Samuel Harsnett

Born in St Botolph's parish, Colchester, Essex, the son of William Halsnoth, a baker, and his wife Agnes, Harsnett was probably educated at Colchester's free school, now Colchester Royal Grammar School. where he gained a BA in 1580/1 and was elected a Fellow on 27 November 1583. In 1583 he was ordained into the Church of England, where he was soon disciplined by Archbishop Whitgift for preaching against predestination at St Paul's Cross on 27 October 1584. 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". In 1584 he proceeded Master of Arts by seniority. ==Academic career==

In March 1587 Harsnett became headmaster of Colchester Royal Grammar School. Preferring his studies at Cambridge University to the position, he resigned his office in November 1588, disliking the "painful trade of teaching", and returned to Pembroke Hall where he studied divinity, gaining his BD c.1590. He re-entered himself into Pembroke Hall, 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, by the Fellows of Pembroke to King James I. He was also Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University for the years 1606, the same year he gained his Doctor of Divinity degree, and 1614. ==Ministerial career==

, which Harsnett founded, circa 1904 In 1592 he served the office of Junior Proctor 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. On 26 November 1628, he was elected Archbishop of York, and on 10 November 1629 he was sworn a Privy Councillor. == Death and commemoration ==

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. although it has been moved from its original position over his grave. 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. == Religious views ==

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. 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, Harsnett was a strident anti-Calvinist. The extent of his Arminian theology has been discussed by historians. == Writings ==

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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