Table Of ContentROGER BACON
STUDIEN UND TEXTE
ZUR GEISTESGESCHICHTE
AND THE SCIENCES
DES MITTELALTERS
BEGRUNDET VON
COMMEMORATIVE ESSAYS
JOSEF KOCH
WEITERGEFUHRT VON
PAUL WILPERT und ALBERT ZIMMERMANN
EDITED BY
HERAUSGEGEBEN VON
JAN A. AERTSEN
JEREMIAH HACKETT
IN ZUSAMMENARBEIT MIT
TZOTCHO BOIADJIEV, MARK D. JORDAN
und ANDREAS SPEER (Managing Editor)
BAND LVII
ROGER BACON
AND THE SCIENCES
' >6 8 V
BRILL
LEIDEN • NEW YORK • KOLN
1997
t
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Roger Bacon and the sciences : commemorative essays / edited by
Jeremiah Hackett.
p. cm. — (Studien und Texte zur Geistesgeschichte des
Mittelalters, ISSN 0169-8125 ; Bd. 57)
Includes indexes.
ISBN 9004100156 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Bacon, Roger, 1214?—1294—Knowledge—Science. 2. Science,
Medieval. 3. Science—Methodology—History—13th century.
4. Scientists—Great Britain—Biography. I. Hackett, Jeremiah.
II. Series.
Q143.B225R64 1997
509.2—dc21 97-29919
CIP To the memory of James A. Weisheipl and A.C. Crombie
and for the education of two children
Thomas J.R. Hackett & Margaret T.R. Hackett.
All spoke much about Roger Bacon.
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme
Roger Bacon and the sciences: commemorative essays / ed.
by Jeremiah Hackett. - Leiden ; New York ; Koln : Brill, 1997
(Studien und Texte zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters : Bd. 57)
ISBN 90-04-10015-6
ISSN 0169-8125
ISBN 90 04 10015 6
© Copyright 1997 by Koninklijke Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands
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PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ................................................................................. ix
Roger Bacon and the Sciences: Introduction ......................................... 1
Jeremiah Hackett
1. Roger Bacon: His Life, Career and Works ................................. 9
Jeremiah Hackett
2. Roger Bacon’s Attitude Toward the Latin Translations and
Translators of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries ................... 25
Richard Lemay
3. Roger Bacon on the Classification of the Sciences ........................ 49
Jeremiah Hackett
4. Roger Bacon and Grammar ......................................................... 67
Irene Rosier-Catach
5. Roger Bacon et la logique ........................................................... 103
Alain De Libera
6. Roger Bacon on Rhetoric and Poetics .......................................... 133
Jeremiah Hackett
7. Roger Bacon’s Knowledge of Mathematics .................................... 151
George Molland
8. Roger Bacon on Astronomy-Astrology: The Sources of the
Scientia Experimentalis .......................................................... 175
Jeremiah Hackett
9. Roger Bacon on Geography and Cartography ................................ 199
David Woodward with Herbert M. Howe
10. Roger Bacon on Music ................................................................ 223
Nancy van Deusen
11. Roger Bacon on Light, Vision, and the Universal Emanation
of Force ....................................................................................... 243
David C. Lindberg
Vlll CONTENTS
12. Roger Bacon on Scientia Experimentalis ................................. 277
Jeremiah Hackett
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
13. An Overview of Roger Bacon’s Alchemy ...................................... 317
William R. Newman
14. Roger Bacon and Medicine: The Paradox of the Forbidden Fruit It would be impossible to give a comprehensive account of all those
and the Secrets of Long Life ........................................................ 337 scholars whose interest and encouragement led to the presentation of
Faye Getz this volume. My interest in this project began many years ago when
just prior to his death, Denis Bethel, Secretary to the Board of Medi
15. Roger Bacon and the Secret of Secrets .................................... 365
eval Studies at University College Dublin, handed a visiting student
Steven J. Williams
his own copy of A.G. Little’s Roger Bacon Essays. Many thanks are
16. A Roger Bacon Bibliography (1985-1995) ................................ 395 due to faculty and students at Dublin and Toronto in the areas of
Thomas S. Maloney Philosophy and Medieval Studies. The initial work in Medieval Studies
was done under the direction of Professor F.X. Martin, OSA and
17. Epilogue: Roger Bacon’s Moral Science ....................................... 405
Dr. Michael Richter. A debt of gratitude is due also to Professor
Jeremiah Hackett
Bieler and Professor O’Meara for an introduction to Neoplatonism.
