Blackpowder 102

[Jay Edward (deceased)]

Roger Bacon and his search for a universal science

                                        
                   Very often Roger Bacon (1214 – 1292) is credited with the invention of black powder. Certainly he was not the inventor, but he was the very first to give us a securely dated recipe for black powder.

Roger Bacon was born an English nobleman among several siblings. He studied philosophy at the University of Oxford and finished as a master of arts. It is essential to note that in England he was able to study Aristotle because the rule of Rome was less stringent in England than in the rest of Europe. (Aristotle taught the world had always existed, while the bible taught it was created by an act of will by God, so Aristotle was condemned as a heretic).

                                                                 In 1245 Roger Bacon followed a call to the University of Paris. This University urgently needed a professor who was familiar with Aristotle. At that time Paris also dared to disobey Romes ban of Aristotele. Apart from philosophy Bacon also taught rhetoric and logic. One amusing episode I found was that: Together with his students, he discussed the problem of a grafted tree: Is the soul of this tree in its trunk or is it in the graft? What is your personal opinion, dear reader?
                     
In 1250 Bacon joined the Franciscan Fraternity. Between 1250 and 1260 he studied Hebrew and Greek. He didn't know Arabic, so he had no access to Arabic literature. The time between 1257 and 1267 he spent in a French Franciscan monastery, to which he was banished because of his critical views concerning clerical authority.

                                           During his university time in Paris, Bacon became acquainted with Cardinal Guy de Foulquois of Paris. Foulquois directed Bacon to write a book about a universal science. The two were convinced the science of Christianity could be supported by natural sciences and vice versa.
                        
During his banishment to the cloister, Bacon used his time to write his universal science. It can be assumed that Bacon had once seen an alchemist's laboratory, but certainly he never worked in one. On the other hand, he wrote a treatise about optics. This treatise proves that he personally had done experiments about the refraction of light and studied the cause of the colors of the rainbow.
                     
                   First he wrote a comprehensive book about all the then known natural sciences, such as alchemy, astrology, medicine, physiological psychology, mathematics, physics and optics. This book is called "Opus Majus" (main work). After this he wrote a supplement, called "Opus Minus" (small work).

                        What a surprise when, in 1265, his mentor Cardinal Guy de Foulquois became Pope Clement IV !!
                                        
                   Bacon had doubts if Foulqois, now Pope Clement, would ever find the time to read his voluminous books. So he wrote an abstract, called "Opus Tertium". Unfortunately, Pope Clement died three years later, so it's unclear if Pope Clement IV ever read Bacon's books.

The Opus Tertium is the most interesting book to us black powder friends, because it contains the first concrete and precisely dated black powder recipe (1267). He definitely doesn't claim the invention for himself. He writes "As everyone knows, you can make ...." and then he gives away the recipe:

Sed tamen 7 Partes Salpetrae, 5 Partes Coruli et 5 Partes Sulphuris et sic facies tonitrum et coruscationem, sic scias artificium.
                                                                 
                     In English: Take 7 parts of saltpeter, 5 parts of hazelwood charcoal and 5 parts of sulfur and that makes thunder and lightning, provided you know the art.
                     
                     With this, I have contradicted all gossips about a secret black powder anagram, often attributed to Bacon.

Bacon even tells us what bad boys did with this powder to rouse sleeping citizens at night. They made a roll of paper the size of a thumb, then filled it with this powder, closed it at both ends with an iron wire and ignited it!
                                        
And quite interestingly, in the next paragraph he pondered about future capabilities slumbering in this powder. It's surprising how well he anticipated the future.

But don't worry. Bacon's mixture won't explode. There is far too little saltpeter in it. But Bacon is excused. He wasn't a chemist and certainly knew the recipe only from hearsay. You can bet that the bad boys he cites knew better.