John Harmar (ca. 1555–1613) was an English

classical scholar Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

and Warden of

Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...

Life

Harmar was educated at Winchester College and

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

, (BA 1577, MA 1582) under the patronage of

Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (24 June 1532 – 4 September 1588) was an English statesman and the favourite of Elizabeth I from her accession until his death. He was a suitor for the queen's hand for many years. Dudley's youth was ove ...

. He travelled to

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, where he heard the lectures and sermons of

Theodore Beza Theodore Beza (; or ''de Besze''; 24 June 1519 – 13 October 1605) was a French Calvinist Protestant theologian, reformer and scholar who played an important role in the Protestant Reformation. He was a disciple of John Calvin and lived most ...

and "found him no lesse than a father unto me in curtesie & good will." From 1585 until 1590, he was the

Regius Professor of Greek (Oxford) The Regius Professorship of Greek is a professorship at the University of Oxford in England. Henry VIII founded the chair by 1541. He established five Regius Professorships in the university (and five corresponding chairs in Cambridge University), ...

(a chair later held by his nephew, also named John Harmar), and his 1586 edition of six of

John Chrysostom John Chrysostom (; ; – 14 September 407) was an important Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and p ...

's sermons was the first Greek text printed at Oxford. Harmar was Winchester's Headmaster from 1588 to 1595 and Warden from 1596 until his death. In 1605, he received the degrees of BD and DD, in recognition of his role as one of the translators of the 1611

Authorized Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by ...

of the Bible. He was part of the Second Oxford Company, assigned to work on the

Gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the second century AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message was reported. In this sen ...

, the

Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles (, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; ) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of The gospel, its message to the Roman Empire. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make u ...

, and the

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is the final book of the New Testament, and therefore the final book of the Bible#Christian Bible, Christian Bible. Written in Greek language, Greek, ...

. He died on 11 October 1613, and was buried in the chapel of New College, Oxford.

Works

* ''Sermons of M. Iohn Caluine, vpon the.X.Commandementes of the Lawe, geuen of God by Moses, otherwise called the Decalogue. Gathered word for word, presently at his sermons, when he preached on Deuteronomie, without adding vnto, or diminishing from them any thing afterward. Translated out of Frenche into English, by I.H.'' (London, 1579) * ''D. Ioannis Chrysostomi Archiepiscopi Constantinopolitani, Homiliæ sex, Ex manuscriptis Codicibus Noui Collegij; Ioannis Harmari, eiusdem Collegij socij, & Græcarum literarum in inclyta Oxoniensi Academia Professoris Regij, opera & industria nunc primùm græcè in lucem editæ.'' (Oxford, Joseph Barnes, 1586, the first Greek book printed at Oxford) * ''Master Bezaes sermons vpon the three chapters of the canticle of canticles wherein are handled the chiefest points of religion controversed and debated betweene vs and the aduersarie at this day, especially touching the true Iesus Christ and the true Church, and the certaine & infallible marks both of the one and of the other. Translated out of French into English by Iohn Harmar'' (Oxford, Joseph Barnes, 1587) * ''D. Ioannis Chrysostomi Archiepiscopi Constantinopolitani homiliae ad populum Antiochenum, cum presbyter esset Antiochiæ, habitæ, duæ & viginti. Omnes, excepta prima, nunc primùm in lucem editæ, ex manuscriptis Noui Collegij Oxoniensis codicibus. Opera & studio Ioannis Harmari Collegij prope Winton Magistri Informatoris. Cum Latina versione eiusdem, homiliæ decimæ nonæ, quæ in Latinis etiam exemplaribus hactenus desiderata est.'' (London, 1590)

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harmar, John 1550s births 1613 deaths People from Newbury, Berkshire People educated at Winchester College Fellows of New College, Oxford Translators of the King James Version 16th-century English scholars 17th-century scholars Alumni of New College, Oxford Headmasters of Winchester College 16th-century English translators 17th-century English writers Regius Professors of Greek (University of Oxford) Wardens of Winchester College 16th-century Anglican theologians 17th-century Anglican theologians