Francke, August Hermann [key], 1663–1727, German Protestant minister and philanthropist. In 1686, encouraged by Philipp Jakob Spener, he helped found the Collegium philobiblicum for the systematic study of the Scriptures. He became a leading exponent of Pietism c.1689 and from 1692 served as professor at the Univ. of Halle and as pastor in a nearby town. He found (1695) at Halle the Francke Institutes, which started with a paupers' school at his parsonage. It grew rapidly, and by Francke's death, more than 2,200 children were being served. The institutes exerted strong influence on the growth of Prussian education.
See H. E. Guericke, August Hermann Francke (1827, tr. 1837).
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