Unpublished Works of Roger Bacon (Opus Tertium, Opus Minus, Compendium Studii)

Clement IV. and Roger Bacon.

In the year 1263, or, according to others, 1264,¹ when the dissension was at the highest between Henry III.

¹ According to Matthew Paris 1263; according to Matthew of Westminster, who tells the story at greater length, and is more correct on this occasion, in 1264, famous for the battle of Lewes. I subjoin the original:

"The Supreme Pontiff Urban [IV.], therefore, driven by a contrary instinct, turning to the other side, directed his favor and mind against the Barons, drawing incentive from his immense anger and indignation at the occasion of spoliation inflicted upon ecclesiastical persons. It is reported, however, that he said he did not wish to live longer than he had subjugated the English. Hence, he directed a legate toward England, a most high man, the Cardinal Bishop of Sabina, to interdict the land and excommunicate the Barons involved in the provisions. But when he perceived that he could not enter the land at his pleasure due to their resistance, having first cited certain bishops of the kingdom and others at Amiens, and afterward at Bologna, he committed the sentence of excommunication and interdiction—which had been launched against the city of London and the Cinque Ports, as well as certain illustrious and noble persons of the kingdom—to be carried out. But they, considering that the sentence itself was inflicted against justice, appealed to the Pope, to better times, or to a general council, and also to the supreme judge of the heart, for commendable causes and reasons. This appeal was later recited at the council gathered at Reading in England, and approved and executed by the bishops and the clergy. They carried the interdict, although unwillingly, with them from the aforementioned legate. But when they had landed at Dover, a search having been made in the port according to custom, it was intercepted by the citizens, torn into pieces, and thrown into the sea. Certain celebrated messengers, as much of the King of the French as of the English, namely P. the Chamberlain, a noble man of France, and H. of Germany, along with others landing at Bologna, while the aforementioned pontiffs were still there, were treated most miserably by the townspeople, with many wounded and up to nine Englishmen cruelly slaughtered, nor was any deference shown to the French, because they had come under the safe-conduct of others." — Matt. West. sub an. 1264.

With this account must be combined that of Rishanger, which adds to Westminster's narrative some new and important particulars:

"In those same days, a mob having been stirred up throughout the whole world, flying to the holy Roman church, as the fountain of all peace and the mistress of eternal salvation, it rendered it not a little agitated with shame. The Lord Bishop of Sabina was therefore sent into England, from the side of the Lord Pope, as a cardinal legate, so that he might incline the hearts of the king and the magnates to peace, and might solidify the minds of the discordant, having dispelled the cloud of all manner of rancor, with the bond of concord. Finally, for this purpose, while he was in those

"overseas parts, behold, he who was hoped to be approaching to reform the pristine state and tranquility, changing the hope of peace into desperation, interdicted those carrying wine, grain, and such victuals, necessary for human life, into the kingdom of England, forbidding under pain of excommunication that anyone should bring wine, grain, and other merchandise into the aforementioned kingdom. He also cited certain bishops peremptorily, so that they might appear before him outside the kingdom, the day [and] place being set for them upon their obedience. He fulminated a sentence of excommunication upon the Earl of Leicester and his sons, Hugh le Despenser, and all those in counsel, aid, and favor to them, and he placed the inhabitants of the Cinque Ports and the city of London under an ecclesiastical interdict, commanding through his letters to the bishops of London and Worcester and all other suffragans of the Church of Canterbury, and enjoining the said bishops of Worcester and London by word of mouth and commanding by virtue of obedience that they should avoid the said excommunicated in all things, and should preserve the said sentences of excommunication and make them observed in each of their cities and dioceses. Furthermore, the bishops, having communicated in counsel, considering the prior sentence and that it was inflicted against justice, appealed in the manner described below: To all the faithful of Christ, &c. This