BACON, ROGER

(c. 1214-94), an early Eng. philosopher and _ scientist, uthor of numerous treatises; 6. near Ilchester, Somerset. Educated at Oxford, where he took orders in 1233. Went to Paris to study and returned about 1250, when po ibly he joined the Francis can order. His learning won for him the title of ‘Doctor admirabilis.’ His brother friars were jealous of his ability, and his research in physics and chemistry caused him to be suspected of dealings in the black arts and gave rise to doubts as to his orthodoxy. In 1257 his lectures at Oxford were interdicted, and he was imprisoned in Paris. During his confinement he was requested to send to Rome a copy of his work, which the Pope, Clement IV., had been forbidden to read at the time when he was Guy de Foulques, papal legate in England. B. accordingly wrote his Opus Majus, which he followed up in 1266 with Opus Minus and Opus Tertium, It is not known what Clement thought of them, but at any rate B.’s release was effected, and in 1268 he was back in England. Ten years later his works were again condemned as heretical, and his second imprisonment, which lasted fourteen years, was sanctioned by Pope Nicholas IfI. During this term of imprisonment he wrote many treatises, Accident i bus. He was released in 1292, and died about 1294.