Part 122

ALSO IN: _J. M. Kemble, The Saxons in England, book 1, chapter 11._

See, also, ALOD.

FOLIGNO, Treaty of.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1800-1801 (JUNE-FEBRUARY).

FOLKLAND.

See FOLCLAND.

FOLKMOOT.

See HUNDRED: also SHIRE; also WITENAGEMOT; also TOWNSHIP AND TOWN-MEETING, THE NEW ENGLAND.

FOLKTHING.--FOLKETING, The.

See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (DENMARK--ICELAND): A. D. 1849-1874.

FOLKUNGAS, The.

See SCANDINAVIAN STATES: A. D. 1018-1397.

FOMORIANS, OR FORMORIANS, The.

A people mentioned in Irish legends as sea-rovers. Mr. Sullivan, in his article on "Celtic Literature" in the Encyclopædia Britannica advances the opinion that the Romans were the people alluded to; but the general view is quite different.

See IRELAND: THE PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS; also, NEMEDIANS.

FONTAINE FRANĆAISE, Battle of (1595).

See FRANCE: A. D. 1593-1598.

FONTAINEBLEAU: A. D. 1812-1814. Residence of the captive Pope.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1808-1814.

FONTAINEBLEAU, Treaties of (1807).

See PORTUGAL: A. D. 1807, and SPAIN: A. D.1807-1808.

FONTAINEBLEAU, Treaties of (1814).

See FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (MARCH-APRIL).

FONTAINEBLEAU DECREE, The.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1806-1810.

FONTARABIA, Siege and Battle (1638).

See SPAIN: A. D. 1637-1640.

FONTENAILLES, OR FONTENAY, Battle of, A. D. 841.

In the civil war between the three grandsons of Charlemagne, which resulted in the partition of his empire and the definite separation of Germany and France, the decisive battle was fought, June 25, 841, at Fontenailles, or Fontenay (Fontanetum), near Auxerre. It was one of the fiercest and bloodiest fights of mediæval times, and 80,000 men are said to have died on the field.

Sir F. Palgrave, History of Normandy and England, book 1, chapter 2.

See FRANKS (CAROLINGIAN EMPIRE): A. D. 814-962.

FONTENOY, Battle of(1745).

See NETHERLANDS (AUSTRIAN PROVINCES): A. D. 1745.

FOOT, The Roman.

"The unit of lineal measure [with the Romans] was the Pes, which occupied the same place in the Roman system as the Foot does in our own. According to the most accurate researches, the Pes was equal to, about 11.64 inches imperial measure, or .97 of an English foot. The Pes being supposed to represent the length of the foot in a well proportioned man, various divisions and multiples of the Pes were named after standards derived from the human frame. Thus: Pes=16 Digiti, i. e. finger-breadths, [or] 4 Palmi, i. e. hand-breadths; Sesquipes=l cubitus, i. e. length from elbow to extremity of middle finger. The Pes was also divided into 12 Pollices, i. e. thumb-joint-lengths, otherwise called Unciae (whence our word 'inch')."

_W. Ramsay, Manual of Roman Antiquity, chapter 13._

FOOTE, Commodore. Gun-boat campaign on the western rivers.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (JANUARY-FEBRUARY: KENTUCKY-TENNESSEE); (MARCH-APRIL: ON THE MISSISSIPPI).

FORBACH, OR SPICHERN, Battle of.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1870 (JULY-AUGUST).

FORCE BILL, The.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1871 (APRIL).

FORESTS, Charter of.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1216-1274.

FORLI, Battle of (1423).

See ITALY: A. D. 1412-1447.

FORMORIANS.

See FOMORIANS.

FORMOSUS, Pope, A. D. 891-896.

FORNUOVA, Battle of (1495).

See ITALY: A. D. 1494-1496.

FORT EDWARD.--FORT ERIE.--FORT FISHER, ETC.

See EDWARD, FORT; ERIE, FORT, ETC.

FORTRENN, Men of.

A Pictish people who figure in early Scottish history, and whom Mr. Rhys derives from the tribe known to the Romans as Verturiones. The western part of Fife was embraced in their kingdom.

_J. Rhys, Celtic Britain, pages 158-159._

FORTUNATE ISLANDS.

See CANARY ISLANDS, DISCOVERY OF.

