CHAPTER VII. 



THE town of Lucera or Nocera, situated in the province 

 of Apulia in southern Italy, was founded early in the thir- 

 teenth century by Frederick II., Emperor of Germany, as a 

 place of free refuge and dwelling for the Saracens. In 1266, 

 Charles of Anjou, who had been crowned king of the two 

 Sicilies by Pope Urban IV., captured the town. Subse- 

 quently it rebelled and he besieged it a second time. The 

 defense was obstinate and the town was finally reduced, in 

 1269, only because of starvation and after a year's siege. 



Among the partisans of Charles who were encamped 

 under the walls of Lucera during this long investment was 

 the Magister Petrus de Maharne-Curia (or Master Peter de 

 Maricourt), of whom Roger Bacon speaks in glowing 

 terms. The surname u de Maricourt" is derived from a 

 little village in Picardy, whence he came, and is classed 

 among the territorial designations of the French nobility. 

 The title u Magister" indicates the academic grade of 

 "Doctor," showing that the bearer had studied and at- 

 tained scholastic honors. The eulogiums of Bacon are so 

 unstinted that there is reason to believe that Peter was 

 already a man of wide celebrity for his learning and skill. 

 Bacon 1 calls him "a master of experiment" seeing in full 

 brilliancy the things which others grope for in darkness, 

 like bats in the twilight, and says that through experiment 

 he had become "versed in all natural science, whether 

 medicinal, or alchemical, or relating to matters celestial or 

 terrestrial." He is skilled, the monk tells us, in minerals 

 and metal working in arms, whether military or pertain- 

 ing to the hunt, in agriculture and geodesy and magic; 



Brewer, V.: Fr. Roger! Bacon, Opera. Lond., 1859. P- Tertium, c. 

 xi., p. 46. 



(165) 



