1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Frankfort-on-Main

FRANKFORT-ON-MAIN (Ger. Frankfurt am Main), a city of Germany, in the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, principally on the right bank of the Main, 24 m. above its confluence with the Rhine at Mainz, and 16 m. N. from Darmstadt. Always a place of great trading importance, long the place of election for the German kings, and until 1866, together with Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck, one of the four free cities of Germany, it still retains its position as one of the leading commercial centres of the German empire. Its situation in the broad and fertile valley of the Main, the northern horizon formed by the soft outlines of the Taunus range, is one of great natural beauty, the surrounding country being richly clad with orchard and forest.

Frankfort is one of the most interesting, as it is also one of the wealthiest, of German cities. Apart from its commercial importance, its position, close to the fashionable watering-places of Homburg, Nauheim and Wiesbaden, has rendered it “cosmopolitan” in the best sense of the term. The various stages in the development of the city are clearly indicated in its general plan and the surviving names of many of its streets. The line of the original 12th century walls and moat is marked by the streets of which the names end in -graben, from the Hirschgraben on the W. to the Wollgraben on the E. The space enclosed by these and by the river on the S. is known as the “old town” (Altstadt). The so-called “new town” (Neustadt), added in 1333, extends to the Anlagen, the beautiful gardens and promenades laid out (1806–1812) on the site of the 17th century fortifications, of which they faithfully preserve the general ground plan. Of the medieval fortifications the picturesque Eschenheimer Tor, a round tower 155 ft. high, dating from 1400 to 1428, the Rententurm (1456) on the Main and the Kuhhirtenturm (c. 1490) in Sachsenhausen, are the sole remains. Since the demolition of the fortifications the city has greatly expanded. Sachsenhausen on the south bank of the river, formerly the seat of a commandery of the Teutonic Order (by treaty with Austria in 1842 all property and rights of the order in Frankfort territory were sold to the city, except the church and house), is now a quarter of the city. In other directions also the expansion has been rapid; the village of Bornheim was incorporated in Frankfort in 1877, the former Hessian town of Bockenheim in 1895, and the suburbs of Niederrad, Oberrad and Seckbach in 1900.

The main development of the city has been to the north of the river, which is crossed by numerous bridges and flanked by fine quays and promenades. The Altstadt, though several broad streets have been opened through it, still preserves many of its narrow alleys and other medieval features. The Judengasse (Ghetto), down to 1806 the sole Jews’ quarter, has been pulled down, with the exception of the ancestral house of the Rothschild family—No. 148—which has been restored and retains its ancient façade. As the Altstadt is mainly occupied by artisans and petty tradesmen, so the Neustadt is the principal business quarter of the city, containing the chief public buildings and the principal hotels. The main arteries of the city are the Zeil, a broad street running from the Friedberger Anlage to the Rossmarkt and thence continued, by the Kaiserstrasse, through the fine new quarter built after 1872, to the magnificent principal railway station; and the Steinweg and Goethestrasse, which lead by the Bockenheimer Tor to the Bockenheimer Landstrasse, a broad boulevard intersecting the fashionable residential suburb to the N.W.

