IX. CELEBRITIES


The roll of Somerset worthies, either natives of or residents in the
county, is long and illustrious. The Church, law, literature,
philosophy, arms, science, politics, and adventure are all
represented. The following alphabetic list contains the most
important names, with dates and brief particulars.[5]

_Natives_

_Alphege_ or _Aelfeah_, b. 954, at Weston near Bath; successively
Bishop of Winchester and Archbishop of Canterbury; killed by the
Danes, 1011; canonised.

_Bacon, Roger_, b. about 1214, at or near Ilchester; became a friar
of the Franciscan Order; studied natural philosophy and wrote,
besides other works, the "Opus Majus" (described as "at once the
'Encyclopaedia' and the 'Organon' of the 13th century"); d. 1294.

_Bagehot, Walter_, b. 1826, at Langport; economist and author of "The
English Constitution"; d. 1877.

_Beckington, Thomas_, b. about 1390, at Beckington; successively
Bishop of Salisbury and Bishop of Bath and Wells; d. 1465.