My interest in the thought of Roger Bacon owes a great deal to
Indices ................................................................................................ 411
the late James A. Weisheipl O.P. who introduced me to the History
Index manuscriptorum .................................................................. 413
of Medieval Science. And acknowledgment of the faculty and students
Index nominum I (Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern) ... 414
at Toronto is required. James A. Weisheipl was a dedicated researcher
Index nominum II (Modern) ..................................................... 420
and teacher and he above all is to be acknowledged here.
Index rerum ................................................................................ 426
The actual suggestion for the volume came from Professor David
C. Lindberg. And a challenge to do it came from a fellow student,
List of Authors .................................................................................... 441
William O. Shorten, mathematicus. The editor is also grateful to Pro
fessor A.C. Crombie for his encouragement of this project. He wishes
to acknowledge Professor A. Hyman and Professor Paul Oskar
Kristeller for much encouragement in the research which led to this
work. Professor Richard Lemay was generous with advice concern
ing Abu Ma'shar and Pseudo-Ptolemy’s Centiloquium.
Many thanks are due to his colleagues at the University of South
Carolina, and to his family. His colleagues may have thought at times
that he had metamorphosed into Roger Bacon, but were kind enough
not to say so. His children did say so and forced him to promise
that for their pains he would dedicate the volume to them. And that
I will do so because I believe that it is important that they learn
the truth about the past in so far as we can learn the truth about
the past. And unlike cheap mythologies, there is no short-cut to the
truth even in the case of one like Roger Bacon, who, on account of
Robert Greene’s Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, among other things,
came to be seen as a Magus in Renaissance England.
X ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A special word of thanks is due to the Department of Philosophy
and to its Chair, Professor Davis Whitney Baird, who provided funds
for the translation work from French in the volume. Thanks are also
ROGER BACON AND THE SCIENCES: INTRODUCTION
due to the translator, David C. Miller, M.F.A. In the course of pre
paring this volume, the editor was greatly helped by the Adminis
Jeremiah Hackett
trative Assistants in the Department of Philosophy, Ms. Joanna
Woodward, and Ms. Joan Spencer-Amado. He wishes to acknowl
edge the advice and assistance of Ms. Elna Corwin, Mr. Berry Mobley,
It is about 700 years since the death of the Medieval scientist, phi
Mr. Homer R. Steedly Jr. of the College of Liberal Arts computer
losopher, and moral-religious author, Roger Bacon. He is known to
laboratory, and Mr. Graham Dennis.
modern readers in the profile which was constructed by popular
writers on science in the 19th century. Much of this work, which is
Much gratitude is due to Librarians at London, Oxford, Paris, Rome,
now forgotten, is the work of historical fiction and of scientific
Dublin, Toronto, and at the University of South Carolina’s Thomas
hagiography. And yet, while it may have been forgotten, it has had
Cooper Library, and the Caroliniana Library. Further, support from
a major influence on all early 20th century entries on Roger Bacon
the following institutions enabled the research to be undertaken: The
in Dictionaries, Encyclopaedias, and popular works on History. The
American Philosophical Society; The National Endowment for the
image of Bacon as the Romantic hero of science who six hundred
Humanities; The University of South Carolina Research and Pro
years before the Modern Scientific Revolution had anticipated that
ductivity Scholarship; The Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies,
revolution continued into the popular imagination in the 20th century.
Toronto.
Yet, as is well-known, Bacon was a Medieval philosopher, scientist
Finally, an acknowledgment of four high school teachers “the four
and commentator on moral and religious topics. He was not a Modem
horsemen”, at Good Counsel, New Ross, a town built by a great
or Post-Modem scientist. Still, his contribution to the Liberal Arts
man, William Marshall, just before “the times” of Roger Bacon, is
(humanities and sciences) was very significant, although he has come
in order. They instilled a respect for the Liberal Arts in its full scope.
down to us in the literature as something of a pariah. There will be
They would have enjoyed meeting Roger Bacon.
a measure of revision in these essays but that revision is motivated
by a concern with evidence and with argument. And if there are
places where Roger Bacon seems to anticipate aspects of the Modem
World, they should be evaluated carefully.