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FORTY-FIVE, The.

The Jacobite rebellion of 1745 is often referred to as "the Forty-five."

See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1745.

FORTY-SHILLING FREEHOLDERS.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1884-1885.

FORUM, The Julian, and its extensions.

"From the entrance of the Suburra branched out the long streets which penetrated the hollows between the Quirinal, Viminal, and Esquiline to the gates pierced in the mound of Servius. It was in this direction that Cæsar effected the first extension of the Forum, by converting the site of certain streets into an open space which he surrounded with arcades, and in the centre of which he erected his temple of Venus. By the side of the Julian Forum, or perhaps in its rear, Augustus constructed a still ampler inclosure, which he adorned with the temple of Mars the Avenger. Succeeding emperors ... continued to work out the same idea, till the Argiletum on the one hand, and the saddle of the Capitoline and Quirinal, excavated for the purpose, on the other, were both occupied by these constructions, the dwellings of the populace being swept away before them; and a space running nearly parallel to the length of the Roman Forum, and exceeding it in size, was thus devoted to public use, extending from the pillar of Trajan to the basilica of Constantine."

_C. Merivale, History of the Romans, chapter 40._

FORUM BOARIUM AND VELABRUM OF ANCIENT ROME, The.

"The Velabrum, the Forum Boarium, the Vicus Tuscus, and the Circus Maximus are names rich in reminiscences of the romantic youth and warlike manhood of the Roman people. The earliest dawn of Roman history begins with the union of the Capitoline and Palatine hills into one city. In those far-distant times, however, no population was settled in the Velabrum or Circus valley; for, as we have seen, until the drainage was permanently provided for by the cloacæ, these districts were uninhabited swamps; and the name Velabrum itself is said to have been derived from the boats used in crossing from one hill to the other. Perhaps such may not have been the case with the Forum Boarium, which lay between the Velabrum and the river. ... The limits of the Forum Boarium can be clearly defined. It was separated from the Velabrum at the Arch of the Goldsmiths. ... On the south-eastern side the Carceres of the Circus, and the adjoining temple on the site of S. Maria in Cosmedin, bounded the district, on the western the Tiber, and on the north western the wall of Servius. ... The immediate neighbourhood of the river, the Forum, the Campus Martius, and the Palace of the Cæsars would naturally render this quarter one of the most crowded thoroughfares of Rome. ... The Forum itself, which gave the name to the district, was probably an open space surrounded by shops and public buildings, like the Forum Romanum, but on a smaller scale. In the centre stood the bronze figure of a bull, brought from Ægina, either as a symbol of the trade in cattle to which the place owed its name, or, as Tacitus observes, to mark the supposed spot whence the plough of Romulus, drawn by a bull and a cow, first started in tracing out the Palatine pomœrium."

_R. Burn, Rome and the Campagna, chapter 12._

FORUM GALLORUM, Battle of (B. C. 43).

See ROME: B. C. 44-42.

FORUM JULII.

A Roman colony and naval station (modern Frejus) founded on the Mediterranean coast of Gaul by Augustus.

FORUM ROMANUM, The.

"The older Forum, or Forum Romanum, as it was called, to distinguish it from the later Fora, which were named after their respective builders [Forum of Julius Cæsar, of Augustus, of Nerva, of Vespasian, of Trajan, etc.], was an open space of an oblong shape, which extended in a south-easterly direction from near the depression or intermontium between the two summits of the Capitoline hill to a point opposite the still extant temple of Antoninus and Faustina. ... Round this confined space were grouped the most important buildings of Republican Rome."

