Life

Harpsfield was educated in Winchester College

Winchester College

Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...

 and New College, Oxford

New College, Oxford

New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...

 (BA 1537, MA in theology 1541). He was perpetual fellow of New College from 1534 until 1551 and was appointed the first Regius Professor of Greek (Oxford)

Regius Professor of Greek (Oxford)

The Regius Professorship of Greek is a professorship at the University of Oxford in England.Henry VIII founded the chair by 1541. He established five Regius Professorships in the University , the others being the Regius chairs of Divinity, Medicine, Civil Law and Hebrew.-List of holders:* John...

 (approximately 1541-1545). He became Vicar of Berkeley, Gloucestershire

Berkeley, Gloucestershire

Berkeley is a town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It lies in the Vale of Berkeley between the east bank of the River Severn and the M5 motorway within the Stroud administrative district. The town is noted for Berkeley Castle where the imprisoned Edward II was murdered.- Geography...

 in 1550, Archdeacon of London

Archdeacon of London

The Archdeacon of London is an archdiaconal post in the Church of England. It covers one of two archdeaconries within the London and Westminster episcopal area of the Diocese of London - that episcopal area's bishop is the Bishop of London.-List:*William de Beaumais, 12th century *William of...

 in 1554, and Dean of Norwich

Dean of Norwich

The Dean of Norwich is the head of the Chapter of Norwich Cathedral in Norwich, England. The current Dean is the Very Revd Graham Charles Morell Smith.*1538-1539 William Castleton, first dean*1539-1554 John Salisbury*1554-1557 John Christopherson...

 in 1558.

He was a champion of papal authority and a leader of the Marian Persecutions

Marian Persecutions

The Marian Persecutions were carried out against religious reformers, Protestants, and other dissenters for their heretical beliefs during the reign of Mary I of England. The excesses of this period were mythologized in the historical record of Foxe's Book of Martyrs...

. He interrogated John Bradford

John Bradford

John Bradford was a prebendary of St. Paul's. He was an English Reformer and martyr best remembered for his utterance "'There, but for the grace of God, goes John Bradford". These words were uttered by Bradford while imprisoned in the Tower of London when he saw a criminal on his way to execution;...

, who was put to death under the revived Heresy Acts

Revival of the Heresy Acts

In November 1554, the Revival of the Heresy Acts revived three former Acts against heresy; the letters patent of 1382 of King Richard II, an Act of 1401 of King Henry IV, and an Act of 1414 of King Henry V...

 in 1555. He assisted Edmund Bonner

Edmund Bonner

Edmund Bonner , Bishop of London, was an English bishop. Initially an instrumental figure in the schism of Henry VIII from Rome, he was antagonized by the Protestant reforms introduced by Somerset and reconciled himself to Roman Catholicism...

 in the questioning of Thomas Cranmer

Thomas Cranmer

Thomas Cranmer was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build a favourable case for Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon which resulted in the separation of the English Church from...

 and preached on the occasion of Cranmer's disgradation (February 14, 1556).

After the accession of Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

 in 1558, Harpsfield was deposed as archdeacon and dean in 1559. At some point between 1559 and 1562, he was committed to Fleet Prison

Fleet Prison

Fleet Prison was a notorious London prison by the side of the Fleet River in London. The prison was built in 1197 and was in use until 1844. It was demolished in 1846.- History :...

, together with his brother Nicholas Harpsfield

Nicholas Harpsfield

Nicholas Harpsfield was an English historian, Catholic apologist and priest.-Early life and exile:Harpsfield was educated at Winchester College and studied canon and civil law in New College, Oxford, receiving a BCL in 1543...

, for his refusal to swear the Oath of Supremacy

Oath of Supremacy

The Oath of Supremacy, originally imposed by King Henry VIII of England through the Act of Supremacy 1534, but repealed by his daughter, Queen Mary I of England and reinstated under Mary's sister, Queen Elizabeth I of England under the Act of Supremacy 1559, provided for any person taking public or...

. He wrote letters of appeal to Lord Burghley and Sir Thomas Smith in Greek, as a fellow humanist

Renaissance humanism

Renaissance humanism was an activity of cultural and educational reform engaged by scholars, writers, and civic leaders who are today known as Renaissance humanists. It developed during the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth centuries, and was a response to the challenge of Mediæval...

, and was released on health grounds in 1574. He continued to be called before the Star Chamber

Star Chamber

The Star Chamber was an English court of law that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster until 1641. It was made up of Privy Counsellors, as well as common-law judges and supplemented the activities of the common-law and equity courts in both civil and criminal matters...

 and was placed in the custody of the Bishop of Lincoln

Bishop of Lincoln

The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. The Bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral...

.

Works

• Latin translation of Simplicius
  Simplicius of Cilicia
  Simplicius of Cilicia, was a disciple of Ammonius Hermiae and Damascius, and was one of the last of the Neoplatonists. He was among the pagan philosophers persecuted by Justinian in the early 6th century, and was forced for a time to seek refuge in the Persian court, before being allowed back into...
  
  ' commentary on Aristotle
  Aristotle
  Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
  
  's Categories
  Categories (Aristotle)
  The Categories is a text from Aristotle's Organon that enumerates all the possible kinds of thing that can be the subject or the predicate of a proposition...
  
  
• Greek translation of Virgil
  Virgil
  Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
  
  , Aeneid
  Aeneid
  The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is composed of roughly 10,000 lines in dactylic hexameter...
  
  , Book 1
• Several published sermons, including nine of the thirteen in Edmund Bonner's Homilies (1555), and A Notable and Learned Sermon made upon Saint Andrewes Day (1556)
• Versus elegiaci
  Elegiac couplet
  The elegiac couplet is a poetic form used by Greek lyric poets for a variety of themes usually of smaller scale than the epic. Roman poets, particularly Ovid, adopted the same form in Latin many years later...
  
  , ex centuriis summatim comprehensi, de Historia Ecclesiastica Anglorum
• Chronicon Johannis Harpesfeldi a diluvio ad annum 1559

Source

• William Wizeman, "Harpsfield, John (1516–1578)," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004