FrLschmutll, Johaxx, a German theologian and Orientalist, was born at Wertheim in 1619, and died at Jena in 1G87, in which city he was professor of He- brew. Ha was also acquainted with Ai'abic. Besides other works, he wrote CO dissertations on philological. Biblical, and theological subjects, of which the most important are, De Pontificum Ucbraorum vestitu sacro : — Be Sacrificiis :—L)i Pontlficatu Mosis contra Nihu- sium : — De Grceca LXX Interpret, vsrsione :—De Medi- tatlone Mortis et Memoria clarissimoruni qiiorundam in re sacra et literaria Virorum. — Hoofer, Nouv. Biog. Ge- nerale, xviii, 889. (T. W. M.)
Frisians. See Fuieslaxd.
Frith or Pryth, Joiix, an English reformer and martyr, was born at Seven Oaks, in Kent, where his father kept an inn, and was educated at King's Col- lege,Cambridge, where he so greatly distinguished him- self that, when Wolsey formed his new college at Ox- ford, he was appointed one of its first members. About 1525 he became acquainted with Tj'ndale, and by him was won over to the principles of the Reformation. With others, he found it necessarj' to retire to the Con- tinent in 1528. On his return to England in 1530 he was put into the stocks at Reading as a vagabond, but was taken out of them by the school-master of the town, to whom he made his case known in so elegant Latin as to prove himself a scholar. From Reading he went to London, and there engaged in controversy with Sir Thomas More, publishing a tract on Purgatory against Sir Thomas. His zeal led to his apprehension. While in the Tower he was examined, by the king's command, before archbishop Cranmer; Brandon, duke of Suffolk; Boleyn. earl of Wiltshire; Stokesley, bishop of Lon- don ; Gardner, bishop of Winchester, and the chancel- lor Audley. The prisoner maintained that the dogma of transubstantiation was not ds fide; at the same time, he did not condemn those who held the doctrino of a corporeal presence ; he only reprobated the prevalent notions respecting propitiator}^ masses and the woi-- shipping of the sacramental elements. He denied also the doctrine of purgatory. At length he was brought before an episcopal commission at St. Paul's, where many efforts were made to induce him to recant, but in vain. At last the bishop of London pronounced sentence upon him as an obstinate heretic, and he was delivered to the secular power. A writ was issued for his execution, and ho was burnt at Smithfield on the 4th of July, 1533, "maintaining his fortitude to the last, and charitably extending his forgiveness to a bigoted popish priest, who endeavored to persuade the people that thej'- ought no more to pray for him than for a dog." Frith was an excellent scholar. He wrote Treathe of Purgatory : — Antithesis betircn Christ and the Popc:-~Mirror, or Glass to know thysef written in the Tower, 1532 : — Articles (for which he died) writ-
' ten in Newgate Prison, June 23, 1533: — Answer to Sii Thomas Jlorc's Dialogues concerning Heresies : — Answer ! to John Fisher, bishop of Rochester, etc., all of which treatises were reprinted at London (1573, fol.), with the works of Tj'ndale and Barnes. They may be found also in Russell, Works of the Reformers, vol. ill (Lond. 1828, 3 vols. 8vo). See Hook, Feci. Biog. v, 235 ; Burnet, Hist, of the English Reformation, i, 263- 277.
Prithstool or PreedstOol, literally the seat of peace ; a seat or chair, usuallj^ made of stone, placed near the altar in some churches, and intended as the last and most sacred resort for those that claimed the privilege of the sanctuarj'. The violation of the Frcedstool was attended b}' the most severe punish- ment. "According to Spelman, that at Beverley had this inscription : ' Ha?c sedes \ii\>\Ci(iiifreedstoll dicitur i. e. pacis cathedra, ad quani reus fugicndo perveniens omnimodam habet securita- tem.' Frithstools still ex- ist in the church at Hex- ham and Beverley Min- ster, both in the north aisle of the chancel : the former of these has the seat hol- lowed out in a semicircular
_ form, and is slightly orna-
"^^^^^ mented with patterns of
Ceverley Minster (Parker). Norman character; that at Beverley is very rude and plain." — Vivcks,x, Glossary of Architecture, s. v.
Fritigild, a queen of the ISIarcomans in tho 4tli centur}-. She was converted to Christianity, and ap- plied to Ambi'osefor further religious instruction. He sent her a catechism composed expressly for the pur- pose. Through her influence the Marcomans were converted as a people, and remained at peace with Rome during the incessant wars of the time.
Fritz, Sa^iuel, a German Jesuit and missionary, was born in 1650, and died in 1730. He was sent as missionary to South America, and established mission settlements between the Napo and Rio Negro, into which nearly 40,000 natives were gathered. The Por- tuguese from Brazil attacked and broke up these set- tlements, carrj'ing many of the Indians to Para. Fritz, after vainW striving to obtain redress, retired to tho village of Xeberos in Peru, where he died. His map of the Amazon, though superseded by the fuller and exactor works of more recent explorers, procured for him for a long time a just renown as a geographer. — Hoefer, Nour. Biog. Generale, xviii, 895-7. (J. W. M.) Pritzsche, the name of a German family distin- guished for learning. 1. Christian Friedricii, a theologian, was born at Nauendorf Aug. 17, 1776. He studied at the Orphan School of Halle, and afterwards theology at Leipzig. He became successivelj'^ pastor of Steinbach in 1799, superintendent at Dobrihigk in 1809, professor of theology at Ilalle in 1830, and was in 1833 appointed censor for theological works. Be- sides a number of occasional articles, pamphlets, etc., collected in the Fritzschiorum Opuscula Academica (Lpz. 1838), published by himself and two of his sons, he wrote Vorlesnngen ii. d. Abendmahl, etc. : — De Ana- martesia Jesu Christi (Halle, 1835-37) : — De Revelatio- nis Notione hiblica (Lpz. 1828). — Pierer, Universal-Lex- ikon, vi, 754.