George Hakewill

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George Hakewill (1578 – 1649) was an English clergyman and author. He studied at Alban Hall, Oxford, and afterward was elected a fellow of Exeter College, of which he was eventually appointed rector. Hakewill paid for the building of the college chapel and in his will requested that his heart be buried there, though there is no evidence this request was carried out.

Of strongly anti-Catholic and pro-Calvinist religious views, Hakewill was one of the two clergymen appointed in 1612 to preserve Prince Charles "from the inroads of popery." His decision however in 1622 to present the prince with a treatise written by himself and arguing against the ongoing negotiations for a Spanish alliance led to the abrupt end of his career at court. The treatise was shown to the prince's father, James I of England, who committed Hakewill to a prison for a brief period and appointed Lancelot Andrewes to rebut the tract.

His works include: The Vanitie of the Eie. First beganne for the comfort of a gentlewoman bereaved of her sight and since upon occasion inlarged (second edition, 1608; third edition, 1615; and another impression, 1633); a Latin treatise against regicides (1612); and Apologie ... of the Power and Providence of God (1627). The latter work, a rebuttal of the view that creation, including humanity, was gradually declining, was praised by Samuel Pepys and is cited by James Boswell as one of the formative influences on the prose of Samuel Johnson. Hakewill's style has been described as lively and forceful.

By a brief marriage to Mary Ayer or Ayers (nee Delbridge) Hakewill had two sons, John and George. George appears to have died in childhood. After becoming a fellow of Exeter College, John also died within his father's lifetime in 1637. Hakewill's will shows that, despite his theological leanings towards radical Protestantism, he remained politically a royalist and loyal to the Church of England as established. Nevertheless he also left a bequest to his "dear brother" William Hakewill, a noted supporter of the opposing Parliamentarian party. He named his nephew John Hakewill executor of his will. This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.