Opus Majus

Introduction

In 1266 Pope Clement IV asked Roger Bacon to send him his writings, secretly, since Franciscans needed permission to publish. In 1267 Bacon sent this long Latin work, accompanied by the shorter “Opus minus” and “Opus tertium”. Its seven parts deal with the causes of error, philosophy and theology, the study of languages, mathematics (including geography and astrology), optics, experimental science and moral philosophy. The pope died in 1268, and it is not known whether he read it. The text was first printed in London in 1733. Because of its emphasis on experiment, nineteenth-century writers presented Bacon as a forerunner of modern science, a picture historians now qualify.