FRANCK, Sebastian. - Protestant historian and philosopher, b. at Donauwörth in 1499, d. at Basel in 1542 or 1543.
Having passed from Catholicism to Protestantism in 1527 and moved to Strasbourg in 1529 after his marriage to Otilia Beham, he led a restless existence, professing and teaching radical doctrines in philosophy and religion which earned him enmities and persecutions.
He preached a religious-universalistic thesis, disregarding even the teachings of the Bible, which he contemptuously called “the paper pope,” “the tale.” His theories were systematically expounded in the *Paradoxa* (Ulm 1534–35).
His aversion extended also to “the theologians of the letter,” advocating an absolute freedom of judgment outside every theological dogmatism; for this reason Luther and Melanchthon struck him with their censures.
In the work *Chronica, Zeitbuch und Geschichtsbibel* (Strasbourg 1531) he advanced the original thesis that biblical narrative allegorically veiled the historical development of humanity; he also composed a *Cosmographia* (Ulm 1534). But his most important writing is the *Germanica chronicon* (Frankfurt 1538), executed with sure knowledge of facts and a notably keen critical acumen, especially in relation to the scientific knowledge of the time.