Churches.—The principal ecclesiastical building in Frankfort is the cathedral (Dom). Built of red sandstone, with a massive tower terminating in a richly ornamented cupola and 300 ft. in height, it is the most conspicuous object in the city. This building, in which the Roman emperors were formerly elected and, since 1562, crowned, was founded in 852 by King Louis the German, and was later known as the Salvator Kirche. After its reconstruction (1235–1239), it was dedicated to St Bartholomew. From this period date the nave and the side aisles; the choir was completed in 1315–1338 and the long transepts in 1346–1354. The cloisters were rebuilt in 1348–1447, and the electoral chapel, on the south of the choir, was completed in 1355. The tower was begun in 1415, but remained unfinished. On the 15th of August 1867 the tower and roof were destroyed by fire and considerable damage was done to the rest of the edifice. The restoration was immediately taken in hand, and the whole work was finished in 1881, including the completion of the tower, according to the plans of the 15th century architect, Hans von Ingelheim. In the interior is the tomb of the German king Günther of Schwarzburg, who died in Frankfort in 1349, and that of Rudolph, the last knight of Sachsenhausen, who died in 1371. Among the other Roman Catholic churches are the Leonhardskirche, the Liebfrauenkirche (church of Our Lady) and the Deutschordenskirche (14th century) in Sachsenhausen. The Leonhardskirche (restored in 1882) was begun in 1219, it is said on the site of the palace of Charlemagne. It was originally a three-aisled basilica, but is now a five-aisled Hallenkirche; the choir was added in 1314. It has two Romanesque towers. The Liebfrauenkirche is first mentioned in 1314 as a collegiate church; the nave was consecrated in 1340. The choir was added in 1506–1509 and the whole church thoroughly restored in the second half of the 18th century, when the tower was built (1770). Of the Protestant churches the oldest is the Nikolaikirche, which dates from the 13th century; the fine cast-iron spire erected in 1843 had to be taken down in 1901. The Paulskirche, the principal Evangelical (Lutheran) church, built between 1786 and 1833, is a red sandstone edifice of no architectural pretensions, but interesting as the seat of the national parliament of 1848–1849. The Katharinenkirche, built 1678–1681 on the site of an older building, is famous in Frankfort history as the place where the first Protestant sermon was preached in 1522. Among the more noteworthy of the newer Protestant churches are the Peterskirche (1892–1895) in the North German Renaissance style, with a tower 256 ft. high, standing north from the Zeil, the Christuskirche (1883) and the Lutherkirche (1889–1893). An English church, in Early English Gothic style, situated adjacent to the Bockenheimer Landstrasse, was completed and consecrated in 1906.

Of the five synagogues, the chief (or Hauptsynagoge), lying in the Börnestrasse, is an attractive building of red sandstone in the Moorish-Byzantine style.

Public Buildings.—Of the secular buildings in Frankfort, the Römer, for almost five hundred years the Rathaus (town hall) of the city, is of prime historical interest. It lies on the Römerberg, a square flanked by curious medieval houses. It is first mentioned in 1322, was bought with the adjacent hostelry in 1405 by the city and rearranged as a town hall, and has since, from time to time, been enlarged by the purchase of adjoining patrician houses, forming a complex of buildings of various styles and dates surmounted by a clock tower. The façade was rebuilt (1896–1898) in late Gothic style. It was here, in the Wahlzimmer (or election-chamber) that the electors or their plenipotentiaries chose the German kings, and here in the Kaisersaal (emperors’ hall) that the coronation festival was held, at which the new king or emperor dined with the electors after having shown himself from the balcony to the people. The Kaisersaal retained its antique appearance until 1843, when, as also again in 1904, it was restored and redecorated; it is now furnished with a series of modern paintings representing the German kings and Roman emperors from Charlemagne to Francis II., in all fifty-two, and a statue of the first German emperor, William I. New municipal buildings adjoining the “Römer” on the north side were erected in 1900–1903 in German Renaissance style, with a handsome tower 220 ft. high; beneath it is a public wine-cellar, and on the first storey a grand municipal hall. The palace of the princes of Thurn and Taxis in the Eschenheimer Gasse was built (1732–1741) from the designs of Robert de Cotte, chief architect to Louis XIV. of France. From 1806 to 1810 it was the residence of Karl von Dalberg, prince-primate of the Confederation of the Rhine, with whose dominions Frankfort had been incorporated by Napoleon. From 1816 to 1866 it was the seat of the German federal diet. It is now annexed to the principal post office (built 1892–1894), which lies close to it on the Zeil. The Saalhof, built on the site of the palace erected by Louis the Pious in 822, overlooking the Main, has a chapel of the 12th century, the substructure dating from Carolingian times. This is the oldest building in Frankfort. The façade of the Saalhof in the Saalgasse dates from 1604, the southern wing with the two gables from 1715 to 1717. Of numerous other medieval buildings may be mentioned the Leinwandhaus (linendrapers’ hall), a 15th century building reconstructed in 1892 as a municipal museum. In the Grosser Hirschgraben is the Goethehaus, a 16th century building which came into the possession of the Goethe family in 1733. Here Goethe lived from his birth in 1749 until 1775. In 1863 the house was acquired by the Freies deutsche Hochstift and was opened to the public. It has been restored, from Goethe’s account of it in Dichtung und Wahrheit, as nearly as possible to its condition in the poet’s day, and is now connected with a Goethemuseum (1897), with archives and a library of 25,000 volumes representative of the Goethe period of German literature.

