Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/723

 F R A F R A 687 FRANCE!, ISLE OF. Sec MAURITIUS. FRANCESCA. See PIETRO DELLA FRANCESCA. FRANCESCHINI, BALDASSARE (1611-1689), a painter of the Tuscan school, named, from Volterra the place of his birth, II Volterrano, or (to distinguish him from Riccia- rolli) II Volterrano Giuniore, was the son of a sculptor in alabaster. At a very early age he learned from Cosinio some of the elements of art, and he started as an assistant to his father. This employment being evidently below the level of his talents, the Marquises Inghirami placed him, at the age of sixteen, under the Florentine painter Matteo llosselli. In the ensuing year he had advanced sufficiently to execute in Volterra some frescos, skilful in foreshorten ing, followed by other frescos for the Medici family in the Valle della Petraia. In 1652 the Marchese Filippo Niccolini, being minded to employ Franceschini upon the frescos for the cupola and back-wall of his chapel in S. Croce, Florence, despatched him to various parts of Italy to perfect hia style. The painter, in a tour which lasted some months, took more especially to the qualities dis tinctive of the schools of Parma and Bologna, and in a measure to those of Pietro da Cortona, whose acquaintance lie made in Rome. He then undertook the paintings com missioned by Niccolini, which constitute his most noted performance, the design being good, and the method masterly. Franceschini ranks higher in fresco than in oil painting. His works in the latter mode were not unfre- quently left unfinished, although numerous specimens remain, the cabinet pictures being marked by much Bprightliness of invention. Among his t&amp;gt;est oil paintings of large scale is the St John the Evangelist in the church of S. Chiara at Volterra. One of his latest works was the fresco of the cupola of the Annunziata, which occupied him for two years towards 1683, a production of much labour and energy. Franceschini died of apoplexy at Vol terra on 6th January 1689. He is reckoned among those painters of the decline of art to whom the general name of &quot;machinist&quot; is applied. He is not to be confounded with another Franceschini of the same class, and of rather later date, also of no small eminence in his time the Cavaliere Marcantonio Franceschini, who was a Bolog- nese (1648-1729). FRANCHE COMTE, from 1674 till the great Revolu tion one of the provinces of France, was bounded on the E. by the principality of Montbeliard or Mompelgard and Switzerland, S. by Bresse, Bugey, and Gex, N. by Lorraine, and W. by the duchy of Burgundy and Champagne. It lay to the west of the Jura, and included the valley of the upper Saone and the greater part of the valley of the Doubs. In earlier history it is usually called the countship of Burgundy or Upper Burgundy ; in Jater French history, on the other hand, it is frequently mentioned as the count- ship (la Comte ) par excellence. The countship probably took its rise in the 10th century as a fief of the kingdom of Burgundy, which was dependent on the empire. It was held in the beginning of the 1 1th by Otto William, the warlike son of the king of the Lombards ; his son and sue* cessor Reinhold or Reinaud I. ventured to refuse his homage to his suzerain Henry III., and his example was followed about a century afterwards by Reinhold III, who took up a position of independence against the emperor Lothar. In neither case was the attempt to throw off the yoke per mitted to succeed, but on the latter occasion at least the prestige of the countship was improved, and according to one theory the honourable title of Free Countship (Frei- rfrafschaft) was then acquired. After Lothar s death Rein- hold again refused homage to the emperor Conrad, and though the emperor consequently bestowed his countship on Conrad of Zahringen, Reinhold was still in actual possession at his death in 1148. His daughter and heiress Beatrix was married to Frederick Barbarossa in 1156; and on her de cease in 1 185 Frederick bestowed the countship on his third son Otto, and raised Besanqon to the rank of a free imperial city. Otto s daughter Beatrix married Duke Otto of Meran, and was succeeded first by their son Otto and afterwards by their daughter Alix. Otto, the son of Alix, offended the emperor Rudolph I., and his city Besanc,on was conse quently besieged by the imperial troops in 1289; but it made a successful defence, and peace was soon after wards concluded. A treaty was made with Philip the Fair of France, by which Otto s daughter Johanna was to marry Philip of Poitiers the king s second son, and the suzerainty of France was to be recognized by Franche Comtek The marriage took place in due course in 1307, and the importance attached by the king to his claims on Franche Comte is shown by the leniency with which the charges against the princess Johanna or Jeanne were enforced when her sisters-in-law were degraded and imprisoned and their paramours tortured and executed. On Philip s death in 1322 the countship passed to Otto IV. duke of Burgundy, and it was successively held by Philip de Rouvre, Margaret of France, Louis de Male, and Charles the Bold. On Charles s death, Louis XI. of France claimed the protectorate &quot; for the good of the country and the lady of Burgundy, and in favour of the marriage of the dauphin with that lady.&quot; By feudal law the countship still held of the empire, being a Ger man and a female fief ; but the states accepted the French protection (February 1477), and the claims of Maximilian were appeased by the promise of the hand of Charles of France for his daughter Margaret. In April, however, a rebellion broke out ; the empsror recalled the people to their allegiance, and the Swiss hastened to support the popular cause. The French were constrained to withdraw; but in 1479 the Sire de Chaumont invaded the country, captured Dole in spite of a vigonnis defence, in which the students of the university displayed a desperate but resultless valour, and forced the people to submit. Besan9on, the free imperial city, recognized the French king on the same conditions which it had de manded from the dukes of Burgundy, and promised to pay over half the product of its taxes. The parliament of Dole was transferred to Salins, and the university to Besan9on. When Charles VIII. refused to marry Maxi milian s daughter, the people of Franche Comte&quot; rose in re volt, and the king relinquished his claims by the treaty of Senlis, May 23, 1493. Along with the rest of the domains of the house of Burgundy the countship was bestowed on Philip, Maximilian s son, and passed to the crown of Spain. As a Spanish territory its position was a peculiar and iso lated one ; and it was consequently treated with great leniency by the Spanish Government. It paid a &quot; gratuitous gift &quot; of not more than 200,000 livres every three j ears, and furnished very few soldiers to the royal army. Under the nominal authority of the governor-general of the Low Countries, it was practically &quot;governed by the parliament of Dole and a governor chosen from the ranks of its own nobility. In 1668 Louis XIV. cast his eyes on the pro vince, and Condd effected its conquest in fifteen days. On the 14th of February the king swore at Dole to preserve the liberties of the town and province as count palatine of Burgundy, and the parliament issued an edict against those who refused to submit to his authority. By the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, which almost immediately followed, Franche Comte was restored to Spain; but in 1674 Louis made a new invasion. Besan9on was taken after a length ened siege, at which Vauban and the king were both personally present ; Dole shared the same fate ; and by the 4th of July the whole country was again in the hands of the French. To celebrate the conquest the triumphal arch of the Saint Martin gate at Paris was erected. The count-