Education
Harpsfield was educated in Winchester College and New College, Oxford (Bachelor 1537, Master of Arts in theology 1541).
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John Harpsfield
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He was perpetual fellow of New College from 1534 until 1551 and was appointed the first Regius Professor of Greek (Oxford) (approximately 1541-1545). He became Vicar of Berkeley, Gloucestershire in 1550, Archdeacon of London in 1554, and Dean of Norwich in 1558. He interrogated John Bradford, who was put to death under the revived Heresy Acts in 1555.
He assisted Edmund Bonner in the questioning of Thomas Cranmer and preached on the occasion of Cranmer"s disgradation (February 14, 1556).
After the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558, Harpsfield was deposed as archdeacon and dean in 1559. He wrote letters of appeal to Lord Burghley and Sir Thomas Smith in Greek, as a fellow humanist, and was released on health grounds in 1574.
He continued to be called before the Star Chamber and was placed in the custody of the Bishop of Lincoln.