Literary and Scientific Institutions.—Few cities of the same size as Frankfort are so richly endowed with literary, scientific and artistic institutions, or possess so many handsome buildings appropriated to their service. The opera-house, erected near the Bockenheimer Tor in 1873–1880, is a magnificent edifice in the style of the Italian Renaissance and ranks among the finest theatres in Europe. There are also a theatre (Schauspielhaus) in modern Renaissance style (1899–1902), devoted especially to drama, a splendid concert hall (Saalbau), opened in 1861, and numerous minor places of theatrical entertainment. The public picture gallery in the Saalhof possesses works by Hans Holbein, Grünewald, Van Dyck, Teniers, Van der Neer, Hans von Kulmbach, Lucas Cranach and other masters. The Städel Art Institute (Städel’sches Kunstinstitut) in Sachsenhausen, founded by the banker J. F. Städel in 1816, contains a picture gallery and a cabinet of engravings extremely rich in works of German art. The municipal library, with 300,000 volumes, boasts among its rarer treasures a Gutenberg Bible printed at Mainz between 1450 and 1455, another on parchment dated 1462, the Institutiones Justiniani (Mainz, 1468), the Theuerdank, with woodcuts by Hans Schäufelein, and numerous valuable autographs. It also contains a fine collection of coins. The Bethmann Museum owes its celebrity principally to Dannecker’s “Ariadne,” but it also possesses the original plaster model of Thorwaldsen’s “Entrance of Alexander the Great into Babylon.” There may also be mentioned the Industrial Art Exhibition of the Polytechnic Association and two conservatories of music. Among the scientific institutions the first place belongs to the Senckenberg’sches naturhistorische Museum, containing valuable collections of birds and shells. Next must be mentioned the Kunstgewerbe (museum of arts and crafts) and the Musical Museum, with valuable MSS. and portraits. Besides the municipal library (Stadtbibliothek) mentioned above there are three others of importance, the Rothschild, the Senckenberg and the Jewish library (with a well-appointed reading-room). There are numerous high-grade schools, musical and other learned societies and excellent hospitals. The last include the large municipal infirmary and the Senckenberg’sches Stift, a hospital and almshouses founded by a doctor, Johann C. Senckenberg (d. 1772). The Royal Institute for experimental therapeutics (Königl. Institut für experimentelle Therapie), moved to Frankfort in 1899, attracts numerous foreign students, and is especially concerned with the study of bacteriology and serums.

