 1516 - 1578 (~ 62 years)
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| Name |
Harpsfield, John |
| Born |
31 May 1516 |
St Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street, London, England  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Buried |
10 Nov 1578 |
St Selpuchre, Holborn, London, England |
| Person ID |
I07523 |
My Genealogy |
| Last Modified |
20 May 2015 |
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| Notes |
- BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS.
FROM THE BREACH WITH ROME, IN 1554,, TO THE PRESENT TIME.
"A whole compos'd of parts, and those the best,
With every various character exprest."
Dryden, Epistle to Sir G. Kneller.
BY
JOSEPH GILLOW.
VOL. III.
BURNS & OATES.
LONDON:
GRANVILLE MANSIONS,
28 ORCHARD STREET, W.
NEW YORK :
...
7. History of the Divorce, MS., ascribed to him by Le Grand in his
answer to Dr. Burnet, was more probably the work of Dr. Nic. Harpsfield.
Harpsfield, John, D.D., born in Old Fish Street, in the parish of St. Mary Magdalen, London, was the grandson of
Nicholas Harpsfield, Esq. This gentleman in 1472 was in the
custody of Bishop Wayneflete, and detained in the episcopal
prison of Wolvesey Castle, having been indicted and convicted
of homicide, and subsequently claimed from the king's prison as
a clerk by the bishop, in accordance with the ecclesiastical laws,
as entitled to the benefit of clergy. The offence was committed
at Windsor Castle on Aug. 21, 1471, and the bishop's commission for his purgation and delivery from Wolvesey prison is dated Aug. 29, 1472, so that he probably obtained his release before the close of the year.
Brothers to Alice?? John born 1516?
John Harpsfield studied his classics with his younger brother
Nicholas, at Winchester School. Thence removing to New
College, Oxford, he was made a fellow in 1534, and completed
his degrees in arts. Afterwards he was appointed chaplain to-
Dr. Bonner, Bishop of London, and being inducted into a good
benefice in that diocese, resigned his fellowship about I550
In the beginning of Mary's reign, having been created
D.D., he was promoted to the archdeaconry of London, about
1554, in the place of John Wymsley. In 1558, shortly
before the queen's death, he was made dean of Christ Church,
Norwich, the former dean, John Boxall, having other duties to-
perform.
When Elizabeth ascended the throne Dr. Harpsfield was
obliged to resign his deanery to John Salisbury, suffragan of
Thetford, in I560. He was then committed prisoner to the
Fleet, where he remained about a year, when he was discharged
upon finding surety that he should not act, speak, or write
against the established church. The remainder of his life was
spent in great retirement and devotion in the house of one of
his relations in St. Sepulchre's parish, where he died, Aug. 19,
1578.
He was buried in the parish church, as appears from the
letters of administration taken out by his nearest relative, Anne
Worsopp. It was probably at this lady's house that he resided.
She was the widow of John Worsopp, gent, and daughter of
Richard Baron, Esq., citizen and mercer of London, by his wife,
Alice Harpsfield. This Baron's father, Peter, of Saffron Walden,
co. Essex, was a serjeant-at-law, and was drowned in the Thames.
Fox charges Dr. Harpsfield with persecution, but it must be
remembered that he was obliged to carry out the measures
against the so-called reformers by virtue of his office. There is
no record that he exceeded the commands of the Council, or
that he infused animosity into their execution.
Wood, Athena Oxon., ed. 1691, vol. i. ; Dodd, Cli. Hist.,
vol. ii. ; Maitland, Reformation; Tablet, vol. xlvii. p. 536;
Harl. Soc., Visit, of Lond., 1568.
.....Harpsfield, Nicholas, D.D., confessor of the faith, a native
of London, was, like his elder brother John, educated at Win-
chester and New College, Oxford. After serving two years' pro-
bation at the latter, he was admitted true and perpetual fellow
in 1536, about which time he commenced to study civil and
canon law, in which he rose to great eminence. In 1544, being
then bachelor of civil law, he was elected principal of White
Hall, and two years later, in 1546, he was appointed king's
professor of Greek by Henry VIII. During the reign of
Edward VI. he was in exile, but returned when Mary succeeded
to the crown. In that year, 1553, he took the degree of LL.D.,
resigned his fellowship, and practised in the Court of Arches. In
1554, being then prebendary of St. Paul's, he was appointed
archdeacon of Canterbury, in place of Edmund Cranmer, brother
to the archbishop, who was deprived on account of marriage.
He became judge of the Court of Arches, and also dean of the
peculiars of Canterbury in 1558, having been made a pre-
bendary Nov. 1, 1558, just before the queen's death.
After the accession of Elizabeth, Dr. Harpsfield was one of
the seven Catholic divines elected to defend the Catholic cause
against the Protestant party in a conference devised to give an
appearance of fairness to the intended subversion of the ancient
faith. Immediately afterwards he was committed prisoner to
the Tower for his refusal to acknowledge the ecclesiastical
supremacy of the sovereign, and there he was kept during the
remainder of his life. The date of his death has been variously
stated, but from some obituary notices written by a contemporary
in a psalterium in the library of Exeter College, Oxford, it
appears that he died Dec. 18, 1575.
1543 HARPSFIELD STE LONDON (ST NICHOLAS ACONS) LONDON
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