It cannot be regarded as certain that this Roger Bacon was the famous friar. The name was not uncommon; e.g. a Roger Bacon, a Thomas Bacon, and a Peter Bacon occur in Pat. Roll 3 Edw I. On the other hand Roger was certainly in Oxford in or before this year. He states that St. Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, lectured at Oxford in his time, i.e. Edmund Riche who became Archbishop in 1233[1318]. At this period too, Roger attended Grostete’s lectures and made the acquaintance of Adam Marsh, for both of whom he always retained the greatest admiration. He found in them that sympathy with and understanding of his experimental method, which were denied him in later life[1319]. It was doubtless his connexion with these men that led Roger to enter the Franciscan Order. When or where this took place is unknown: perhaps at Oxford before the death of Grostete. He had clearly reached years of discretion when he took the step. This may be inferred from his denunciation of those who entered the Orders as boys and begun the study of theology before they had been grounded in philosophy[1320]. It is also implied in such passages as these: ‘When I was in another state, I wrote nothing on philosophy.’ ‘Men used to wonder before I became a friar that I lived owing to such excessive labour[1321].’ He began his studies on positive science before 1250[1322], and had by 1267 spent more than 2,000 _librae_[1323] ‘on secret books and various experiments and languages and instruments and tables.’ It is not necessary to assume that this sum was expended before he joined the Franciscan Order; he could, and undoubtedly did, obtain money by begging to carry on his experiments[1324]. Roger left Oxford for Paris some time before 1245; he states that he had seen Alexander of Hales with his own eyes[1325], and he heard William of Auvergne dispute on the _Intellectus Agens_ before the whole University: William died in 1248[1326]. Roger was in France in 1250 when he saw the chief of the Pastoureaux, and remarked that ‘he carried in his hand something as though it were sacred, as a man carries relics[1327].’