Abstract
Though Nicholas Harpsfield is best known as a biographer of Sir Thomas More, he was also an historian, theologian, and authority on canon law. With his elder brother John, he worked to uphold the failing cause of Catholicism during the reigns of Mary I and Elizabeth I. Nicholas was born in London on 16 May 1519, son of ‘John Harpsfeld of London, gentleman’. After finishing his studies at Winchester school, he followed his brother to New College, Oxford, in 1535. Within two years both were made perpetual Fellows. In 1544 Nicholas received the degree of Bachelor of Canon Law, and was ordained to the priesthood. The Harpsfields remained at Oxford until 1550. Nicholas became the university’s first Regius Professor of Greek.
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© 1969 Springer Science + Business Media B.V.
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Nugent, E.M. (1969). Nicholas Harpsfield. In: Nugent, E.M. (eds) The Thought & Culture of the English Renaissance. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-2751-4_31
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-2751-4_31
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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