Bacon, Francis. Albans was an English lawyer, statesman, essayist, historian, intellectual reformer, philosopher, and champion of modern science. Early in his career he claimed all knowledge as his province and afterwards dedicated himself to a wholesale revaluation and re structuring of traditional learning. To take the place of the established tradition a miscellany of Scholasticism, humanism, and natural magic, he proposed an entirely new system based on empirical and inductive principles and the active development of new arts and inventions, a system whose ultimate goal would be the production of practical knowledge for the use and benefit of men and the relief of the human condition. At the same time that he was founding and promoting this new project for the advancement of learning, Bacon was also moving up the ladder of state service. His career aspirations had been largely disappointed under Elizabeth I, but with the ascension of James his political fortunes rose. Knighted in 1. 60. Solicitor General 1. Attorney General 1. Lord Chancellor 1. While serving as Chancellor, he was indicted on charges of bribery and forced to leave public office. He then retired to his estate where he devoted himself full time to his continuing literary, scientific, and philosophical work. He died in 1. 62. Table of Contents. Episode Four is the story of India in the Middle Ages, when India had a series of great flowerings of culture, both in the north and the south. Life and Political Career. Thought and Writings. Literary Works. The New Atlantis. Official Discussion Forums of TheForce. Fan Fiction and Writing Resource A forum for both writers and readers of Fan Fiction to socialize and find out more. Id/30738/type/STUDIO/dimension/2560x1440?w=720' alt='Pillars Of The Earth Legacy Episode' title='Pillars Of The Earth Legacy Episode' />Scientific and Philosophical Works. The Great Instauration. The Advancement of Learning. The Distempers of Learning. The Idea of Progress. The Reclassification of Knowledge. The New Organon. The Idols. Induction. Reputation and Cultural Legacy. References and Further Reading. Life and Political Career. Sir Francis Bacon later Lord Verulam, the Viscount St. Albans, and Lord Chancellor of England was born in London in 1. His parents were Sir Nicholas Bacon, the Lord Keeper of the Seal, and Lady Anne Cooke, daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, a knight and one time tutor to the royal family. Lady Anne was a learned woman in her own right, having acquired Greek and Latin as well as Italian and French. She was a sister in law both to Sir Thomas Hoby, the esteemed English translator of Castiglione, and to Sir William Cecil later Lord Burghley, Lord Treasurer, chief counselor to Elizabeth I, and from 1. Watch In The Line Of Fire Online Iflix. England. Bacon was educated at home at the family estate at Gorhambury in Herfordshire. In 1. 57. 3, at the age of just twelve, he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where the stodgy Scholastic curriculum triggered his lifelong opposition to Aristotelianism though not to the works of Aristotle himself. In 1. 57. 6 Bacon began reading law at Grays Inn. Yet only a year later he interrupted his studies in order to take a position in the diplomatic service in France as an assistant to the ambassador. In 1. 57. 9, while he was still in France, his father died, leaving him as the second son of a second marriage and the youngest of six heirs virtually without support. With no position, no land, no income, and no immediate prospects, he returned to England and resumed the study of law. Bacon completed his law degree in 1. Grays Inn. In the meantime, he was elected to Parliament in 1. Melcombe in Dorsetshire. He would remain in Parliament as a representative for various constituencies for the next 3. In 1. 59. 3 his blunt criticism of a new tax levy resulted in an unfortunate setback to his career expectations, the Queen taking personal offense at his opposition. Any hopes he had of becoming Attorney General or Solicitor General during her reign were dashed, though Elizabeth eventually relented to the extent of appointing Bacon her Extraordinary Counsel in 1. It was around this time that Bacon entered the service of Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex, a dashing courtier, soldier, plotter of intrigue, and sometime favorite of the Queen. No doubt Bacon viewed Essex as a rising star and a figure who could provide a much needed boost to his own sagging career. Unfortunately, it was not long before Essexs own fortunes plummeted following a series of military and political blunders culminating in a disastrous coup attempt. When the coup plot failed, Devereux was arrested, tried, and eventually executed, with Bacon, in his capacity as Queens Counsel, playing a vital role in the prosecution of the case. Watch Wayne`S World 2 Streaming on this page. In 1. 60. 3, James I succeeded Elizabeth, and Bacons prospects for advancement dramatically improved. After being knighted by the king, he swiftly ascended the ladder of state and from 1. Appointed Kings Counsel. Named Solicitor General. Appointed Clerk of the Star Chamber. Appointed Attorney General. Made a member of the Privy Council. Appointed Lord Keeper of the Royal Seal his fathers former office. Made Lord Chancellor. As Lord Chancellor, Bacon wielded a degree of power and influence that he could only have imagined as a young lawyer seeking preferment. Yet it was at this point, while he stood at the very pinnacle of success, that he suffered his great Fall. In 1. 62. 1 he was arrested and charged with bribery. After pleading guilty, he was heavily fined and sentenced to a prison term in the Tower of London. Although the fine was later waived and Bacon spent only four days in the Tower, he was never allowed to sit in Parliament or hold political office again. The entire episode was a terrible disgrace for Bacon personally and a stigma that would cling to and injure his reputation for years to come. As various chroniclers of the case have pointed out, the accepting of gifts from suppliants in a law suit was a common practice in Bacons day, and it is also true that Bacon ended up judging against the two petitioners who had offered the fateful bribes. Yet the damage was done, and Bacon to his credit accepted the judgment against him without excuse. According to his own Essayes, or Counsels, he should have known and done better. Yet whatever his flaws, even his enemies conceded that during his trial he accepted his punishment nobly, and moved on. Bacon spent his remaining years working with renewed determination on his lifelong project the reform of learning and the establishment of an intellectual community dedicated to the discovery of scientific knowledge for the use and benefit of men. The former Lord Chancellor died on 9 April, 1. Thought and Writings. In a way Bacons descent from political power was a fortunate fall, for it represented a liberation from the bondage of public life resulting in a remarkable final burst of literary and scientific activity. As Renaissance scholar and Bacon expert Brian Vickers has reminded us, Bacons earlier works, impressive as they are, were essentially products of his spare time. It was only during his last five years that he was able to concentrate exclusively on writing and produce, in addition to a handful of minor pieces Two substantial volumes of history and biography, The History of the Reign of King Henry the Seventh and The History of the Reign of King Henry the Eighth. De Augmentis Scientiarum an expanded Latin version of his earlier Advancement of Learning. The final 1. 62. 5 edition of his Essayes, or Counsels. The remarkable Sylva Sylvarum, or A Natural History in Ten Centuries a curious hodge podge of scientific experiments, personal observations, speculations, ancient teachings, and analytical discussions on topics ranging from the causes of hiccups to explanations for the shortage of rain in Egypt. Artificially divided into ten centuries that is, ten chapters, each consisting of one hundred items, the work was apparently intended to be included in Part Three of the Magna Instauratio. His utopian science fiction novel The New Atlantis, which was published in unfinished form a year after his death.