English academic and archbishop
Samuel Harsnett
(or
Harsnet
) (June 1561 ? May 1631), born
Samuel Halsnoth
, was an English writer on religion and
Archbishop of York
from 1629.
Early life
[
edit
]
Born in St Botolph's parish,
Colchester
, Essex,
[2]
the son of William Halsnoth, a baker, and his wife Agnes,
[3]
Harsnett was probably educated at Colchester's free school, now
Colchester Royal Grammar School
.
[1]
After leaving school, he entered
King's College, Cambridge
as a
sizar
on 8 September 1576
[1]
and removed into
Pembroke Hall
[4]
where he gained a BA in 1580/1
[5]
and was elected a
Fellow
on 27 November 1583.
[1]
In 1583 he was ordained into the
Church of England
,
[1]
where he was soon disciplined by
Archbishop Whitgift
for preaching against
predestination
at
St Paul's Cross
on 27 October 1584.
[1]
As
David Hughson
notes, "he was one of those divines who opposed the decrees of the
synod of Dort
and he wrote a very learned treatise against absolute predestination".
[2]
In 1584 he proceeded
Master of Arts
by seniority.
[1]
Academic career
[
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]
In March 1587 Harsnett became headmaster of Colchester Royal Grammar School.
[4]
In recognition of his achievements, the school has had, since 1908, a
school house
bearing his name.
[6]
Preferring his studies at Cambridge University to the position, he resigned his office in November 1588, disliking the "painful trade of teaching",
[1]
and returned to Pembroke Hall where he studied divinity,
[4]
gaining his
BD
c.1590.
[1]
He re-entered himself into Pembroke Hall,
[2]
where he was first a fellow and was elected
master
on 1 November 1605, remaining in that position until 1616, when he resigned because accusations totalling fifty-seven articles were made against him,
[4]
by the Fellows of Pembroke to
King James I
.
[1]
He was also
Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University
for the years 1606, the same year he gained his
Doctor of Divinity
degree,
[1]
and 1614.
[1]
Ministerial career
[
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]
In 1592 he served the office of
Junior Proctor
[1]
and five years later became chaplain to
Richard Bancroft
,
[4]
then
Bishop of London
and shortly to become
Archbishop of Canterbury
by whose favour he quickly rose through the ranks. On the authority of Bancroft, he obtained the rectory of
St Margaret, New Fish Street
, London which he resigned in 1604 and the
vicarage
of
Chigwell
in Essex on 14 June 1597
[1]
which he resigned in 1605.
[4]
Whilst at Chigwell, his wife, Thomazine, died in 1601, having given birth in 1600 to a short-lived daughter.
[3]
Even after 1605 he continued to reside at Chigwell, where he had purchased a house and estate. In 1619 he purchased land in the parish on which he founded both a Latin school (which survives as
Chigwell School
) and an English school in 1629.
[3]
In 1598 he was promoted, becoming the
prebendary
of
Mapesbury
on 5 August
[1]
and on 17 January 1602 the
archdeacon of Essex
[1]
? both posts chosen for him by Bishop Bancroft. On 16 April 1604 Sir Thomas Lucas of Colchester, father of
Charles Lucas
, installed him in the rectory of
Shenfield
, Essex.
[4]
Having been
Bishop of Chichester
since 13 November 1609,
[1]
on 8 August 1619, he became
Bishop of Norwich
, resigning the living of
Stisted
he had held since 1609.
[1]
He spent most of his time when absent from his city at the bishop's palace in
Ludham
, which he rebuilt after a fire and consecrated a chapel for divine worship.
[7]
[8]
In May 1624 he was charged before Parliament with high-handedness by the citizens of Norwich and in that same year he also persecuted the
Puritans
in
Great Yarmouth
, leading to a complaint by them to
King Charles I
in 1627.
[1]
On 26 November 1628, he was elected
Archbishop of York
, and on 10 November 1629 he was sworn a
Privy Councillor
.