Bridges.—Seven bridges (of which two are railway) cross the Main. The most interesting of these is the Alte Mainbrücke, a red sandstone structure of fourteen arches, 815 ft. long, dating from the 14th century. On it are a mill, a statue of Charlemagne and an iron crucifix surmounted by a gilded cock. The latter commemorates, according to tradition, the fowl which was the first living being to cross the bridge and thus fell a prey to the devil, who in hope of a nobler victim had sold his assistance to the architect. Antiquaries, however, assert that it probably marks the spot where criminals were in olden times flung into the river. Other bridges are the Obermainbrücke of five iron arches, opened in 1878; an iron foot (suspension) bridge, the Untermainbrücke; the Wilhelmsbrücke, a fine structure, which from 1849 to 1890 served as a railway bridge and was then opened as a road bridge; and two new iron bridges at Gutleuthof and Niederrad (below the city), which carry the railway traffic from the south to the north bank of the Main, where all lines converge in a central station of the Prussian state railways. This station, which was built in 1883–1888 and has replaced the three stations belonging to private companies, which formerly stood in juxtaposition on the Anlagen (or promenades) near the Mainzer Tor, lies some half-mile to the west. The intervening ground upon which the railway lines and buildings stood was sold for building sites, the sum obtained being more than sufficient to cover the cost of the majestic central terminus (the third largest in the world), which, in addition to spacious and handsome halls for passenger accommodation, has three glass-covered spans of 180 ft. width each. Yet the exigencies of traffic demand further extensions, and another large station was in 1909 in process of construction at the east end of the city, devised to receive the local traffic of lines running eastward, while a through station for the north to south traffic was projected on a site farther west of the central terminus.

Frankfort lies at the junction of lines of railway connecting it directly with all the important cities of south and central Germany. Here cross and unite the lines from Berlin to Basel, from Cologne to Würzburg and Vienna, from Hamburg and Cassel, and from Dresden and Leipzig to France and Switzerland. The river Main has been dredged so as to afford heavy barge traffic with the towns of the upper Main and with the Rhine, and cargo boats load and unload alongside its busy quays. A well-devised system of electric tramways provides for local communication within the city and with the outlying suburbs.

Trade, Commerce and Industries.—Frankfort has always been more of a commercial than an industrial town, and though of late years it has somewhat lost its pre-eminent position as a banking centre it has counterbalanced the loss in increased industrial development. The suburbs of Sachsenhausen and Bockenheim have particularly developed considerable industrial activity, especially in publishing and printing, brewing and the manufacture of quinine. Other sources of employment are the cutting of hair for making hats, the production of fancy goods, type, machinery, soap and perfumery, ready-made clothing, chemicals, electro-technical apparatus, jewelry and metal wares. Market gardening is extensively carried on in the neighbourhood and cider largely manufactured. There are two great fairs held in the town,—the Ostermesse, or spring fair, and the Herbstmesse, or autumn fair. The former, which was the original nucleus of all the commercial prosperity of the city, begins on the second Wednesday before Easter; and the latter on the second Wednesday before the 8th of September. They last three weeks, and the last day save one, called the Nickelchestag, is distinguished by the influx of people from the neighbouring country. The trade in leather is of great and growing importance. A horse fair has been held twice a year since 1862 under the patronage of the agricultural society; and the wool market was reinstituted in 1872 by the German Trade Society (Deutscher Handelsverein). Frankfort has long been famous as one of the principal banking centres of Europe, and is now only second to Berlin, in this respect, among German cities, and it is remarkable for the large business that is done in government stock. In the 17th century the town was the seat of a great book-trade; but it has long been distanced in this department by Leipzig. The Frankfurter Journal was founded in 1615, the Postzeitung in 1616, the Neue Frankfurter Zeitung in 1859, and the Frankfurter Presse in 1866.

Of memorial monuments the largest and most elaborate in Frankfort is that erected in 1858 in honour of the early German printers. It was modelled by Ed. von der Launitz and executed by Herr von Kreis. The statues of Gutenberg, Fust and Schöffer form a group on the top; an ornamented frieze presents medallions of a number of famous printers; below these are figures representing the towns of Mainz, Strassburg, Venice and Frankfort; and on the corners of the pedestal are allegorical statues of theology, poetry, science and industry. The statue of Goethe (1844) in the Goetheplatz is by Ludwig von Schwanthaler. The Schiller statue, erected in 1863, is the work of a Frankfort artist, Johann Dielmann. A monument in the Bockenheim Anlage, dated 1837, preserves the memory of Guiollett, the burgomaster, to whom the town is mainly indebted for the beautiful promenades which occupy the site of the old fortifications; and similar monuments have been reared to Senckenberg (1863), Schopenhauer, Klemens Brentano the poet and Samuel Thomas Sömmerring (1755–1830), the anatomist and inventor of an electric telegraph. In the Opernplatz is an equestrian statue of the emperor Wilhelm I. by Buscher.