Serious work on the recovery and edition of Bacon’s works began
with Victor Cousin and Emile Charles. Brewer’s edition of the Opus
minus, Opus tertium and the Epistola de secretis operibus was published in
1859. In the late nineteenth century, German scholars, particularly
in the fields of optics, philosophy of nature and moral philosophy
made significant contributions to the scientific study of Bacon’s works:
one thinks of Sebastian Vogl, Eilhard Wiedemann and Ludwig Baur
among other.
The new edition of the unpublished works, the Opera hactenus inedita
Rogeri Bacon began in 1905 under the editorship of Robert Steele.
Finally, it appeared to be the case that a truly scientific and histori
cally grounded account could be given of the life, career and works
of Roger Bacon, known as the Doctor Mirabilis.
2 JEREMIAH HACKETT ROGER BACON AND THE SCIENCES: INTRODUCTION 3
In 1914, the distinguished scholar of Medieval Franciscan culture, study by William Eamon on the role of secret books in Renaissance
Professor A.G. Little, edited a volume: Roger Bacon Essays (1914). This science details the impact of this medieval tradition on early modern
work was a true landmark in scholarship. Working with a full inter science. And yet, much more work is needed in this area. But it is
national body of scholars, A.G. Little presented the public with a becoming apparent that the whole story of the transmission of science
judicious interpretation of the main elements of Bacon’s scientific and philosophy from the 13th to the 17 th century is being re-written
interests. Despite the catasthrope of “The Great War,” Robert Steele on the basis of new texts, new questions and new answers. And still,
managed to move ahead with the edited volumes. This enormous old myths, outworn stories and sometimes plain falsehoods still win
task continued in cooperation with Ferdnand M. Delorme OFM, A.G. the attention of modern audiences whose mind has been so de-
Little and F. Withington. In 1940 in the midst of World War II, historicized that they are prepared to accept that last magical sound
volume XVI, the Communia mathematical was completed. bite or image as the truth.
During and after world war I, scholars such as Lynn Thorndike, After World War II, the two important studies of Roger Bacon’s
Roul Carton and Pierre Duhem took a closer look at Roger Bacon’s life and works by Theodore Crowley and Stewart C. Easton gave
science. Due to the iconoclasm of both Thorndike and Duhem, the some new life to Bacon research. F. Alessio, E. Massa and E. Bettoni
romantic image of Bacon as a Modern 19th century scientist before among others presented new studies and editions.
his time was shattered. And yet the myth lived on in the papers, Perhaps, the most dramatic discovery in Bacon studies was the
encyclopaedias and books. However, matters were not so simple. identification of the missing section of the Opus maius, part three, De
Duhem had edited part of the Opus tertium, and thus recognised that signis (Bacon’s semiotics) by the late Jan Pinborg, K.M. Fredborg and
Bacon had in fact done some detailed work in both Natural Philoso L. Nielsen.
phy such as Commentaries on Aristode’s Physica and in experimental Still, there was one major lacuna. No critical edition of the center-
science dealing with meteorological phenomena. The whole issue of piece, of Bacon’s work on agency and force existed. This was remedied
the nature and meaning of Medieval Science and its relationship to in 1983 with the publication of David C. Lindberg’s critical edition
the development of Classical Early Modern Science (i.e. the science of the De multiplication specierum and the De speculis comburentibus. This
of Galileo, Descartes and Francis Bacon) was opened up anew by careful work opened up a new era in Bacon studies, and became a
the studies of Annalise Meier, Marshall Glagett and Alastair Crombie. bench-mark for all new editions of Bacon’s works.
The work of A.C. Crombie: Robert Grosseteste and the Origins of Experi It became clear from this work that the texts of Bacon (even the
mental Science 1200-1700 was a milestone on this search. In this work, texts of Robert Steele) are in need of serious critical re-edition. Thomas
Crombie effectively demonstrated that the qualitative model of a combi S. Maloney has done this for the Compendium studii theologiae, previ
nation of Mathematical thinking and experimental procedure began ously edited by H. Rashdall. The result of these editions is a deepening
at the Universities of Oxford and Paris in the 13th century, and of our knowledge, a more accurate text, and an expanded interpre
among the main representatives were Robert Grosseteste and Roger tation based on a closer reading of the texts. There have also been
Bacon. The manner in which greater development in quantification good translations. Among these are the translation with notes by
and in experimentation developed from about 1277 up to Galileo is Thomas S. Maloney on Bacon’s account of Universals and Stanton
a story which is still being written by modem historians of late medi J. Linden’s valuable translation with notes of the Mirror of Alchemy.
eval science. And finally, in the light of the research of many schol The editor of the present work planned the volume with the inten
ars, among them Edward Rosen, Edward Grant, the late James A. tion of highlighting two aspects of Bacon’s work. First, it was impor
Weisheipl, David C. Lindberg, William A. Wallace, John E. Murdoch tant to see how Bacon’s account of the linguistic, natural and moral
and E. Sylla, a greater sense of the complexity of the issues and of sciences mirrored the curriculum of study at the Medieval University.
the historical development of this science is being realized. And still, It was necessary to do this so that the role which University teaching
the old myths continue to haunt the literature. and research did play in Medieval Science would be recognized.
