Jacob Frank
1726 – 1791 Polish (Jewish, later Catholic convert) Cult leader, self-proclaimed messiah
Radical heir to the Sabbatean movement whose Frankist sect broke with Judaism and embraced conversion.
- Religion
- Judaism; founded the Frankist sect; converted to Catholicism in 1759
- Affiliations
- Frankist movement; Podolia and Central Europe
Frank presented himself as a reincarnation of Sabbatai Zevi and led a movement that rejected the Talmud and preached a doctrine of salvation through transgression. He and many followers converted to Catholicism in 1759 after public disputations with rabbis, though the church later imprisoned him on suspicion of heresy. His sect faded after his death, and its true beliefs remain hard to reconstruct.
In the timeline
- 1756 Jacob Frank and the Frankist movement central figure