Roger Bacon’s new founding of the sciences in the thirteenth century

Roger Bacon (1216/1220–1292) created an extensive oeuvre which he put at the service of the reform of the Church and the studies and the society of his time. His reform proposals, which he sent to Pope Clement IV, consisted of, among other things, conceding to the experimental and mathematical sciences a completely new position in the university curriculum to save Christianity from the threats from within and from the outside. Bacon failed with his efforts for a fundamental reform of the study and society of his time. But he had a lasting impact. In this chapter, Roger Bacon’s basic concerns of reform will be addressed against the background of the upheavals of his time.