FRANEKER, in the province of Friesland, Holland, 5 m. E. of Harlingen. Pop. (193o) 8,103. It was at one time a favourite residence of the Frisian nobility, and it possessed a celebrated university, founded by the Frisian estates in 1585. This was sup pressed by Napoleon I. in 1811, and the endowments diverted to support an athenaeum, and afterwards a gymnasium. Franeker also possesses a town hall (1S91) The fine observatory was founded about 1780. The church of St. Martin (1420) contains several fine tombs of the 15th-17th centuries. There is a market for agricultural produce.