Franconia 2731994); John Moorman, A History of the Franciscan Order
from Its Origins to the Year 1517 (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1968).
Francis of Assisi, Saint (Giovanni di Pietro di
Bernardone, Il Poverello)(1181/82–1226) Italian mys-
tic, founder of the Franciscans
His father called him Francis, although he was given the
name Giovanni when he was baptized in ASSISIin central
ITA LY in 1181/82. His father, Pietro di Bernardone, was
married to a woman from PROVENCEand was a successful
and rich cloth merchant. Francis grew up with a love of
fine clothes and pleasure. He caroused with the other
young men of the town, enjoying courtly good times,
good food and drink, singing, and dancing. When Francis
was 20, he was taken prisoner in a war between Assisi and
Perugia. A year later, much sobered by jail and sickness,
he underwent several religious experiences in quick suc-
cession. In one of these, while he was praying in the
decrepit chapel of San Damiano outside Assisi, he heard a
voice from the CRUCIFIXtelling him, “Go repair my house,
which is falling in ruins.” Taking this literally, Francis
quickly returned to Assisi, sold his horse and some cloth
from his father’s shop, and returned to give the money to
the priest at San Damiano. His father, furious at Francis’s
squandering of money on churches and beggars, hauled
him before the bishop to restore him to his senses.
According to tradition, when the hearing began, Francis
dramatically took off all his clothes and gave them to his
father, saying he was now recognizing only his Father in
heaven, not his father on Earth. His life from this time on
was lived with limited money and family ties.
PATH TOWARD SAINTHOODA number of the young men of Assisi, attracted by Fran-
cis’s example of evangelical poverty, joined him in this
new way of life. In 1209/10 Francis and his companions
went to ROME, where they presented their almost hereti-
cal but orthodox ideas to Pope INNOCENTIII and received
his approval in acknowledgment of their statement of
obedience to the pope. They found themselves influenc-
ing more and more people, including a woman named
CLARE, whom Francis helped to enter a monastery of
NUNS and who later began the FRANCISCANorder for
women.
In 1212 Francis left for the HOLYLAND. His ship ran
into bad weather, and he had to return to Italy. Two years
later his adventurous spirit and missionary zeal drove
him to try to go to Spain to convert Muslims, but sick-
ness prevented him from completing the trip. He tried
once more, in 1219, this time traveling to EGYPTwith the
CRUSADERS. At the siege of Damietta, Francis boldly
walked through the battle lines into the camp of the Mus-
lims and met the sultan of Egypt, who, perhaps
impressed with Francis’s ideas about brotherly love and
seeming desire for martyrdom, gave him permission to
continue on to the Holy Land.
When Francis heard that trouble had already started
in Italy among some of his followers, now some 5,000, he
returned home. The group had initially been held together
by his own personality and example, but now Francis saw
the need for a more practical guide to his kind of Chris-
tian life. He insisted that a new rule stress poverty. Francis
went to Rome in 1223 to present this new rule to Pope
Honorius III (r. 1216–27), who approved it.
Francis returned to Assisi and began to withdraw
from his order and to spend more and more time alone at
nearby Alverna, in PRAYER, leaving the decisions about
the Franciscan Order to others. While he was praying on
a mountain in 1224, he had a vision of an angelic figure.
When the vision disappeared, Francis felt Christ’s
wounds, or the stigmata, in his hands, side, and feet.
However, he was careful and humble enough not to show
them. His last two years were lived in almost constant
pain and near-blindness. He died on October 3, 1226,
and two years later he was canonized as a saint by his old
friend Pope GREGORYIX.
See alsoBONAVENTURE,SAINT;CLARE OFASSISI,SAINT;
CHARITY ANDPOVERTY;SPIRITUALFRANCISCANS.
Further reading:Francis of Assisi, The Writings of St.
Francis of Assisi, ed. Bene Fahy (Chicago: Franciscan
Herald Press, 1963); Chiara Frugoni, Francis of Assisi: A
Life,trans. John Bowden (New York: Continuum, 1998);
Richard C. Trexler, Naked before the Father: The Renuncia-
tion of Francis of Assisi(Los Angeles: Center for Medieval
and Renaissance Studies, 1989).Franconia(Franken) Medieval Franconia was a coun-
try in central GERMANYlocated between the Fulda River
to the north and the Neckar River to the south. Its name
was based on the seventh-century conquest and settle-
ment by the FRANKS. In 720 Franconia was annexed to
the royal demesne and became a base for the further
expansion by the CAROLINGIANSinto Germany and SAX-
ONY. The earliest urban centers in Germany, Mainz,
Spires, Worms, and Würzburg, were in Franconia. In the
eighth century these centers were launching pads for the
expansion of Christianity throughout Germany. In 840,
with the establishment of a kingdom of Germany by
Louis the German (r. 840–876), Franconia became one of
its principal duchies along with BAVARIA. Two families of
counts, the Babenbergs, in the valley of the Main River,
and the Conrads, counts of Worms, struggled for the
ducal title. However, the Carolingians maintained a
strong presence. In 906 the Conradines won the struggle
with the election of their leader, Conrad I, as king of
Germany (r. 911–918). The duchy of Franconia was
granted to his brother, Eberhard (r. 935–939, d. 966),
who attempted to rule it independently as duke between
918 and 939.