Further, much work is being done on books of secrets. The recent Second, it was important that the volume reflect the development of
4 JEREMIAH HACKETT ROGER BACON AND THE SCIENCES: INTRODUCTION 5
Rhetoric. Grammar and Logic would roughly correspond to Linguis
Bacon’s thought in his Opus Maius (1266-8). There has been no criti
tics and Logic in a modern university. Irene Rosier-Catach presents
cal study of this work by any modern historian of philosophy, sci
a synthesis of our current knowledge of Bacon’s approach to Gram
ence, or morals. The present volume is intended as An Introduction to
mar. She situates his work in the context of grammatical studies at
the Opus maius especially and also to related works. It can be jusdy
the University of Paris from the 1230’s to the 1260’s.
claimed that it is the first such study. And it will be obvious from
Alain De Libera presents an account of Bacon’s contribution to
the present volume why such an introduction had to be a coopera
logical theory. The scholarship of the past fifteen years has demon
tive venture.
strated the central place which Bacon occupied in the teaching on
Logic and in general reflection on the nature of Logic.
Chapter one gives a review of the historical record on Bacon’s life
Bacon makes many comments on Rhetoric and Poetics through
and career. It traces the life of a medieval thinker who for the most
out his later works. The most startling one is that he simply rejects
part lived in Oxford and Paris and who among Medieval writers
the division of the Trivium. He thinks that it is a philosophical mis
gives us one interpretation of the crises of his times. Bacon’s com
take to set rhetoric in opposition to logic. The theoretical part of
ments on his times and on matters of scholarship have been mined
Rhetoric finds a home in the study of Logic; the practical part
by historians of philosophy and science despite the fact that some
is closely related to Moral Philosophy. Jeremiah Hackett provides
who do not like the man tend to dismiss his testimony tout court. And
a summary of Bacon’s views and notes his role as an important
yet, as Sir Richard Southern has demonstrated in his work on Robert
transitional figure on these topics at the University of Paris (1256-
Grosseteste, a judicious reading of Bacon’s texts can open up new
vistas on the events of his times. 1277).
We lack a study of the overall scope of Bacon’s mathematical knowl
Chapter two deals with Roger Bacon’s attitude towards Translators
edge. What were his sources? What was the level of his knowledge?
in the context of the many Parisian condemnations of Philosophy
In his overview, George Molland does a thorough review of Bacon’s
and science in the period from 1210-1277. Roger Bacon has his own
works on mathematics and on his debt to the new translations of
interpretation of these events, and it is important to give it a critical
ancient and medieval texts. Bacon did not write on mathematics in
assessment. Here, Richard Lemay looks at Bacon in the context of
the systematic way he did on Force and on Perespectiva. In general, as
his teaching at the University of Paris. Bacon’s attitudes to the trans
he indicates in Opus tertium, he acknowledges the work of well-known
lators, especially to Hermannus Allemannus and William of Moerbecke
mathematicians. He did write a Communia mathematical but while it
raise serious questions. And since Bacon made use of so much trans
does deal with proportion and with quantity, it is more like a treatise
lated materials, an account of the translation issue is important.
on the scope and applications of mathematics.
