The son of a merchant family in Oulu, Frans Michael Franzén showed a talent for literature at an early age. At only thirteen years of age, the precocious lad became a student at the Royal Academy of Turku in 1785. The talented young student received support from many of the leaders of the Academy because they wanted to keep him in the service of the academy.

Upon arrival in Turku, Franzén was taken under the wing of Henrik Gabriel Porthan. At the early age of fourteen, Franzén defended Porthan’s dissertation, De Bircarlis I, which discussed the Pirkkala merchants. Three years later he used the second part of this dissertation to earn a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. Thanks to his excellent debating skills, many thought that Franzén had written De Bircarlis II himself. In fact he had defended pro gradu a thesis written by his teacher, a practice which was customary at the time. Franzén also had a Master’s degree conferred on him in 1789.

To become a docent, Franzén defended the work Historiolaorationishumanae, quattuoraetatibusdescripta (1791), which, in keeping with intellectual currents of the time, dealt with the history of human speech. The second part of the work was presented in 1795, when Franzén was also named University Librarian of the Academy.

Professors Jacob Tengström and H. G. Porthan recommended Franzén for the position of Professor of Literary History in 1798. This appointment, as well as Franzén's appointment as Professor of History and Morals in 1801, shows how the leadership wanted to keep the promising young talent in the service of the Academy. Franzén had in fact already expressed a desire to move to Stockholm, if an agreeable post were to present itself.

Franzén’s first substantial historical work, Om svenska drottningar (‘Of Swedish queens’), was published in 1798. It became very popular among his contemporaries who were interested in history. Thereafter Franzén’s historiographical work mainly focused on lengthy biographies.

Franzén’s work at the Academy was not limited to the production and teaching of science. He actively participated in the Musical Society of Turku and worked in close contact with the Academy to produce Finland’s first newspaper, Åbo Tidningar. During Franzén’s time, the content of the paper shifted to focus more on literature and news.

The question of moving to Stockholm became an issue when Franzén was invited to join the Swedish Academy in 1808. He stayed in Turku, however, until he was appointed dean of the Kumla parish two years later. After that, Franzén stepped down as professor and moved permanently to Sweden, where he was ordained as a minister of the Klara parish in Stockholm in 1824, and later as bishop of Härnösand in 1831. At the time, the diocese comprised most of central and northern Sweden, nearly half of the country.

Franzén returned to Finland only once after leaving the Academy. He travelled from Turku to Helsinki for the University’s bicentennial celebrations in 1840, where he was honoured with the title riemumaisteri to mark the fifty years since his first degree was conferred. On the journey, Franzén wrote a long poem called Resan Till Jubelfesten I Helsingfors (‘Journey to the festivities in Helsinki’, 1840) which pictured Turku as a desolate city after the Great Fire and described the splendour of the new capital.

Sources:

• Matti Klinge, ‘Franzén, Frans Michael’, National Biography of Finland online. Accessed April 27, 2015. (Access via NELLI)
• Göstä Lundström, ‘Frans Michael Franzén’, Dictionary of Swedish National Biography online. Accessed April 27, 2015.
• Yrjö Kotivuori, University register 1640–1852: Frans Michael Franzén. Published online 2005. Accessed April 28, 2015.
• Wikipedia, Frans Michael Franzén. Accessed April 27, 2015.