Franconia

Franconia is the name now given to a district comprising three circles in the north of Bavaria. The adjacent countries received in 1806 part of the old circle of the Empire, which lay between Upper Saxony, the Rhine, Bavaria, and Bohemia. As the "Land of the Franks," it was looked upon as the centre of the Holy Roman (or old German) Empire, and was till 1501, when the circles were formed, composed of Eastern and Rhenish Franconia, the latter half ceasing henceforth to form part of the territory known by that name.