FRA
FRA
497
wharfs, or tire like ; which tolls most have a reasonable cause ofcommencement, (as in consideration of repairs, or the like,) elsethe franchise is ilh qpl ami void : or lastly, to have a forest, chase,park, warren, or n-hery, endowed with privileges ot royalty. SeeChase, Forest , &c. "
Franchise is also used for an asylum or sanctuary, wherepeople are secure of their persons, &c. Churches and monas-teries in Spain are franchises for criminals; so were thev ancientlyin England, till they were.abused to such a degree that there wasa necessity for abolishing the custom.
Franchise of Quarters is a certain space or district atHome, wherein are the houses of the ambassadors of the princes°f Europe ; and where such as retire cannot be arrested of seized,Uor prosecuted at law.
FRANCIS, St. the founder of the society of the-Franciscans ;was the sou of a merchant of Assisi, in the province .of Umbria .Having led a dissolute'life, he was reclaimed by a fit if sickness,jtnd aUerw-ards fell into an extravagant kind of devotion, thatlooked less like religion than alienation of mind, fn 120S, hear-ln K the passage quoted, (Matt. x. (>, It);) “ Provide neither gold
nor silver,” Sic. he w as led to consider a voluntary and absolutepoverty as the essence of the gospel, and to prescribe it as a sa-cred rule to himself and those who followed .him. See Francis-cans . He died in 1226.
FRANCISCANS , in ecclesia tical history,' religious of the or-der ot St. Francis, founded by him in 1209. This society, whicha ppeared to Innocent II1. extremely adapted to the state of thechurch, was solemnly approved and confirmed by Honorius Ill.l n 122.3, Francis , through an excessive humility, would not suf-j, er the monks of liis order to be called t'ratres, i.e. brethren orr*ars, but Fratercnli, i. e. little brethren, or friars minor, by whichdenomination they stiil continue to be distinguished. Thev area Eo called grey friars, on account of the colour of their clothing,ai| d Cordeliers, &c. The Franciscans and Dominicans were zea-*ous and active friends to the papal hierarchy. In 1287, MatthewAqua Sparta, being elected general of the order, -discouraged. ’ e ancient discipline of the Franciscans , and indulged his monksCautioning even the appearance of poverty. This conduct,j' lse d the indignation of the spiritual or austere Franciscans ; sohat from 1290, schisms arose in an order that had been famous fors pretended disinterestedness and humility. Such was the enthu-d'enzy of the Franciscans , that they-impiously maintained,U at Francis was a Second Christ, in ail respects similar to the0 [ s |; and that their institution and discipline were the true gospel, J esus. Accordingly, Albizi, a F'ranciscan of Pisa , published aof ?|T * n w ’lh the applause of his order, iniUlcd, ” The Book
. l hc Conformities of St. Francis with Jesus Christ !” In the be-t hiiing of the 18th century, the whole Franciscan order was divid-'nto two parties ; the one called Spirituals, who embraced the0 j) ere discipline and absolute poverty of St. Francis ; and thea f r ’ Hrethren of the Community, who insisted on mitigating the’“junctions of their founder.
I FRANCOIS, Cape, a town in the N. part of Hispaniola .
pi/ 2 ', 18 - W - Cat. 19. 46. N.
'RANCOISE, a town of France , in the department of Lot,N. W. of Montauban, and 20| S. S. W. of Cahors .
Ill.- A-NCONIA, a circle of Germany , bounded on the N. byjr fc ' ss t“n and Thuringia, on the S. by Bavaria and Stiabia ; on theL'o<. Cohfcmia and the Upper Palatinate , and on the W. by theaa( l' v ® r > aiui the electorate of Mentz ; being 88 miles trom N. to S.a nd f / ro ”’ E. to W. The middle is very fertile in corn, wine,bin rU l ls ’ but the borders are full of woods and barren motin-al s s - Fhe majority of the people are Lutherans ; but there areH 0 ^''y Calvinists, Roman Catholics, and Jews . _ 1 h
Vitice t> “^' ere<1 a,ul S aVv -
pi,' Nuremberg is the capital .p r , iu K ANEkF.[(, FRANEQUER, of’rieq 6 ’ R’ l! department of Eems, t
miles VV. of Lewarden.
