Frugoni, Chiara. Francis of Assisi, trans. John Bowden. New
York: Continuum, 1998.
Green, Julien. God’s Fool: The Life and Times of Francis of Assisi,
trans. Peter Heinegg. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1986.
Holl, Adolf. The Last Christian: A Biography of Francis of Assisi,
trans. Peter Heinegg. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1980.
Jörgensen, Johannes. Saint Francis of Assisi, a Biography,
trans. T. O’Conor Sloane. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday,
- (Originally published 1932; remains one of the best
accounts.)
Robson, Michael. Saint Francis of Assisi: The Legend and the
Life. London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1997.
Sabatier, Paul. Life of Saint Francis of Assisi, trans. Louise Sey-
mour Houghton. New York: Charles Scribner, 1894. (Marks
the beginning of modern scholarship on Saint Francis.)
Smith, John Holland. Francis of Assisi. New York: Scribner,
Critical Studies
Allen, Paui M., and Joan deRis Allen. Francis of Assisi’s “Can-
ticle of the Creatures”: A Modern Spiritual Path. New York:
Continuum, 1996.
Armstrong, Edward A. Saint Francis: Nature Mystic—The
Derivation and Signifi cance of the Nature Stories in the
Franciscan Legend. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1973. (Addresses both hagiographical literature and
the natural world.)
Boff, Leonardo. Saint Francis: A Model for Human Liberation,
trans. John Diercksmeier. New York: Crossroad, 1982.
Cook, William R. Images of Saint Francis of Assisi in Painting,
Stone, and Glass from the Earliest to c 1320 in Italy: A Cata-
logue. Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 1999.
Doyle, Eric. Saint Francis and the Song of Brotherhood. New
York: Seabury, 1981. (Reinterpretation of Francis’s “Canticle
of the Creatures” for modern times, by a friar.)
DuBois, W. E. B. “Saint Francis of Assisi.” In W. E. B. DuBois:
A Reader, ed. Andrew Paschal. New York: Macmillan, 1971,
pp. 290–302.
Frugoni, Chiara. Francesco e l’invenzione delle Stimmate: Una
storia per parole e immagini fi no a Bonaventura e Giotto.
Turin: Einaudi, 1993.
Hesse, Hermann. Francesco d’Assisi, trans. Barbara Griffi ni.
Parma: Ugo Guanda, 1989.
Kazantzakis, Nikos. Saint Francis, trans. P. A. Bien. New York:
Simon and Schuster, 1962.
McMichaels, Susan W. Journey out of the Garden: Saint Francis
of Assisi and the Process of Individuation. New York: Paulist,
1997.
Peterson, Ingrid J. Clare of Assisi: A Biographical Study. Quincy,
Ill.: Franciscan Press, 1993.
Sorrell, Roger D. Saint Francis of Assisi and Nature: Tradition
and Innovation in Western Christian Attitudes toward the Envi-
ronment. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. (Perhaps
the best scholarly treatment of Francis and nature.)
Thode, Henry. Franz von Assisi und die Anfänge der Kunst der
Renaissance in Italien, 2nd ed. Berlin: G. Grote, 1904.
Trexler, Richard C. Naked Before the Father: The Renunciation
of Francis of Assisi. New York: Peter Lang, 1989.
William R. Cook
FRANCKE, MASTER (ca. 1380–ca. 1440)
A commission from the confraternity of “England-
Travellers,” dated 1424, names Master Francke. It has
been suggested that, although working in a Hamburg
monastery, he was a Dominican monk from Zutphen
in Holland. This is the more plausible, as his intensely
spiritual work differs profoundly from that of Bertram,
the leading master in Hamburg. Francke’s expres-
sive linear style, fi gure canon, and iconography could
derive from the Netherlands and certainly indicate an
acquaintance, around 1415, with French work from the
Boucicaut and Rohan workshops.
Netherlandish infl uences dominate his double-winged
St. Barbara Altarpiece (ca. 1420–1425; Kansallismuseo,
Helsinki), especially in the realism and dramatic force
of the male protagonists. The often friezelike arrange-
ment of the fi gures in the painted martyrdom scenes is
sculptural in character, and the designs in the carved
shrine section have therefore also, controversially, been
attributed to Francke.
The commission of 1424 is thought to relate to the
St. Thomas Altarpiece, completed in 1436, of which
only fragments survive (Kunsthalle, Hamburg). In the
closed state, the altarpiece originally showed scenes
from the childhood of Christ and the martyrdom of
Saint Thomas; when opened, the drama of the passion
of Christ was revealed. Francke employed steep hillside
settings, silhouetted against a starred red ground for the
outside scenes, and a gold ground on the festive side. In
this altarpiece, certain motives, such as the women under
the cross in the Crucifi xion, suggest direct knowledge of
the courtly art of Conrad von Soest. However, Francke
favored poignant drama in contrast to Conrad’s more
lyrical mood.
Francke’s work found numerous followers in Ger-
many, but only in paintings by Rogier van der Weyden
do we fi nd a similar emotive use of line.Further Reading
Corley, Brigitte. Conrad von Soest: Painter among Merchant
Princes. London: Harvey Miller, 1997, pp. 152–156.
Martens, Bella. Meister Francke, 2 vols. Hamburg: Friederichsen,
de Gruyter, 1929.
Meister Francke und die Kunst um 1400. Hamburg: Kunsthalle,
1969.
Pylkkänen, Riitta. Pyhän Barbaran legenda. Helsinki: n. p.,
1966.
Brigitte CorleyFRAU AVA (fl. fi rst half the 12th c.)
Author (“Lady Ava”) of a series of four religious Middle
High German poems, written circa 1120 to 1125, trans-
mitted in two versions known as the Vorauer Handschrift
(manuscript “V”) from the latter half of the twelfth
century, and the missing fourteenth-century Görlitzer
Handschrift (manuscript “G”). Frau Ava’s work, viewed
as a whole, provides a poetic rendering of the history
of salvation. Johannis, the fi rst poem of the series (“G”
version only), begins with John the Baptist’s futureFRANCIS OF ASSISI, SAINT