Roger Bacon did not write a treatise on the Classification of the
Roger Bacon developed his concept of a Scientia experimentalis in
Sciences as did his fellow Master in Arts and near contemporary,
explicit connection with astronomy and astrology. It is important, there
Robert Kilwardby. The De ortu scientiarum of Kilwardby marks a turning
fore, to examine his ideas on this topic as given in Opus maius, part
point. After 1250, one finds no regular course on the division of the
four, and in related works. Which concerns in astronomy/astrology
sciences. From that point on, individual teachers present their divi
led Bacon to the formulation of a concept of a Scientia experimentalist
sions of the sciences at the beginning of particular works. This is
Jeremiah Hackett sets out the scope of this issue.
very apparent in the case of Roger Bacon. This chapter brings together
Nancy van Deusen presents an introductory account of Bacon’s
his thoughts on this topic in the context of the Medieval division of
views on Music. And here, one can see just how important Music
the sciences from Boethius to 1270. And it sets the scene for a discus
was as part of the medieval Quadrivium. We learn that Bacon held
sion of Roger Bacon and the Sciences.
the study of music in high regard. Further, this account sheds im
portant light on the inter-relation of Aristotle and Augustine in the
The next three chapters deal with Bacon and language. In the
Medieval curriculum this was the Trivium of Grammar, Logic and thirteenth century.
6 JEREMIAH HACKETT ROGER BACON AND THE SCIENCES: INTRODUCTION 7
Bacon’s remarks on Geography in Opus mains, part four, provide us gives an outline of Bacon’s influence on later medical writers. And
with evidence for his overall knowledge of geography and cartography. she also details the manner in which Bacon became a hero for English
They also shed light on his attention to Travel Writers. Further, they medicine in the late middle ages.
are of some historical importance since a scholarly consensus holds Bacon wrote on Alchemy and listed it as an example of the second
that this work was known to and used by Christopher Columbus in prerogative of his Scientia experimentalis. William Newman presents a
the 1490’s. David Woodward and Herbert M. Howe present a judi critical assessment of Bacon’s writings in Alchemy. Here, again, we
cious assessment of Bacon’s knowledge in these two fields. see the historical profile which has come down the centuries being
changed by good historical method and scholarship. And we get a
The central doctrine in Bacon’s later philosophy is undoubtedly the better estimate of Bacon’s contribution and influence in this field.
doctrine of the multiplication of species (De multiplications specierum) and Indeed, we learn how so many late Medieval texts on Alchemy came
closely tied to it is the doctrine on light and vision. David C. Lindberg, to be attributed to Roger Bacon.
who has just recently completed the critical edition of the Perspectiva Roger Bacon makes much use of the Pseudo-Aristotelian Secretum
(= Opus maius, part five), presents a synthesis of Bacon’s contribution secretorum. This is perhaps, the most important work in the genre
to a doctine of Light, Vision and the Universal Emanation of Force. “Mirror of Princes” written in the Middle Ages. In one version, trans
Lindberg’s conclusion is important: Roger Bacon was The Philosopher lated from Arabic by Philip of Tripoli, it became the vade-mecum of
and Scientist who taught the Latin West to think about light, vision the prince long before another book with the latter name gained
and force. Pecham and Witelo were his younger contemporaries who fame. Steven J. Williams does a study of this text and its place in
shared in this task. Bacon opened the eyes of Western thinkers to Bacon’s life and works.
the need to do serious mathematical and physical-experimental work
on these topics. And it is here that one notices the extraordinary Bacon, in the Opus maius, very deliberately set out a Stoic division of
deepening of physical and optical knowledge that took place since Philosophy into: a) language study, b) study of nature, c) study of
Grosseteste’s short writings on these topics in the 1220’s. morals. But Bacon lived in the Middle Ages, and he felt obliged to
The topic of Scientia experimental has been one of the most de give a concordantium discordantium opinionum. In his Opus maius, part seven,
bated issues in Bacon scholarship. This topic has lead to Bacon being the Moralis philosophic, which is a sizable volume in the modern edi
identified in the Renaissance as a Magus. Others in the 19th century tion, Bacon presents us with an outline of the scope of Moral Sci
saw him as one who grasped modem scientific method in a pre ence. Moral Science for Bacon encompasses the following: the nature
modern age. In Opus maius, part six, and in related texts, he presents of moral science, metaphysics and morals, a philosophical anthropo
his views on the nature and methodology of a Scientia experimentalis. logy based on a synthesis of Platonic, Aristotelian and Stoic doctrine,
This term is ambiguous. For Bacon, it means a natural science, but a social ethic based on Avicenna, an extended account of theory of
it can also mean a phenomenology of experience, and it can mean virtue (mostly an anthology of Seneca’s writings), an account of com
what we mean today by philosophy of science, that is a critical re parative religion, the role of persuasion (rhetoric and poetics) in morals
flection on the nature and use of science. This chapter will give a and religion, and legal matter. Jeremiah Hackett presents an Epilogue
summary of Bacon’s views on Scientia experimentalis and will show its on Bacon’s Moralis philosophia as the teleological aim of Bacon’s Opus
connection with language study, mathematics, perspectiva and with moral maius. In other words, language study and the study of nature finds
science. Jeremiah Hackett presents a critical assessment of this issue. its telos in a Moral philosophy. And this Moralis philosophia is inti
mately tied to political philosophy. One is left with the sense that
Bacon’s edited works contain one volume on medicine (Opera, Vol. IX, Bacon subordinates Ethics to the demands of political necessity. But
ed. A.G. Little and E. Withington) and there are many references to then he was writing for Prelates and Princes and not for the conduct
medical matters throughout his later works. Faye Getz presents a of monastics.
