Samuel Harsnett | |
|---|---|
| Archbishop of York | |
 | |
| Province | Province of York |
| Diocese | Diocese of York |
| Installed | 1629 |
| Term ended | 1631 |
| Predecessor | George Montaigne |
| Successor | Richard Neile |
| Other posts | Bishop of Chichester (1609–1619) Bishop of Norwich (1619–1628) |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1583[1] |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Samuel Halsnoth June 1561 (1561-06) Colchester, Essex |
| Died | 25 May 1631(1631-05-25) (aged 69) Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire |
| Buried | St Mary's Church, Chigwell |
| Nationality | British |
| Denomination | Anglicanism |
| Parents | William & Agnes Halsnoth |
| Spouse | Thomasine Harsnett |
| Children | Thomasine Harsnett |
| Alma mater | Pembroke College, Cambridge |
Samuel Harsnett (orHarsnet) (June 1561 – May 1631), bornSamuel Halsnoth, was an English writer on religion andArchbishop of York from 1629.
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, nowColchester Royal Grammar School.[1] After leaving school, he enteredKing's College, Cambridge as asizar on 8 September 1576[1] and removed intoPembroke Hall[4] where he gained a BA in 1580/1[5] and was elected aFellow on 27 November 1583.[1] In 1583 he was ordained into theChurch of England,[1] where he was soon disciplined byArchbishop Whitgift for preaching againstpredestination atSt Paul's Cross on 27 October 1584.[1] AsDavid Hughson notes, "he was one of those divines who opposed the decrees of thesynod of Dort and he wrote a very learned treatise against absolute predestination".[2] In 1584 he proceededMaster of Arts by seniority.[1]
In March 1587 Harsnett became headmaster of Colchester Royal Grammar School.[4] In recognition of his achievements, the school has had, since 1908, aschool 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 hisBD c.1590.[1]
He re-entered himself into Pembroke Hall,[2] where he was first a fellow and was electedmaster 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 toKing James I.[1] He was alsoVice-Chancellor of Cambridge University for the years 1606, the same year he gained hisDoctor of Divinity degree,[1] and 1614.[1]
In 1592 he served the office ofJunior Proctor[1] and five years later became chaplain toRichard Bancroft,[4] thenBishop of London and shortly to becomeArchbishop of Canterbury by whose favour he quickly rose through the ranks. On the authority of Bancroft, he obtained the rectory ofSt Margaret, New Fish Street, London which he resigned in 1604 and thevicarage ofChigwell 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 asChigwell School) and an English school in 1629.[3]
In 1598 he was promoted, becoming theprebendary ofMapesbury on 5 August[1] and on 17 January 1602 thearchdeacon of Essex[1] – both posts chosen for him by Bishop Bancroft. On 16 April 1604 Sir Thomas Lucas of Colchester, father ofCharles Lucas, installed him in the rectory ofShenfield, Essex.[4]
Having beenBishop of Chichester since 13 November 1609,[1] on 8 August 1619, he becameBishop of Norwich, resigning the living ofStisted he had held since 1609.[1] He spent most of his time when absent from his city at the bishop's palace inLudham, 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 thePuritans inGreat Yarmouth, leading to a complaint by them toKing Charles I in 1627.[1]
On 26 November 1628, he was electedArchbishop of York, and on 10 November 1629 he was sworn aPrivy Councillor.[1]
Towards the end of his life he fell ill, signing his will on 13 February 1631, to which he signed acodicil on 18 May, and taking the waters atBath in April of that year.[1] He died atMoreton-in-Marsh while returning from Bath on 25 May 1631 and his body took ten days to return to Chigwell.[1] He was buried atSt Mary's Church, Chigwell alongside his wife and daughter, both named Thomasine who had both died in 1601. Amemorial brass of Harsnett can be found in St Mary's Church, Chigwell,[9] 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 inSt Peter's and St Paul's Church, East Sutton, Kent, it is now believed to be byEdward 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' Eboraceñ qui obiit XXV die maii anno dñi: 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 thetown hall[10] and a stained-glass window inSt 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 20incunabula and is in the Albert Sloman Library of theUniversity of Essex.[11][12]
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 ofJohn Darrell, having sat on the 1598 commissions which investigated his activities.[1] Darrell, curate atSt Mary's Church, Nottingham was apuritan 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'sA Discovery of the Fraudulent Practises of John Darrel (1599)[13] 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 thePrivy 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 playKing Lear, mainly spoken by Edgar while he feigns madness, andJohn Milton is said to have been influenced by it when writingL'Allegro.
As a member of England's religious authority, Harsnett's sceptical attitudes, divided equally betweenpuritanism andpopery,[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 ofwitch hunts in England, compared to other countries.[14]
Harsnett was a strident anti-Calvinist.[15] The extent of hisArminian theology has been discussed by historians.[16]
Harsnett is known to have written eight works, which are as follows:
| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge 1605–1616 | Succeeded by |
| Church of England titles | ||
| Preceded by | Bishop of Chichester 1609–1619 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Bishop of Norwich 1619–1628 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Archbishop of York 1629–1631 | Succeeded by |