_R. Burn, Rome and the Campagna, chapter 6, part 1._

"Forum, in the literal sense of the word merely a marketplace, derives its name 'á ferendo,' (from bringing, getting, purchasing). ... Narrow is the arena on which so great a drama was enacted in the Republican and Imperial City! the ascertainable measurements of this region, according to good authorities, being 671 English feet in the extreme length; 202 in the extreme breadth, and 117 feet at the narrower, the south-eastern, side. A wildly picturesque marshy vale, overshadowed by primæval forests, and shut in by rugged heights, was that low ground between the Palatine and Capitoline hills when the 'Roma Quadrata,' ascribed to Romulus, was founded about seven centuries and a half before our era. After the wars and finally confirmed alliance between Romans and Sabines ... the colonists agreed to unite under the same government, and to surround the two cities and two hills with a wider cincture of fortifying walls than those the still extant ruins of which are before us on the Palatine. Now was the swampy waste rendered serviceable for civic purposes; the forest was cut down; the stagnant marshes were drained, the clayey hollows filled up; the wild valley became the appointed arena for popular assemblage; though Dionysius tells us it was for some time on a spot sacred to Vulcan (the 'Vulcanale'), probably a terrace on the slope of the Palatine overlooking the Forum, that the people used to meet for political affairs, elections, etc. During many ages there were, it appears, no habitations save on the hills. ... The Forum, as an enclosed public place amidst buildings, and surrounded by graceful porticos, may be said to have owed its origin to Tarquinius Priscus, between the years 616 and 578 B. C. That king (Livius tells us) was the first who erected porticos around this area, and also divided the ground into lots, where private citizens might build for their own uses. Booths, probably wooden (the 'tabernæ veteres'), were the first rude description of shops here seen. ... Uncertain is the original place of the 'Rostra Veteres'--the ancient tribunal for orators. No permanent tribunal for such purpose is known to have been placed in the Forum till the year of the city 417. ... In the year 336 B. C., the Romans having gained a naval victory over the citizens' of Antium, several of those enemies' ships were burnt, others transported to the Roman docks, and the bronzed prows of the latter were used to decorate a pulpit, now raised for public speaking, probably near the centre of the Forum."

_C. I. Hemans, Historic and Monumental Rome, chapter 6._

ALSO IN: _R. Lanciani, Ancient Rome, pages 75-82._

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FORUM TREBONII, Battle of (A. D. 251).

See GOTHS, FIRST INVASIONS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

FOSI, The.

See CHAUCI.

FOSSA.

See CASTRA.

FOSSE, The.

One of the great Roman roads in Britain, which ran from Lincoln southwestwardly into Cornwall.

See ROMAN ROADS IN BRITAIN.

FOSTAT.

The original name of Cairo, Egypt, signifying "the Encampment."

See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 640-646.

FOTHERINGAY CASTLE, Mary Stuart's execution at.

See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1561-1568; and ENGLAND: A. D. 1585-1587.

FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH, Ponce de Leon's quest of the.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1512.

FOUR HUNDRED AND FIVE THOUSAND AT ATHENS.

See ATHENS: B. C. 413-411.

FOUR HUNDRED AT ATHENS, The.

See ATHENS: B. C. 594.

FOUR MASTERS, The.

Four Irish antiquaries of 17th century, who compiled the mixed collection of legend and history called the "Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland," are commonly known as the Four Masters. They were Michael O'Clery, a lay brother of the order of St. Francis; Conaire O'Clery, brother of Michael; Cucogry or Peregrine O'Clery, head of the Tirconnell sept of the O'Clerys, to which Michael and Conaire belonged; and Ferfeasa O'Mulconry, of whom nothing is known, except that he was a native of the county of Roscommon. The "Annals" of the Four Masters have been translated into English from the Irish tongue by John O'Donovan.

_J. O'Donovan, Introduction to Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters._

FOUR MILE STRIP, Cession of the.

See PONTIAC'S WAR.

FOURMIGNY, Battle of (1449).

See FRANCE: A. D. 1431-1453.

FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1865-1866 (DECEMBER-APRIL); 1866 (JUNE); 1866-1867 (OCTOBER-MARCH).

FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT: The enforcement of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1871 (APRIL).

FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT: End----------

FOURTH OF JULY.

The anniversary of the adoption of the American Declaration of Independence.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1776 (JULY).

FOWEY, Essex's surrender at.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1644 (AUGUST-SEPTEMBER).

FOWLTOWN, Battle of (1817).

See FLORIDA: A. D. 1816-1818.

FOX AND NORTH COALITION, The.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1782; 1783; and 1783-1787.

FOX INDIANS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY, and SACS, &c.

For an account of the massacre of Fox Indians at Detroit in 1712,

See CANADA: A. D. 1711-1713.

For an account of the Black Hawk War,

See ILLINOIS: A.. D. 1832.

FRANCE: Gallic and Roman.

See GAUL. A. D. 481-843.

FRANCE: Under the Franks, to the division of the Empire of Charlemagne.

See FRANKS.

