HENRY OF HARCLAY. - English scholastic. The data concerning both his biography and his scientific activity are scanty and unreliable. According to Pelster, he was born around 1270 and was ordained priest in 1297. He became regent master at the University of Oxford and its chancellor in 1312. He died in 1317 at the papal court in Avignon, whither he had gone to advocate the cause of his university.
While Pelster sees in H. almost a precursor of Ockham, De Wulf judges him not at variance with Thomistic realism. In the present state of studies, a definitive judgment on H. would be premature; however, one may observe in his work a certain eclecticism, so that in several questions he inclines toward Scotus, while in others he reveals himself as a faithful follower of St. Thomas. He wrote a Commentarium in Sententias and Quaestiones.