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 Cotton. MS. Vitell. C. ix. ff. 161-88. 7. 'Versus elegiaci, ex centuriis summatim comprehensi, de Historia Ecclesiastica Anglorum.' Cotton. MS. Vitell. C. ix. tf. 188 b-99. This and the previous work are in the author's autograph. 8. 'Simplicii cinnebtaruys in primum Aristotelis physicorum librum.' Royal MS into Latin from the Greek ; dedicated to Henry VIII. 9. A Greek translation of the first book of Virgil's Æneid.' Royal MS. 16 C. viii.  HARPSFIELD or HARPESFELD, NICHOLAS (1519?–1575), theologian, was born in the parish of St. Mary Magdalen in the city of London, presumably about 1519. Like his elder brother [q. v.], he was educated at Winchester College, which he entered at the age of ten in 1529 (, Winchester Scholars), and proceeded to New College, Oxford, where he was elected fellow on 11 Jan. 1535. He was a student of civil and canon law, and rapidly distinguished himself in the university. He seems also to have mixed in the world, for he tells us that he was present at the reception of Anne of Cleves on her arrival in England in 1540. In 1544 he was principal of the hostel of Whitehall, which stood on the site now occupied by Jesus College, and was chiefly attended by students of the civil law. About 1546 he was appointed the first regius professor of Greek at Oxford, but he can only have held this post for a short time, since [q. v.] was appointed to it 25 March 1547. In 1550 he quitted England, because he disapproved of the religious changes made under Edward VI, and during his exile he lived chiefly at Louvain. On Queen Mary's accession he returned to England, took the degree of D.C.L. at Oxford on 11 July 1554, resigned his fellowship, and practised as a proctor in the court of arches. In April 1554 he was installed prebend of Harleston in St. Paul's Cathedral, and was collated to the vicarage of Laindon, Essex, posts which were rendered vacant by the deprivation of Hodgkin. Soon after he was appointed archdeacon of Canterbury in the room of Edmund Cranmer (Thomas Cranmer's brother), who was deprived on the ground of marriage. In this office it was his duty to judge heretics, and Foxe (Acts and Monuments, ed. 1849, viii. 253) says: 'As of all bishops, Bonner, bishop of London, principally excelled in persecuting the poor members and saints of Christ, so of all archdeacons, Nicholas Harpsfield, archdeacon of Canterbury, was the sorest and of least compassion, only Dunning of Norwich excepted.' Foxe even accuses him of hastening from London when Queen Mary lay dying, that he might despatch those whom he had in custody (ib. p. 504). This seems, however, scarcely compatible with Harpsfield's conduct in the examination of heretics, whom he always treated with kindness, and tried to convince by argument. In October 1558 he was made official of the court of arches and dean of the peculiars, and in November judge of the audience. After Elizabeth's accession, Harpsfield was prolocutor of the lower house, and presented to the bishops a remonstrance against the proposed changes in religion. He was also, in April 1559, one of the eight learned catholics who were appointed to hold a disputation with a like number of protestant champions at Westminster in parliament time before a large assembly of the nobility. The conference proved abortive [see ]. Owing to his official position and to the unpopularity which he had incurred as an ecclesiastical judge, Harpsfield was a marked man, and does not seem to have behaved with discretion. The magistrates of Canterbury were ordered to keep an eye on him (, Annals, i.65-6). He was pronounced contumacious for absence from the chapter at Parker's election as archbishop (, Parker, i. 103), and on 23 Oct. 1559 was summoned before the royal visitors at St. Paul's, when he refused obedience to the prayer-book and the queen's injunctions (, Annals, i. 250-1). After this he was committed to the Tower, where he remained a prisoner from 1559 till his death in 1575. The date of his death is established by an entry in a psalter belonging to Exeter College, Oxford ( in Academy, ix. 360).

The published works of Harpsfield are: 1. 'Historia Anglicana Ecclesiastica in quindecim centurias distributa,' edited by Richard Gibbons, S. J., Douay, 1662. The same volume also contains 'Historia hæresis Wicliffianæ,' These works are carefully written, but do not 