or F RANKER, a town ofand late province of North
or FRANC, in the ancient English customs, sig-fHihu " erall y Lee from charges and impositions, or exempt from: Ris used in various senses; sometimes compounded,not; though the latter is doubtless most proper.
and J “acs : 11T| l Su,Uet ””esF ’
Pot) R . 4NK Almoigne is a tenure, whereby a religious corpora-’ '‘Rgrc-gate or sole, holdeth lands of tho doiidr to them andVoi ~ H-.no. 38.
their successors for ever. The service which they were bound torender for these lands was not detined : but only In general topray for the souls of the donor and his heirs, dead or alive ; andtherefore they did no fealty (which was incident to all other ser-vices,) because this divine service was of a more exalted nature.This is the tenure by which almost all the ancien^ monasteries andreligious houses held their lands; and by which the parochialclergy, and vefy many ecclesiastical and eleemosynary founda-tions, still hold them ; the nature of the service being upon thereformation altered, and made conformable to the purer doctrinesof the church of England . It was an old Saxon tenure ; and con-tinued under the Norman revolution, through the great respectthat was shewn to religion and religious men in ancient times.This is also the reason that tenants in frankalmoigne were dis-charged of all other -services except the trinoda necessilas, of re-pairing the highways, building castles, and repelling invasions;just as the druids, among the ancient Britons, had •' omnium re-rum immunitatem.” Am! even at present this is a tenure of avery different nature from ail others; being not in the least feu-dal, but merely spiritual. For, if the service be neglected, thelaw gives no remedy b\ distress, or otherwise, to the lord of whomthe lands are lioiden ; but merely a complaint to the ordinary orvisitor to correct it.
2. Frank Chack is a liberty of free chace, whereby personsthat have lands within the compass of the same, are prohibited to-cut clown any woods, &c. out of the view of the forester.
3. Frank Fee signifies the same thing as holding lands andtenements in fee simple ; that is, k> any person and his heirs, andnot bv such service as is required by ancient demesne, but is-pleaded at common law. See Fee.
Frank Law, the free and common law of the land, or thebenefit a person has by it. He that for any offence loseth this-■ frank law incut's the inconveniences which the law affords.
' Frank Marriage, in law, is where tenements are given byone man to another, together with a wife, who is the daughter orcousin to the donor, to hold in frank marriage. By such gift,though nothing but frank marriage is expressed, the donees shallhave the tenements to them, and the hens of their two bodies be-gotten ; that is, they are tenants in special tail.
FRANKPLEDGE, a pledge or surety for freemen. For tireancient custom of England, for the preservation of the publicpeace, was tiiat every freeborn man at 14 years of age, religiouspersons, clerks, knights and their eldest sons excepted, shouldfind security for his fidelity to the king, or else be kept in prison :whence it became customary for a certain number of neighboursto he bound for one another, to see each man of their pledgeforthcoming at all times, or to answer the transgression of any oneabsenting himself. This was called frankpledge, and the circuitthereof was called decenna, because it commonly consisted ot tenhouseholds ; and every particular person, thus mutually bound,.was called decemiier.
Frank, or Franc, an ancient coin, either of gold or silver,struck and current in France . The value of the gold frank wassomewhat more than that of the gold crown ; the silver frank wasa third of the gold one : this coin is long out of use, though theterm is still retained as the name of a money of account ; in whichsense it is equivalent to the livre, or twenty sols.
Frank Language, or Lingua Franca , a kind of jargonspoken on the Mediterranean, and particularly throughout thetoasts and ports of the Levant, composed of Italian,. Spanish, .French , vulgar Greek, and other languages.
FRANKED LETTERS. The privilege of letters comingfree of postage to and from members of parliament was claimedby the House of Commons * in 1(560, when the first legal settle-ment of the present post-office was made; but afterwards drop-ped, upon a private assurance Irbin the crown, that this privilegeshould be allowed the members. Accordingly a warrant was con-'tantly issued to the postmaster-general, directing the allowancethereof to the extent of two ounces in weight: till at length it wasexpressly confirmed by 4 Geo. III. c. 24, which added many newregulations, rendered necessary by the great abuses in franking;whereby the annual amount ot franked letter* had increased from23,(i001. in the year 1715, to 170,7001. in the year 1763. Otherregulations afterwards took place; in particular, franks were re-quired to be dated (the month written at length,) and put into theoffice the same dav ; notwithstanding which, the revenue still lost-6 L by.