FRANCE: A. D. 841-911. Ravages and settlements of the Northmen.

See NORMANS: A. D. 841 to 876-911.

FRANCE: 9th Century. Introduction of the modern name.

At the time of the division of the empire of Charlemagne between his three grand-sons, which was made a definite and lasting political separation by the Treaty of Verdun, A. D. 843, "the people of the West [western Europe] had come to be divided, with more and more distinctness, into two classes, those composed of Franks and Germans, who still adhered to the Teutonic dialects, and those, composed of Franks, Gallo-Romans, and Aquitanians, who used the Romance dialects, or the patois which had grown out of a corrupted Latin. The former clung to the name of Germans, while the latter, not to lose all share in the glory of the Frankish name, began to call themselves Franci, and their country Francia Nova, or New France. ... Francia was the Latin name of Frankenland, and had long before been applied to the dominions of the Franks on both sides of the Rhine. Their country was then divided into East and West Francia; but in the time of Karl the Great [Charlemagne] and Ludwig Pious, we find the monk of St. Gall using the terms Francia Nova, in opposition to the Francia, 'quæ dicitur antiqua.'"

_P. Godwin, History of France: Ancient Gaul, chapter 18, with note._

"As for the mere name of Francia, like other names of the kind, it shifted its geographical use according to the wanderings of the people from whom it was derived. After many such changes of meaning, it gradually settled down as the name for those parts of Germany and Gaul where it still abides. There are the Teutonic or Austrian [or Austrasian] Francia, part of which still keeps the name of Franken or Franconia, and the Romance or Neustrian Francia, which by various annexations has grown into modern France."

_E. A. Freeman, Historical Geography of Europe, volume 1, page 121._

"As late as the reign of Frederick Barbarossa, the name of Frank was still used, and used too with an air of triumph, as equivalent to the name of German. The Kings and kingdoms of this age had indeed no fixed titles, because all were still looked on as mere portions of the great Frankish realm. Another step has now been taken towards the creation of modern France; but the older state of things has not yet wholly passed away. Germany has no definite name; for a long time it is 'Francia Orientalis,' 'Francia Teutonica'; then it becomes 'Regnum Teutonicum,' 'Regnum Teutonicorum.' But it is equally clear that, within the limits of that Western or Latin France, Francia and Francus were fast getting their modern meanings of France and Frenchmen, as distinguished from Frank or German."

_E. A. Freeman, The Franks and the Gauls (Historical Essays, 1st series, number 7)._

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FRANCE: A. D. 843. The kingdom of Charles the Bald.

The first actual kingdom of France (Francia Nova--Francia Occidentalis), was formed in the partition of the empire of Charlemagne between his three grandsons, by the Treaty of Verdun, A. D. 843. It was assigned to Charles, called "the Bald," and comprised the Neustria of the older Frank divisions, together with Aquitaine. It "had for its eastern boundary, the Meuse, the Saône and the Rhone; which, nevertheless, can only be understood of the Upper Meuse, since Brabant was certainly not comprised in it"; and it extended southwards beyond the Pyrenees to the Ebro.

_H. Hallam, The Middle Ages, chapter 1, part 1, footnote._

"Charles and his successors have some claim to be accounted French. They rule over a large part of France, and are cut away from their older connexion with Germany. Still, in reality they are Germans and Franks. They speak German, they yearn after the old imperial name, they have no national feeling at all. On the other hand, the great lords of Neustria, as it used to be called, are ready to move in that direction, and to take the first steps towards a new national life. They cease to look back to the Rhine, and occupy themselves in a continual struggle with their kings. Feudal power is founded, and with it the claims of the bishops rise to their highest point. But we have not yet come to a kingdom of France. ... It was no proper French kingdom; but a dying branch of the Empire of Charles the Great. ... Charles the Bald, entering on his part of the Caroling Empire, found three large districts which refused to recognise him. These were Aquitaine, whose king was Pippin II.; Septimania, in the hands of Bernard; and Brittany under Nominoë. He attempted to reduce them; but Brittany and Septimania defied him, while over Aquitaine he was little more than a nominal suzerain."

_G. W. Kitchin, History of France, volume 1, book 2, part 2, chapter 5._

ALSO IN: _E. A. Freeman, Historical Geography of Europe, chapter 6, section 1._

See, also, FRANKS (CAROLINGIAN EMPIRE): A. D. 814-962.

