The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Francke, August Hermann

FRANCKE, frän'kė, August Hermann, German Lutheran clergyman and philanthropist: b. Lübeck, 22 March 1663; d. Halle, 8 June 1727. In 1692 he obtained the professorship of Oriental languages at Halle, which in 1698 he exchanged for that of theology. A pupil of Spener and the teacher of Zinzendorf, Francke belonged to the ranks of those who carried forward the pietistic movement; his activity, however, took the practical direction of founding, endowing and organizing various educational institutions at Halle. Among these were a school for the poor, a pedagogium, a burgher school, a Latin school and a seminary for training teachers for these establishments, all founded in one year, 1695; and with them was associated an orphanage, which became in the course of time the most important of all Francke's institutions. At the time of his death his schools were frequented by more than 2,300 pupils. Francke's principal aim was religious instruction, but he founded also a printing-office, and an apothecary's shop, and taught natural science and physical exercises and manual trades.