Liechtenstein: Liechtenstein prince who built the impoverished country into one of the wealthiest in Europe during his reign (1938-89).
Francis of Assisi, Saint: canonized July 16, 1228; feast day October 4; founder of the Franciscan orders of the Friars Minor (Ordo Fratrum Minorum), the woman's Order of St. Clare (or Poor Clares), and the lay Third Order. He was also a leader of ...
Francis Of Meyronnes: Franciscan monk, one of the principal philosopher-theologians of 14th-century Scholasticism and a leading advocate of the subtle system of Realism proposed by the English Scholastic John Duns Scotus.
Francis of Paola, Saint: founder of the Minim Friars, a severely ascetic Roman Catholic order that does charitable work and refrains from eating meat, eggs, or dairy products. Francis was named patron of Italian seamen in 1943 by Pope Pius XII because many of ...
Francis of Sales, Saint: Roman Catholic bishop of Geneva and doctor of the church, who was active in the struggle against Calvinism and cofounded the order of Visitation Nuns. He wrote the devotional classic Introduction to a Devout Life (3rd definitive edition, 1609), which ...
Francis, Dick: British mystery writer known for his realistic plots centred on the sport of horse racing.
Francis, James Bicheno: British-American hydraulic engineer and inventor of the mixed-flow, or Francis, turbine (a combination of the radial- and axial-flow turbines) that was used for low-pressure installations.
Francis, Sam: American painter who was prominent in the second generation of Abstract Expressionists.
Francis, Sir Philip: English politician and pamphleteer, known as an antagonist of Warren Hastings, the first governor-general of British India.
Francis, Thomas, Jr.: American microbiologist and epidemiologist who isolated the viruses responsible for influenza A (1934) and influenza B (1940) and developed a polyvalent vaccine effective against both strains. He also conducted research that led to the development of antiserums for the treatment ...
Franciscan: any member of a Christian religious order founded in the early 13th century by St. Francis of Assisi (q.v.). The members of the order strive to cultivate the ideals of the order's founder. The Franciscans actually consist of three orders. ...
Francistown: town, eastern Botswana. It lies along the Tati (Tate) River and is an administrative and commercial centre. Francistown is the site of the Dumela industrial complex. Some gold is mined in the vicinity. The town lies in farming country on ...
francium: (Fr), heaviest chemical element of Group Ia in the periodic table, the alkali metal group. It exists only in short-lived radioactive forms. Natural francium cannot be isolated in visible, weighable amounts, for only about 30 grams (about one ounce) occurs ...
Franck, Cesar: Belgian-French Romantic composer and organist who was the chief figure in a movement to give French music an emotional engagement, technical solidity, and seriousness comparable to that of German composers.
Franck, James: German-born American physicist who shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1925 with Gustav Hertz for research on the excitation and ionization of atoms by electron bombardment that verified the quantized nature of energy transfer.
Franck, Sebastian: German Protestant Reformer and theologian who converted from Roman Catholicism to Lutheranism but departed from Martin Luther's views, emphasizing a mystical attitude in place of dogmatic belief.