B

BACON, ROGER (ca. 1213/19–1292)
Little is known of the origins of Roger Bacon, Fran-
ciscan philosopher and scientifi c thinker. He was born
ca. 1213–19. His writings reveal his English origins:
his birthplace is unknown. His family was well-off and
scholarly, able to assist him in the buying of books and
scientifi c instruments. Educated at Oxford and Paris,
he received the degree of master of arts around 1240
and lectured on Aristotle’s natural philosophy for many
years.
Under the infl uence of the works of Grosseteste
and Arab authors, Bacon devoted himself to the study
of mathematics, and languages, including Greek and
Hebrew. He also conducted observational experiments,
especially in optics. He entered the Franciscan order
in 1257 but found Franciscan attempts to censor his
writings disturbing. He appealed to the future Pope
Clement IV for assistance in the compilation of a great
encyclopedia of the sciences. As a result of papal encour-
agement Bacon composed the Opus maius, Opus minus,
and Opus tertium—works that described his proposed
reform of education and society, criticized magic, sug-
gested calendar reform, and emphasized the importance
of scientifi c knowledge for Christianity.
For reasons not entirely clear to us his works were
again condemned in 1278 by the head of his order,
owing to “certain suspect novelties.” It is possible that
his interest in alchemy, astrology, and the teachings of
Joachim of Fiore, the Italian mystical preacher, led to his
condemnation. As a result Bacon may have been impris-
oned for several years, although he continued to study
and write. His last work, Compendium studii theologiae
(1292), still assailed the corruption of his day.
Although many of his works were forgotten after his
death, Bacon was rediscovered in the Elizabethan period
as a prototype of the modern “scientist.” Bacon’s moder-
nity now appears exaggerated; his experimentalism was

very much in the medieval tradition, and his ultimate aim

was the advancement of the new learning as a useful tool

for religion. At the same time his enthusiastic support

for and synthesis of the new science helped introduce

it into European intellectual life.

Further Reading

Primary Sources

Burke, Robert B., trans. The Opus Maius of Roger Bacon. 2 vols.

Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1928.

Lindberg, David C., ed. and trans. Roger Bacon’s Philosophy of

Nature: A Critical Edition. Oxford: Clarendon, 1983.

Secondary Sources

Crowley, Theodore. Roger Bacon: The Problem of the Soul in His

Philosophical Commentaries. Louvain: Éditions de l’Institut

Supérieur de Philosophie, 1950.

Easton, Stewart C. Roger Bacon and His Search for a Universal

Science. Oxford: Blackwell, 1950.

Janice Gordon-Kelter

BEATRIJS VAN NAZARETH (1200–1268)

The Brabantine mystic Beatrijs van Nazareth was born

in 1200, the youngest child of a burgher family in

Tienen (in the present-day Belgian province of Flemish-

Brabant); for that reason she is also known as Beatrijs

van Tienen. She evidently was trained in the medieval

liberal arts (artes liberales), showing a good knowledge

of Latin. In 1215 she took the solemn vows as a Cister-

cian nun. In 1236 she moved to the convent in Nazareth

(near the town of Lier), where she was prioress until her

death in 1268.

Quite a lot is known about the life of this mystic

thanks to the Latin text Vita Beatricis, written in the

last quarter of the thirteenth century by an anonymous

Cistercian monk. Allegedly this vita was based on a