Henry (of) Harclay (Latin: Henricus Harcleius, also Harcla or Harcley; c. 1270 – 25 June 1317) was an English medieval philosopher and university chancellor.
Andrew Harclay, 1st Earl of Carlisle was a controversial figure in his time and was also known for his political and military accomplishments during the Anglo-Scottish wars in the early 14th century.
[6] A highly contentious and bitter controversy arose during his tenure as chancellor between him and the Dominicans over the confirmation of certain privileges accorded to the university by the king.
These included King Edward II’s decree that the mayor of Oxford "admit the chancellor and procurators of the university to the periodic testing of beer" (M.G.
[6] These controversies sparked Henry's travelling to the papal court in Avignon several times to defend the universities privileges, and to reach an agreement with the Dominicans.
[7] Harclay's "principle work is a wide-ranging, philosophically rich series of twenty-nine Quaestiones ordinariae" or Ordinary Questions (Pasnau, 882).
This influence is especially prevalent in Harclay's commentary on Peter Lombard's Sentences, where he "frequently uses Scotus's arguments and adopts many of his positions" (M.G.
[6] Henninger points out however, that Henry was not just riding his mentor's coat tails but "offered independent criticisms which may have influenced Scotus's final edition of his own commentary" (M.G.
[9] Harclay's most popular, and at the time of his writing, controversial, claims are those that concern ideas about the eternity of the world and the infinite, and the univocal concept of being.
[1] Harclay continues until he reaches the conclusion that: [W]hatever formally pertains to God and to creatures is not ascribed equivocally, since comparison can be made [only] according to something common.