critical assessment of Bacon’s contribution to medieval medicine. She Finally, Thomas S. Maloney reviews new work on Bacon since
8 JEREMIAH HACKETT
the publication of the 1987 addition to the Alessio bibliography of
1959. A review of Bacon’s works and a review of new Manuscript
discoveries will appear in a forthcoming volume of Vivarium on Bacon 1. ROGER BACON: HIS LIFE, CAREER AND WORKS
as an Aristotelian Commentator. This will also include a full list of
Bacon’s authentic works. Jeremiah Hackett
A. Life and Career
There is no complete agreement among scholars on the chronology
of Roger Bacon’s career. Roger Bacon was bom about 1214 or 1220.
Modern scholars tend to argue for the latter date, but even on this
matter there is disagreement. Further, while most scholars are in agree
ment that Bacon died about 1292, there is a lack of evidence concern
ing the years from 1278 to 1292. There is evidence that sometime
after 1277-8, Roger Bacon returned to Oxford from Paris, edited
the Secretum secretorum, completed his Compendium studii theologiae and
may have edited other works.
The actual evidence for a firm historical knowledge of the life is
slim. .The modern commonly accepted view is that set out by Theo
dore Crowley, and more recently developed by David C. Lindberg.1
This framework for his chronology is, however, for the most part
dependent on one piece of reminiscence by Bacon, which he set out
in the Opus tertium (ca. 1267-8). It reads:
I have labored much in sciences and languages, and I have up to now
devoted forty years [to them] after I first learned the Alphabetum; and
I was always studious. Apart from two of these forty years I was always
[engaged] in study [in studio], and I had many expenses just as others
commonly have. Nevertheless, provided I had first composed a compen
dium, I am certain that within a quarter or half a year I could directly
teach a solicitous and confident person whatever I knew of those sci
ences and languages. And it is known that no one worked in so many
sciences and languages as I did, nor so much as I did. Indeed, when
I was living in the other state of life, people marvelled that I survived
the abundance of my work. And still, I was just as involved in studies
1 Theodore Crowley, O.F.M., Roger Bacon: The Problem of the Soul in His Philosophi
cal Commentaries, (Louvain/Dublin, 1952), 17-78; David C. Lindberg, Roger Bacon’s
Philosophy of Nature: A Critical Edition, with English Translation, Introduction, and Notes of De
multiplicatione specierum and De speculis comburentibus, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983).
See also A.C. Crombie and John North, “Roger Bacon,” in Dictionary of Scientific
Biography, I, 377-85, New York, 1970.
10 JEREMIAH HACKETT
ROGER BACON! HIS LIFE, CAREER AND WORKS 11
afterwards as I had been before. But I did not work all that much,
Sciences, indeed one which seems to have been much longer
since in the pursuit of Wisdom this was not required.2
than the normal. Bacon’s Opus tertium appeal to Pope Clement IV
In the light of this passage, Crowley and more recently, Lindberg, reads like a Grant application. He is saying that he, of all his contem
favor the view that Bacon was born about 1220. This would mean poraries at the Universities of Oxford and Paris, is best equipped to
that Bacon may have been a student at Oxford from about 1234 to set up a renewed model of University teaching and research. One
1241. Earlier, in 1914, A.G. Little argued that the words in studio will note that other texts support the view that Bacon had been
had to be taken to mean at a University, and that the word alphabetum involved in arts and sciences a iuventute. Further, in the relevant chapter
meant his early education as a whole.3 For entirely different reasons, in the Opus tertium, from which the above passage is taken, it is clear
Charles Jourdain had earlier suggested that Bacon was born about that Bacon uses the word Alphabetum to mean a training in the arts
1210.4 In his new edition of the Compendium studii theologiae, Thomas S. [Alphabetum philosophiae), which in the Medieval University began at
Maloney favors the view of A.G. Little and takes 1214 as the most 13/14 and ended at about 21 years of age. One also notices that in
likely date of birth.5 In a recent study, Jeremiah Hackett presents an his second career, after about 1256 as a Franciscan friar, he remained
analysis of the conflicting interpretations.6 Here, it is important to studious, but he did not hold a public teaching office, since that was
examine some aspects of the problem and to note some consequences not required of him.
