 After falling out (in spite of Thomasius’ support) with the Lutheran authorities in Leipzig, Francke followed Thomasius to Halle. He took up a position as a pastor in the neighbouring town of Glaucha, and held lectures on oriental languages in 1692. Francke was himself a disciple of the movement’s intellectual founder, Philipp Jakob Spener (1635–1705), though Francke contributed immeasurably to the spread of Pietism, primarily through his educational institutions in Halle, beginning with a school for poor children founded in 1695. Through the institutions that arose from this humble school, Francke sought a reform of educational principles in line with Pietist ideals, and in this was enormously successful. The pedagogical institutions supplied an influential model for similar institutions in and outside of Germany (especially due to the fact that it was a largely self-funded philanthropic institution), became the hub of an expansive missionary network, and trained the next generation of German theologians, as well as some philosophers (like A. G. Baumgarten), not to mention Prussian civil administrators, bureaucrats, and pastors. Indeed, Francke enjoyed a close relationship to the Prussian court, and king Friedrich I’s successor, Friedrich Wilhelm I became an enthusiastic supporter of his projects after a visit to Halle (cf. Hinrichs 1971).