[1]
Death and commemoration
[
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]
Towards the end of his life he fell ill, signing his will on 13 February 1631, to which he signed a
codicil
on 18 May, and taking the waters at
Bath
in April of that year.
[1]
He died at
Moreton-in-Marsh
while returning from Bath on 25 May 1631 and his body took ten days to return to Chigwell.
[1]
He was buried at
St Mary's Church, Chigwell
alongside his wife and daughter, both named Thomasine who had both died in 1601. A
memorial brass
of Harsnett can be found in St Mary's Church, Chigwell, although it has been moved from its original position over his grave.
[3]
The image on the brass is believed to be a true representation of him and he most likely sat for it shortly before his death. It has been suggested that it is of Flemish origin but, because of the similarities it bears to the brass of Edward Filmer in
St Peter's and St Paul's Church, East Sutton
, Kent, it is now believed to be by
Edward Marshall
. His epitaph on the brass reads:
[1]
Hic iacet Samuell Harsnett quondam vicarius huius ecclesiæ primo indignus episcopus Cicestrensis deindignior Norwicencis demum indignissim' archiepiscop' Eboracen qui obiit XXV die maii anno dni: 1631
Here lies Samuel Harsnett once vicar of this church, first unworthy bishop of Chichester, then more unworthy bishop of Norwich, finally most unworthy archbishop of York; he died on the 25th day in May in the year of our Lord 1631.
There are two changes from the inscription he requested in his will ? his name is spelt as "Samuell", not "Samuel" and "deindignior" should have been "dein indignior".
[1]
In his home town of Colchester he is commemorated by a statue on the
town hall
[9]
and a stained-glass window in
St Botolph's Church
.
His collection of books was bequeathed to the borough of Colchester for the use of local clergy.
[4]
Harsnett's library now comprises 839 volumes with 20
incunabula
and is in the Albert Sloman Library of the
University of Essex
.
[10]
[11]
Religious views
[
edit
]
Harsnett is noted for his sceptical attitude towards demons and witchcraft. As the chaplain to Bishop Bancroft, Harsnett was commissioned to write a treatise condemning the 1590s exorcisms of
John Darrell
, having sat on the 1598 commissions which investigated his activities.
[1]
Darrell, curate at
St Mary's Church, Nottingham
was a
puritan
minister who performed a series of public exorcisms in the English Midlands. Eventually, the exorcisms caused such a disturbance that they attracted the attention of Anglican authorities in London. Harsnett's
A Discovery of the Fraudulent Practises of John Darrel
(1599)
[12]
was a polemical piece intended to discredit Darrell's puritan agenda. It was drafted as a piece of political propaganda, but it also genuinely questioned the belief in demons. In this way, Harsnett sought natural explanations for supposedly supernatural phenomena.
In 1603, he wrote another book,
A Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures
, published by order of the
Privy Council
,
[1]
which condemned exorcisms performed by Roman Catholic priests in the 1580s. Shakespeare used this book as a source, pulling words and phrases when writing the play
King Lear
, mainly spoken by Edgar while he feigns madness, and
John Milton
is said to have been influenced by it when writing
L'Allegro
.
As a member of England's religious authority, Harsnett's sceptical attitudes, divided equally between
puritanism
and
popery
,
[4]
set important precedents for English policy. For example, by coming close "to denying the reality of witchcraft" he may have contributed to the relative lack of
witch hunts
in England, compared to other countries.
[13]
Harsnett was a strident anti-
Calvinist
.
The extent of his
Arminian
theology has been discussed by historians.
