Sebastian Franck as church historian

Sebastian Franck exposed his original view of the Church history in the third volume of his major work “Chronica, Zeitbuch und Ges-chichtsbibel” (1531). Dedicated mainly to the universal chronological pattern, the Franck’s work did not exclude the Church history matters from the more general reconstruction. While the first volume of his “Chronica” dealt with the Old Testament history, the second and the third ones were dedicated respectively to the secular and Church history of the Christian age. One of the most important features was the large use of information on pagan deities and rites which was incorporated into the chronological scheme of the Old Testament history. The backbone of Sebastian Franck’s conception was the line of Emperors which was built according to the author’s vision of power continuity. It started with August and continued with Roman Emperors. The VIII century crisis allowed to transfer the symbolic value of the imperial power to the Emperors of the West and later to those of the Holy Roman Empire, according to the popular concept of translatio imperii. While the above-mentioned division into parts was a certain common place in the historiography of that time, it was the interpretation which enables us to point to the “Chronica” as a really innovative work. The originality of Franck’s conception consisted in his ability to fill the general stereotyped pattern with a keen social content. But, despite the common opinion, Franck’s conception does not seem that democratic. His sympathies towards monarchy can be easily proved. Another peculiarity of “Chronica” consisted in the interpretation of the idea of “visible” and “invisible” Church; both of them have a delicate relationship to the Christian doctrine. Furthermore, the Franck’s views of the purposes of his work in particular and of those of a global historical reconstruction in general are to be mentioned. The conceptions of Sebastian Franck’s “Chronica”, as well as some of his statements on the Church history, made a considerable influence on the inter-confessional dispute of the XVIth century in the field of the Church historiography.

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