- Samuel Harsnett
Infobox Archbishop of York
name = Samuel Harsnett
birth_name =
began = 1629
term_end = 1631
predecessor =George Montaigne
successor =Richard Neile
birth_date = June 1561
birthplace =Colchester ,Essex
death_date = May 1631
deathplace =
tomb =St Mary's Church, Chigwell Anglican PortalSamuel Harsnett (June 1561 - May 1631) was an English
writer onreligion andArchbishop of York from 1629.Life
He was born in
Colchester ,Essex and educated atColchester Royal Grammar School andPembroke Hall , Cambridge, where he became a fellow and then master (1605-1616). Harsnett became Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University. In 1584 he was disciplined by Archbishop Whitgift for preaching againstpredestination . Harsnett went on to be thevicar ofChigwell from 1597 - 1605 and in 1619 he purchased land to foundChigwell School (1629) in his former parish. He became Archbishop of York in 1629 after beingBishop of Norwich from 1619 to 1628. A brass of Harsnett can be found inSt Mary's Church, Chigwell , where he is buried.Harsnett and Demons
Harsnett is also noted for his skeptical 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. Darrell, curate at
St. Mary's Church, Nottingham was a puritan minister who performed a series of public exorcisms in the English midlands. Eventually, the exorcisms caused such a disturbance that they attracted the attention of Anglican authoritites in London. Harsnett's "A Survey of Certain Dialogical Discourses" 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. Harsnett sought natural explanations for supposedly supernatural phenomena. In 1603, he wrote another book, "Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures", which condemned exorcisms performed by Roman Catholic priests in the 1580s. Shakespeare used this book as a source, pulling words and phrases when writing the play "King Lear ". As a member of England's religious authority, Harsnett's skeptical attitudes set important precedents for English policy. He may have contributed to the relative lack of witch hunts in England, compared to other countries.Fact|date=November 2007ee also
*
List of the Bishops of the Diocese of Norwich, England and its precursor offices
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