INTRODUCTION

I. BACON’S LIFE.

In considering the little that is known of the life of Bacon, it is well to give precedence to the few facts that are fixed with perfect precision by his own statement. We know with entire accuracy the date of the composition of The Greater Work original: "Opus Majus", and of the two subsidiary works, The Lesser Work original: "Opus Minus" and The Third Work original: "Opus Tertium". Pope Clement¹ IV’s instructions to him to transmit the results of his labors were issued June 22, 1266, from Viterbo A city in central Italy which served as a frequent papal residence in the 13th century.. Within the year that followed, The Greater Work, with its supplement, The Lesser Work, and its introduction, The Third Work, had been completed and sent to the Pope. At this time he speaks of himself as an old man, and he says that he had been studying language, science, and philosophy for nearly forty years (The Third Work original: "Opus Tertium", chapter 20). From this it may be supposed that he was born between 1210 and 1215. But the place of his birth cannot be said to be fixed with certainty.

One, and only one, notice of his name occurs in a con—

¹ Guy Fulcodi (or Foulques), who succeeded to the Papacy in 1265 as Clement IV, was born at Saint Gilles in Languedoc A historic region in southern France.. He began his career by studying law, in which he achieved great distinction. He was married and had several children Fulcodi entered the Church only after the death of his wife; it was common for high-ranking legal officials to take holy orders later in life.. He seems to have acted for some time as a private secretary to Louis IX King Louis IX of France, also known as Saint Louis.. After his wife’s death he entered the Church, was made archbishop of Narbonne in 1259, and cardinal bishop of S. Sabina in 1261. (See Fleury, Ecclesiastical History original: "Hist. Ecclésiastique"; a massive multi-volume history of the Church by Claude Fleury, first published in 1691., Book 85, whose spelling of the name Guy Fulcodi is here adopted.) Brewer John Sherren Brewer (1810–1879), a prominent historian and editor of Bacon's works. conjectures (pp. xi et seq.) that he entered into relations with Bacon on the occasion of his mission to England as Papal legate A personal representative of the Pope with the authority to act on his behalf. in 1263 or 1264. But Bacon was then in Paris, and had been there for several years. Guy Fulcodi had far better opportunities of hearing about Bacon in Paris than could have occurred during the time of his stormy and ineffectual mission to England.