Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/827

F ll F It 71) 1 Bodgaud, who fell a victim to his opposition to Charlemagne; their names and exploits may be read in Paul us Diaconus. The discovery, however, of Gisulf s grave at Cividale, in 187 4-, is interesting as proof of the historian s authenticity. Charlemagne naturally filled llodgaud s place with one of his own followers, and the frontier position of Friuli gave the new line of counts, dukes, or margraves (for they are variously designated) the opportunity of acquiring import ance by exploits against the Bulgarians, Slovenians, and other hostile peoples to the east. In the llth century the ducal rights over the greater part of Friuli were bestowed by the emperor on the archbishop of Aquileia; but towards the close of the 14th century the nobles called in the assistance of Venice, which, after defeating the archbishop, afforded a new illustration of ^Esop s well-known fable, by securing possession of the country for itself. The eastern part of Friuli was held by the counts of Gortz till 1500, when on the failure of their line it was appropriated by Maximilian I. By the peace of Campo Fonnio (1797) the Venetian district also came to Austria, and on the formation of the Napoleonic kingdom of Italy in 1805, the department of Passariano was made to include the whole of Venetian and part of Austrian Friuli, and a few years later the rest was added to the Illyrian provinces. The title of duke of Friuli was borne by Marshal Duroc. In 1814 the whole country was recovered by the emperor of Austria, who himself assumed the ducal title and coat of arms; and it was not till 1866 that the Venetian portion was again ceded to Italy by the peace of Nikolsburg. See IT. Piilladius, Rcrum Foro-Juliensium Libri .XT /., Udine, 1659 ; Pallailio degli Olivi, Historia dclla provincia del Friuli, Udine, 16*50 ; Memoric dclla gcografia antica del Friuli, Udine, 1775-1778 ; Gio. Lirati, A T oti~ie dclle Cose del Friuli, Udine, 1776-1777; Bianchi, Documenti per la storia del Friuli, 1317-1332, Udine, 1844-45, 3 vols., anil his Documcnta historica Forojulicnsia scculi XIII., Vienna, 1861; Cznernig " Ueber Friuli, seine Geschichte, Sprache, und Alterthiimer," in the Sitzungsbcrichtc der philos.-hist. Olasse, Vienna, vol. x., 1853; Foscolo, Relatione dclla pat ria del Friuli, Venice, 185G. FIIOBEN", JOANNES (Latinized n&meFrobenius), aGerman printer and scholar, was born at Hammelburg in Franconia about 1460. After completing his university career with great distinction at Basel, he established a printing office in that city about the year 1491, and was the first German who brought the art to anything like perfection. He was on inti mate terms of friendship with Erasmus, who not only had his own works printed by him, but superintended Frobenius s editions of St Jerome, St Cyprian, Tertullian, Hilary of Poitiers, and St Ambrose. It was part of Frobenius s plan to have printed also editions of the Greek Fathers. He did not Jive to carry out this project, but it was very creditably executed by his son Jerome and his son-in-law Bisschop or Episcopius. Frobenius died in 1527, in consequence of an accident which had befallen him some years before. An extant letter of Erasmus, written in the year of Frobenius s death, gives an epitome of his life and an estimate of his character; and in it Erasmus mentions that his grief for the death of his friend was far more poignant than that which he had felt for the loss of his own brother. The epistle concludes with an epitaph in Greek and Latin. FROBISHER, SIR MARTIN (c. 1535-1594), English navigator and explorer, was the fourth child of Bernard Frobisher, and was born, it is usually stated, at Doncaster, but more probably at Altofts in the parish of Normanton, Yorkshire, some time between 1530 and 1540. The family came originally from North Wales. Martin was sent to London to his mother s brother, Sir John York, and in 1554 went with a small fleet of merchant ships to Guinea under Admiral John Lock. We next hear of him in 1565 as Captain Martin Frobisher, and again in 1571 as superin tending at Plymouth the building of a ship to be employed against the Irish. As early as 1560 or 1561 Frobisher had conceived the idea of discovering a north-west passage to Cathay, a short route to which was the motive of most of the Arctic voyages undertaken at that period and for long after. For years he schemed and plotted, and solicited in all quarters, from the court downwards, to obtain means to carry his favourite project into execution; and it was only in 1576 that, mainly by help of the earl of Warwick, he was put in command of two tiny barks, the "Gabriel "and " Michael," mere cockle shells of about 20 tons each, and a pinnace of 10 tons, with an aggregate crew of 35. On June 7 Frobisher left Blackwall, and having received a good word from Queen Elizabeth at Greenwich, the expedition, if we may apply to it so considerable a term, sailed north wards to the Shetland Islands. Stormy weather had been met with, in which the pinnace was lost, and sometime after the "Michael" deserted. After passing Greenland and being nearly wrecked, the " Gabriel " reached the coast of Labrador on July 28. Some days later Hall s Island, at the mouth of Frobisher Bay, was reached, and a landing effected. Among the things hastily brought away by the men was some "black earth," which played an important part in connexion with Frobisher s further career. Sailing up ! Frobisher Bay, then thought to be a strait, they reached ! Butcher s Island on August 18. Here some natives were ! met with, and intercourse carried on with them for some days, the result being that five of Frobisher s men were decoyed and captured, and never more seen. After vainly trying to get back his men, Frobisher turned homewards, and reached London on October 9. It seemed as if , nothing more was to come of this expedition, when it was j noised abroad that the apparently valueless " black earth" was really a lump of gold ore. It is difficult to say how this rumour arose, and whether there was any truth in it, or whether Frobisher was a party to a deception, in order to obtain means to carry out the great idea of his life. The . story, at any rate, was so far successful ; the greatest en- | thusiasm was manifested by the court and the commercial and speculating world of the time ; and next year a much more important expedition than the former was fitted j out, the queen lending Frobisher from the royal navy a ship of 200 tons. A Cathay company was established, with a charter from the crown, giving the company the sole right of sailing in every direction but the east ; Frobisher was appointed high admiral of all lands and waters that might be discovered by him. The queen her self subscribed .1000, and the rest required was soon forthcoming. On May 26, 1577, the expedition, which, besides the royal ship, the " Aid " of 200 tons, consisted of the "Gabriel" and "Michael" of the previous year, with boats and pinnaces and an aggregate complement of 120 men, including miners, refiners, &c., left Blackwall, and sailing by the north of Scotland, arrived at Greenland early in July. Hall s Island was reached on the 18th, and though no more "black earth" was found there, abundance of it was found on other islands, and the ships well loaded with it. The country around, under the name of Meta Incognita, was solemnly taken possession of in the queen s name. Several weeks were spent in Frobisher | Bay collecting ore, but very little was done in the way of discovery. There was much parleying and some skirmish ing with the natives, and earnest but futile attempts made, on the part of Frobisher to recover the men captured the previous year. The return was begun on August 22, and the "Aid" reached Milford Haven on September 20; the " Gabriel " and " Michael," having separated, arrived later at Bristol and Yarmouth. Frobisher was received and thanked by the queen at Windsor. Great preparations were made and considerable expense incurred for the assay ing of the great quantity of " oro " brought home, in the