Cemeteries.—The new cemetery (opened in 1828) contains the graves of Arthur Schopenhauer and Feuerbach, of Passavant the biographer of Raphael, Ballenberger the artist, Hessemer the architect, Sömmerring, and Johann Friedrich Böhmer the historian. The Bethmann vault attracts attention by three bas-reliefs from the chisel of Thorwaldsen; and the Reichenbach mausoleum is a vast pile designed by Hessemer at the command of William II. of Hesse, and adorned with sculptures by Zwerger and von der Lausitz. In the Jewish section, which is walled off from the rest of the burying-ground, the most remarkable tombs are those of the Rothschild family.

Parks.—In addition to the park in the south-western district, Frankfort possesses two delightful pleasure grounds, which attract large numbers of visitors, the Palmengarten in the west and the zoological garden in the east of the city. The former is remarkable for the collection of palms purchased in 1868 from the deposed duke Adolph of Nassau.

Government.—The present municipal constitution of the city dates from 1867 and presents some points of difference from the ordinary Prussian system. Bismarck was desirous of giving the city, in view of its former freedom, a more liberal constitution than is usual in ordinary cases. Formerly fifty-four representatives were elected, but provision was made (in the constitution) for increasing the number, and they at present number sixty-four, elected for six years. Every two years a third of the number retire, but they are eligible for re-election. These sixty-four representatives elect twenty town-councillors, ten of whom receive a salary and ten do not. The chief burgomaster (Oberbürgermeister) is nominated by the emperor for twelve years, and the second burgomaster must receive the emperor’s approval.

Since 1885 the city has been supplied with water of excellent quality from the Stadtwald, Goldstein and Hinkelstein, and the favourable sanitary condition of the town is seen in the low death rate.

Population.—The population of Frankfort has steadily increased since the beginning of the 19th century; it amounted in 1817 to 41,458; (1840) 55,269; (1864) 77,372; (1871) 59,265; (1875) 103,136; (1890) 179,985; and (1905), including the incorporated suburban districts, 334,951, of whom 175,909 were Protestants, 88,457 Roman Catholics and 21,974 Jews.

History.—Excavations around the cathedral have incontestably proved that Frankfort-on-Main (Trajectum ad Moenum) was a settlement in Roman times and was probably founded in the 1st century of the Christian era. It may thus be accounted one of the earliest German—the so-called “Roman”—towns. Numerous places in the valley of the Main are mentioned in chronicles anterior to the time that Frankfort is first noticed. Disregarding popular tradition, which connects the origin of the town with a legend that Charlemagne, when retreating before the Saxons, was safely conducted across the river by a doe, it may be asserted that the first genuine historical notice of the town occurs in 793, when Einhard, Charlemagne’s biographer, tells us that he spent the winter in the villa Frankonovurd. Next year there is mention more than once of a royal palace here, and the early importance of the place is indicated by the fact that in this year it was chosen as the seat of the ecclesiastical council by which image-worship was condemned. The name Frankfort is also found in several official documents of Charlemagne’s reign; and from the notices that occur in the early chronicles and charters it would appear that the place was the most populous at least of the numerous villages of the Main district. During the Carolingian period it was the seat of no fewer than 16 imperial councils or colloquies. The town was probably at first built on an island in the river. It was originally governed by the royal officer or actor dominicus, and down even to the close of the Empire it remained a purely imperial or royal town. It gradually acquired various privileges, and by the close of the 14th century the only mark of dependence was the payment of a yearly tax. Louis the Pious dwelt more frequently at Frankfort than his father Charlemagne had done, and about 823 he built himself a new palace, the basis of the later Saalhof. In 822 and 823 two great diets were held in the palace, and at the former there were present deputies from the eastern Slavs, the Avars and the Normans. The place continued to be a favourite residence with Louis the German, who died there in 876, and was the capital of the East Frankish kingdom. By the rest of the Carolingian kings it was less frequently visited, and this neglect was naturally greater during the period of the Saxon and Salic emperors from 919 to 1137. Diets, however, were held in the town in 951, 1015, 1069 and 1109, and councils in 1000 and 1006. From a privilege of Henry IV., in 1074, granting the city of Worms freedom from tax in their trade with several royal cities, it appears that Frankfort was even then a place of some commercial importance.