Writings
[
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]
Harsnett is known to have written eight works, which are as follows:
- Nemo necessario damnatur
, a treatise written against Calvinism, which may have been his BD thesis;
- De Necessitate baptismi
;
- Sermon against predestination
, on the text of Ezekiel chapter 33, verse 11; preached at St Paul's Cross in 1584;
- A Discovery of the Fraudulent practises of Iohn Darrel, Bacheler of Artes, in his proceedings concerning the Pretended Possession and dispossession of William Somers at Nottingham; of Thomas Darling, the boy of Burton at Caldwell; and of Katherine Wright at Mansfield, & Whittlington; and of his dealings with one Mary Couper at Nottingham, detecting in some sort the deceitfull trade in these latter dayes of casting out Deuils
, London, John Wolfe, 1599;
- A Declaration of egregious Popish Impostures, to with-draw the harts of her Maiesties Subiects from their allegeance, and from the truth of Christian Religion professed in England, under the pretence of casting out deuils. Pracised by Edmunds, alias Weston a Iesuit, and diuers Romish Priests his wicked associates. Whereunto are annexed the Copies of the Confessions, and Examinations of the parties themselves, taken upon oath before her Maiesties Commissioners, for causes Ecclesiasticall
, James Roberts, Barbican, 1603; with a new title pages, London, 1605;
- Defence of Answer against a certain Reply concerning Usury
, dated after 1604;
- Consideration of the better settling of Church government
, presented by Laud to the King, and sent by the King to the Archbishop of Canterbury in December 1629;
- Instructions concerning certain articles to be observed and put in execution by the several Bishops in his Province
, Lambeth Library.
Notes and references
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]
Citations
[
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]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
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v
w
x
y
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Stott, Godfrey (1960).
A History of Chigwell School
. W. S. Cowell Limited. pp. 170?7.
- ^
a
b
c
Hughson, David; Stratford, William; Stratford, J. (1809).
London, Being an Accurate History and Description
. W. Stratford. pp. 293?4.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Brass of the Month: Chigwell, Essex"
. The Monumental Brass Society. 31 October 2006
. Retrieved
30 December
2008
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
Chalmers, Alexander (1814).
The General Biographical Dictionary
. J. Nichols. pp. 188?9.
- ^
"Harsnet, Samuel (HRST579S)"
.
A Cambridge Alumni Database
. University of Cambridge.
- ^
Martin, Geoffrey Haward
(1947).
The History of Colchester Royal Grammar School, 1539?1947
. Borough of Colchester.
- ^
Britton, John; Wedlake Brayley, Edward; Nightingale, Joseph; Norris Brewer, James; Evans, John; Hodgson, John; Harris, John; Laird, Francis Charles; Shoberl, Frederic; Bigland, John; Rees, Thomas; Hood, Thomas (1810).
The Beauties of England and Wales, Or, Delineations, Topographical, Historical, and Descriptive, of Each County
. Thomas Maiden. p. 31.
- ^
Historic England
.
"Ludham Hall including attached chapel (Grade II*) (1171892)"
.
National Heritage List for England
.
- ^
"Virtual Tour of Colchester"
. 22 January 2005
. Retrieved
14 January
2008
.
- ^
Galligan, Francesca.
"The Library of Archbishop Samuel Harsnett: A Report"
(PDF)
. University of Essex
. Retrieved
1 May
2024
.
- ^
"Wyvern : News : November 2003"
. University of Essex. 5 January 2002. Archived from
the original
on 31 March 2012
. Retrieved
17 December
2010
.
- ^
Lake, Peter; Questier, Michael (2000).
Conformity and Orthodoxy in the English Church, c1560-1660
(1st ed.). Woodbridge: Boydell Press. p. 48.
ISBN
978-0851157979
.
- ^
Gijswijt-Hofstra, Marijke; Levack, Brian P.; Porter, Roy; Ankarloo, Bengt (1999).
Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
. Continuum International. pp. 34, 55.
ISBN
978-0-485-89005-1
.
Sources
[
edit
]
- Harris, Tim (2014).
Rebellion: Britain's First Stuart Kings, 1567-1642
. Oxford: Oxford university press.
- Pearce, Michael (2004).
The career and works of Samuel Harsnett, Archbishop of York
(DPhil thesis). Oxford: University of Oxford.
External links
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