Henry of Harclay

ENRICO di HARCLAY. — English scholastic philosopher. The biographical data, as well as those concerning his scholarly activity, are scanty and uncertain. According to Pelster, he was born around 1270 and was ordained a priest in 1297. Magister regens at the University of Oxford, he became its chancellor in 1312. He died in 1317 at the papal court in Avignon, where he had gone to advocate the cause of his University.

While Pelster regards E. as almost a precursor of Occam, De Wulf considers him not a dissenter from Thomistic realism. In the current state of research, an absolute judgment on E. would be premature; nevertheless, a certain eclecticism can be observed in his work, so that on several questions he inclines toward Scotus, while on others he shows himself a faithful follower of St Thomas. He wrote a Commentarium in Sententias and Quaestiones.

BIBL.: F. Pelster, H. von H., Kanzler von Oxford, und seine Quatrien, in Miscellanea Ehrle, I, Roma 1924, pp. 307–56. Felicissimo Tinivella
Cite this article

“ENRICO DI HARCLAY.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. V (1950), p. 245. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/enrico-di-harclay.