Under the Hohenstaufens many brilliant diets were held within its walls. That of 1147 saw, also, the first election of a German king at Frankfort, in the person of Henry, son of Conrad III. But as the father outlived the son, it was Frederick I., Barbarossa, who was actually the first reigning king to be elected here (in 1152). With the beginning of the 13th century the municipal constitution appears to have taken definite shape. The chief official was the royal bailiff (Schultheiss), who is first mentioned in 1193, and whose powers were subsequently enlarged by the abolition, in 1219, of the office of the royal Vogt or advocatus. About this time a body of Schöffen (scabini, jurats), fourteen in number, was formed to assist in the control of municipal affairs, and with their appointment the first step was taken towards civic representative government. Soon, however, the activity of the Schöffen became specifically confined to the determination of legal disputes, and in their place a new body (Collegium) of counsellors—Ratmannen—also fourteen in number, was appointed for the general administration of local matters. In 1311, the two burgomasters, now chiefs of the municipality, take the place of the royal Schultheiss. In the 13th century, the Frankfort Fair, which is first mentioned in 1150, and the origin of which must have been long anterior to that date, is referred to as being largely frequented. No fewer than 10 new churches were erected in the years from 1220 to 1270. It was about the same period, probably in 1240, that the Jews first settled in the town. In the contest which Louis the Bavarian maintained with the papacy Frankfort sided with the emperor, and it was consequently placed under an interdict for 20 years from 1329 to 1349. On Louis’ death it refused to accept the papal conditions of pardon, and only yielded to Charles IV., the papal nominee, when Günther of Schwarzburg thought it more prudent to abdicate in his favour. Charles granted the city a full amnesty, and confirmed its liberties and privileges.