of both chronologies for Bacon’s relationship to Robert Grosseteste In reading the above text from the Opus tertium, I am inclined to
and Adam Marsh.7 the view that by 1267 or 1268 he had devoted forty years to studies
The point that Bacon is making for the Pope in the relevant section (he was always given to study during these years). However, apart
of the Opus tertium is that he has had a long career in the Arts and from two years absence from a studium or from formal studies, he
was always in studio, and he had many expenses as scholars normally
do. And he began this work in “the sciences and languages” after he
2 Opus maius, ed. Brewer, 65: Multum laborvi in scientia et linguis, et posui jam
first learned the rudiments (the alphabetum) of these studies. That is,
quadraginta annos postquam didici primo alphabetum; et fui semper studiosus; et
praeter duos annos de istis quadraginta fui semper in studio, et habui expensas about thirteen or fourteen years of age. If this is a correct reading
multas, sicut alii communiter; et tamen certus sum quod infra quartum anni, aut of this passage, we have to conclude that sometime around 1228,
dimidium anni, ego docerem ore meo hominem sollicitum et confidentem, quicquid
Bacon entered University at Oxford, and therefore would have re
scio de potestate scientiarum et linguarum, dummodo composuissem primo scriptum
sub compendio. Et notum est quod nullus in tot scientiis et linguis laboravit, nec ceived his M.A. around 1236. This would mean that he would have
tantum, quia homines mirabantur in alio statu quod vixi propter superfluum laborem; been born ca. 1214 or 1215.
et tamen postea fuit ita studiosus sicut ante. Sed non tantum laboravi, quia non fuit
Regardless of which chronology is correct, it does seem that Bacon
necesse propter exercitium sapientiae.
3 A.G. Little, “On Roger Bacon’s Life and Works,” in A.G. Litde, ed. Roger Bacon could not have been a student in the arts under Robert Grosseteste.
Essays: Contributed by Various Writers on the Occasion of the Commemoration of the Seventh The latter had departed University teaching to become lector to the
Centenary of his Birth, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1914), 1-32; See also A.G. Little,
“Roger Bacon,” Proceedings of the British Academy 14 (1928). Franciscans in 1229, and in 1235, he became Bishop of Lincoln.
4 Charles Jourdain, “Discussions de quelques points de la biographie de Roger However, it is most likely that Bacon would have seen Robert
Bacon,” Comptes rendus des seances de I’Acadmie des inscriptions et belles-lettres (Paris, Oct.-
Grosseteste, and undoubtedly would have been influenced by his
Dec. 1874).
5 Thomas S. Maloney, ed., Roger Bacon: Compendium of the Study of Theology, (Leiden, reputation as a great scholar and as a patron of the new Franciscan
1988; Studien und Texte zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters, 20). Order at Oxford. The constant repetition of Nam vidimus with refer
6 Jeremiah Hackett, “Roger Bacon,” in Medieval Philosophers (Dictionary of Literary
ence to Robert Grosseteste, Adam Marsh and other Scholars associ
Biography, Vol. 115, ed. Jeremiah Hackett, Detroit/London, 1992), 90-102; Ibid.,
“Scientia experimentalis: From Robert Grosseteste to Roger Bacon,” in Robert Grosseteste: ated with Oxford and with Lincoln indicate that he had seen these
New Perspectives on His Thought and Scholarship, ed. James McEvoy, (Dordrecht: Kluwer scholars and was clearly influenced by their example.8
Academic Publishers, 1995—Instrumenta Patristica XXVII), 89-120. For Bacon’s
career, see 89-103.
7 See R.W. Southern, Robert Grosseteste: The Growth of an English Mind in Medieval
8 See Opus maius, ed. Bridges, Vol. Ill, 88-89: Nam vidimus aliquos de antiquis qui
Europe, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992).
laboraverunt in linguis sicut fuit dominus Robertus praefatus translator et episcopus, et
