Hendrik Herp (died 22 February 1477), known in Latin as Henricus Harphius, was a Dutch or Flemish Franciscan of the Strict Observance, and a writer on mysticism. Life Herp was born around 1400 either at Erp near Veghel or Erps-Kwerps near Leuven. He is possibly the same person as Heinricus Erppe, clericus Cameracensis dioceses, who in 1426, as one of the first students, was registered at the University of Leuven. "Clericus Cameracensis dioceses" means that this student had held a clerical position in the diocese of Kamerijk, leading some to propose that he was not born in Erp, which is widely believed to be his birthplace but belonged to the diocese of Liège, but in Erps near Leuven, which was near the edge of the diocese of Kamerijk. The first undisputed reference to his life is in 1445, when he is rector of the Brethren of the Common Life at Delft, suggesting that he had previously joined the Brethren, either in Zwolle or Deventer. The next year he founded a Brethren community in nearby Gouda, which he led until 1450, "to the great good of his subjects". In Gouda, Herp had extensive contact with Franciscans, and in 1450, on a pilgrimage to Rome, he took the habit of St. Francis, joining the Franciscan Observance (the Capuchin reform) at the Convent of Ara Cœli. On his return to the Low Countries in 1454, he served as the guardian of the Franciscan convent in Mechelen until 1457. In 1460 he was guardian of a convent in Antwerp. He later served in several posts for the Franciscan Cologne Province, which covered much of the Northern Netherlands, including as Provincial superior (1470–73). Under his leadership, convents were started in Bolsward, Amersfoort and Herentals. Herp traveled a lot, having meetings (kapittels) in Gouda in 1471, in Alkmaar in 1472, and in Bergen op Zoom in 1473. At the latter meeting Henricus de Bercha is chosen as his successor. In 1474 he returns as guardian of the convent of Mechlin, where he died in 1477. Works Herp wrote his works between 1450 and 1475. An early work is called The Contemplative Eden. This is succeeded by his major work, probably written in the 1460s, entitled Spieghel der volcomenheit (The Mirror of Perfection). As a whole and in the chief divisions of his doctrine, Herp shows several points of contact with his fellow Brabantian John of Ruusbroec.