Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 26.djvu/249

 land in 1066, and not later than 1068 William, as king of England, appointed Herfast to the office of chancellor; it is Herfast's distinction to be reckoned the first that held that office. In 1070 he became bishop of Elmham, and resigned the chancellorship. His consecration must have speedily followed his nomination, for he officiated at Lanfranc's consecration to the archbishopric of Canterbury in August of the same year. William of Malmesbury states that the prognostic given him when—as bishops entering on their consecration were wont to do—he sought for such from the gospels was ‘not this man, but Barabbas;’ but the chronicler would seem to have been glad to think evil of Herfast.

In accordance with the decisions of the council of the church that met at London in 1075, Herfast, in 1078, shifted his see from Elmham to Thetford, and thus took the first step towards its permanent establishment at Norwich [see ]. Resolved to defeat the claims to exemption from episcopal jurisdiction advanced by the monastic bodies, Herfast engaged in an obstinate and prolonged conflict with Baldwin, abbot of St. Edmundsbury. In the course of the dispute he is said to have threatened to fix his see at Bury. King William, Lanfranc, and Pope Gregory himself were gradually drawn into the quarrel; and it was not composed till the pope, who sided with the abbot, had expressed himself sternly against Herfast in a peremptory letter to Lanfranc. Lanfranc, who had at first shown a leaning towards the bishop's side, lectured him sharply on his conduct, and the king is said—though the statement is doubtful—to have given judgment against him. It would appear from Lanfranc's letters during the business that the bishop was reputed a man of somewhat unclerical laxity of life, though no distinct immorality is laid to his charge. Even the son Richard whom he is said to have made heir need not, considering the frequency of clerical marriages in Herfast's younger days, be taken to have been born out of wedlock. Herfast is usually stated to have died in 1084. A successor in his bishopric was appointed in 1086.

 HERICKE. [See also and .] HERICKE or HERRICK, WILLIAM (1562–1653), goldsmith and moneylender, fifth son of John Hericke or Herrick (the name is also spelt Heyrick and Eyricke) of Leicester, by Mary, daughter of John Bond of Ward End, otherwise Little Bromwich, Warwickshire, was baptised at St. Martin's, Leicester, 9 Dec. 1562. About 1574 he was sent to London, and bound apprentice to his elder brother Nicholas, father of Robert Herrick [q. v.], who carried on the business of a goldsmith in Cheapside. He afterwards set up in the same way of business on his own account in Wood Street, and became one of the most prosperous merchants in the city of London. Elizabeth is said to have employed him on a mission to the Grand Turk; its precise object is not known, but on his return he was probably the bearer of the complimentary letter from the Grand Turk to the queen dated 25 March 1581, and printed in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ (1792, pt. ii. 1071). His own portrait in Turkish costume, with that of a Turkish lady whom he brought home with him, was long preserved at Beaumanor Park, Leicestershire, which he purchased in 1594–5 from the Earl of Essex, and which was subsequently confirmed to him by several royal grants. He was returned to parliament for the borough of Leicester on 16 Oct. 1601. After the accession of King James he was appointed (3 May 1603) his principal jeweller (, Fœdera, ed. Sanderson, xvi. 502), was granted the reversion of the office of one of the four tellers in the exchequer (20 June 1604), and on 2 April 1605 was knighted at Greenwich (Cal. State Papers, Dom. Addenda, 1580–1625, p. 446;, Mem. ii. 57). On 20 May he was chosen alderman for the ward of Farringdon Without, but being in embarrassed circumstances, by reason of the immense sums he had lent the king, obtained exemption from the obligation of serving the office by payment of a fine of 300l. On 10 June following the common council made an order exempting him for life from liability to serve the office of sheriff. In October he was again returned to parliament for Leicester. The king soon afterwards made him liberal grants of land in various counties and towns. He was re-elected member of parliament for Leicester on 8 Jan. 1620–1. On the accession of Charles I he was replaced in the office of king's jeweller by James Heriot (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1625–6, p. 52). He was evidently in disfavour at court, and in 1635 he refused either to pay ship-money or to attend the council when summoned to answer for his conduct (ib. 1635 p. 427, 1636 p.