By the famous Golden Bull of 1356 Frankfort was declared the seat of the imperial elections, and it still preserves an official contemporaneous copy of the original document as the most precious of the eight imperial bulls in its possession. From the date of the bull to the close of the Empire Frankfort retained the position of “Wahlstadt,” and only five of the two-and-twenty monarchs who ruled during that period were elected elsewhere. In 1388–1389 Frankfort assisted the South German towns in their wars with the princes and nobles (the Städtekrieg), and in a consequent battle with the troops of the Palatinate, the town banner was lost and carried to Kronberg, where it was long preserved as a trophy. On peace being concluded in 1391, the town had to pay 12,562 florins, and this brought it into great financial difficulties. In the course of the next 50 years debt was contracted to the amount of 126,772 florins. The diet at Worms in 1495 chose Frankfort as the seat of the newly instituted imperial chamber, or “Reichskammergericht,” and it was not till 1527 that the chamber was removed to Spires. At the Reformation Frankfort heartily joined the Protestant party, and in consequence it was hardly treated both by the emperor Charles V. and by the archbishop of Mainz. It refused to subscribe the Augsburg Recess, but at the same time it was not till 1536 that it was persuaded to join the League of Schmalkalden. On the failure of this confederation it opened its gates to the imperial general Büren on the 29th of December 1546, although he had passed by the city, which he considered too strong for the forces under his command. The emperor was merciful enough to leave it in possession of its privileges, but he inflicted a fine of 80,000 gold gulden, and until October 1547 the citizens had to endure the presence of from 8000 to 10,000 soldiers. This resulted in a pestilence which not only lessened the population, but threatened to give the death-blow to the great annual fairs; and at the close of the war it was found that it had cost the city no less than 228,931 gulden. In 1552 Frankfort was invested for three weeks by Maurice of Saxony, who was still in arms against the emperor Charles V., but it continued to hold out till peace was concluded between the principal combatants. Between 1612 and 1616 occurred the great Fettmilch insurrection, perhaps the most remarkable episode in the internal history of Frankfort. The magistracy had been acquiring more and more the character of an oligarchy; all power was practically in the hands of a few closely-related families; and the gravest peculation and malversation took place without hindrance. The ordinary citizens were roused to assert their rights, and they found a leader in Vincenz Fettmilch, who carried the contest to dangerous excesses, but lacked ability to bring it to a successful issue. An imperial commission was ultimately appointed, and the three principal culprits and several of their associates were executed in 1616. It was not till 1801 that the last mouldering head of the Fettmilch company dropped unnoticed from the Rententurm, the old tower near the bridge. In the words of Dr Kriegk, Geschichte von Frankfurt, (1871), the insurrection completely destroyed the political power of the gilds, gave new strength to the supremacy of the patriciate, and brought no further advantage to the rest of the citizens than a few improvements in the organization and administration of the magistracy. The Jews, who had been attacked by the popular party, were solemnly reinstated by imperial command in all their previous privileges, and received full compensation for their losses.

During the Thirty Years’ War Frankfort did not escape. In 1631 Gustavus Adolphus garrisoned it with 600 men, who remained in possession till they were expelled four years later by the imperial general Lamboy. In 1792 the citizens had to pay 2,000,000 gulden to the French general Custine; and in 1796 Kléber exacted 8,000,000 francs. The independence of Frankfort was brought to an end in 1806, on the formation of the Confederation of the Rhine; and in 1810 it was made the capital of the grand-duchy of Frankfort, which had an area of 3215 sq. m. with 302,100 inhabitants, and was divided into the four districts of Frankfort, Aschaffenburg, Fulda and Hanau. On the reconstitution of Germany in 1815 it again became a free city, and in the following year it was declared the seat of the German Confederation. In April 1833 occurred what is known as the Frankfort Insurrection (Frankfurter Attentat), in which a number of insurgents led by Georg Bunsen attempted to break up the diet. The city joined the German Zollverein in 1836. During the revolutionary period of 1848 the people of Frankfort, where the united German parliament held its sessions, took a chief part in political movements, and the streets of the town were more than once the scene of conflict. In the war of 1866 they were on the Austrian side. On the 16th of July the Prussian troops, under General Vogel von Falkenstein, entered the town, and on the 18th of October it was formally incorporated with the Prussian state. A fine of 6,000,000 florins was exacted. In 1871 the treaty which concluded the Franco-German War was signed in the Swan Hotel by Prince Bismarck and Jules Favre, and it is consequently known as the peace of Frankfort.

Authorities.—F. Rittweger, Frankfurt im Jahre 1848 (1898); R. Jung, Das historische Archiv der Stadt Frankfurt (1897); A. Horne, Geschichte von Frankfurt (4th ed., 1903); H. Grotefend, Quellen zur Frankfürter Geschichte (Frankfort, 1884–1888); J. C. von Fichard, Die Entstehung der Reichsstadt Frankfurt (Frankfort, 1819); G. L. Kriegk, Geschichte von Frankfurt (Frankfort, 1871); J. F. Böhmer, Urkundenbuch der Reichsstadt Frankfurt (new ed., 1901); B. Weber, Zur Reformationsgeschichte der freien Reichsstadt Frankfurt (1895); O. Speyer, Die Frankfurter Revolution 1612–1616 (1883); and L. Woerl, Guide to Frankfort (Leipzig, 1898).