A Logical Outline of French History

(Red) Physical or material. (Blue) Ethnologilcal. (Green) Social and political. (Brown) Intellectual, moral and religious. (Black) Foreign.

IN WHICH THE DOMINANT CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES ARE DISTINGUISHED BY COLORS.

The country known anciently as Gaul, and in modern times as France, is distinguished by no physical characteristics that will go far towards explaining its history. Lying within the middle degrees of the northern temperate zone, greatly diversified in its superficial features, and varied in the qualities of its soil, it represents a fair average of the more favorable conditions of human life.

The Gauls.

The inhabitants of the land when the Romans subdued it were a Celtic people, belonging to the race which has survived to the present day with least admixture or modification in the Bretons, the Welsh, the Celtic Irish and the Highland Scotch. The peculiar traits of the race in mind and temper are so visible in French history as to show that the nation has never ceased to be essentially Gallic in blood.

B. C. 51-A. D. 406; Roman Gaul.

Under the control and the teaching of Rome for four centuries and a half, the Gauls were perfected in her civilization and corrupted by the vices of her decay.

5th Century; Frank Conquest.

When the invasion of Teutonic barbarism broke the barrier of the Rhine, they were easily but not quickly overwhelmed, and sank under a conquest more complete than that from Rome had been; since the whole body of the conquerors came to dwell within the land, and to be neighbors and masters, at once. For the most part, these invaders preferred country to town, and carved estates for themselves in all the districts that were fertile and fair. The Gallo-Romans, or Romanized Gauls, were left to more freedom in their cities than outside; but their cities were blighted in industry and in trade by the common ruin around them. In the rural districts, few liberties or rights were preserved for the subjugated race.

Feudalism.

The form of society which the German conquerors brought with them into Gaul was broken by the change of circumstance, quite as much as the form of society which they overthrew. The camp gave place to the castle; the wandering war-chief acquired the firmer superiority of a great land-proprietor and lord; his warriors slipped in station from free followers to dependents, in divers degrees; the greater chiefs won the title of kings; the fiercer kings destroyed their rivals; and four or five centuries shaped, by slow processes that are traceable, indistinctly, the military structure of society called Feudal, which organized lawlessness with picturesque and destructive effects.

A. D. 481-752. Merovingian monarchy. A. D. 768-814. Empire of Charlemagne.

All authority withered, except the spiritual authority of the Church, which steadily grew. The royalty that had thrived for a time upon the distribution of lands, dignities and powers, lost prestige when it had expended the domains at its disposal, and when offices and estates were clutched in hereditary possession. Before it actually expired, there arose a family of remarkable men--great in four successive generations--who put its crown upon their own heads and made it powerful again. The last and greatest of these expanded the Frank kingdom into a new Roman Empire; but the energy of the achievement was wholly his own, and his empire fell to pieces when he died.

A. D. 987. Kingdom of Hugh Capet. 11th-12th centuries. Enfranchisement of the Communes.

In the part which became France, royalty dwindled once more; the great dukes and counts nominally subject to it, in the feudal sense, renewed and increased their power; until one of their number took the throne, and bequeathed it to his heirs.

This new line of kings won back by degrees the ascendancy of the crown. The small actual dominion, surrounding Paris, with which they began, was widened slowly by the strong, authoritative arm. They made themselves, in rude fashion, the champions of order and law. They took the people of the towns into alliance with them; for the towns were beginning to catch the spirit of the free cities of Italy, and the sturdy temper of the Flemish burghers, and to assume the name of "communes," or commons, casting off the feudal yoke that had been laid upon them. The kings lent their countenance to the communes, and the communes strengthened the hands of the kings. Between them and much helped by the stir of the Crusades, they loosened the roots of feudalism, until its decay set in. The king's courts and the king's officers pushed their jurisdiction into a widening realm, until the king's authority had become supreme, in fact as well as in name.

Even the measureless misery of a hundred years of war with English kings brought power, in the end, to the crown, by weakening the greater lords, and by bringing into existence a fixed military force.

A. D. 1337-1453. Hundred Years War.

Happy accidents, shrewd marriages, and cunning intrigues gathered the great dukedoms, one by one, into the royal domain, and the solidarity of modern France was attained.