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Robert Barnes (c. 1495 – 30 July 1540) was an English reformer and martyr.

Life

Barnes was born in King's Lynn, Norfolk in 1495,^[1] and was educated at Cambridge, where he was an Augustinian priest of the Austin Friars. Sometime after 1514 he was sent to study in Leuven. Barnes returned to Cambridge in the early 1520s, where he graduated Doctor of Divinity in 1523, and, soon after, was made Prior of his Cambridge convent.

John Foxe says that Barnes was one of the Cambridge men who gathered at the White Horse Tavern for Bible-reading and theological discussion in the early 1530s. At the encouragement of Thomas Bilney, Barnes preached at the Christmas Day Midnight Mass in 1525 at St Edward's Church in Cambridge. Barnes' sermon, although against clerical pomp and ecclesiastical abuses, was neither particularly unorthodox nor surprising. However, after seeing a churchwarden whose civil suit resulted in the imprisonment of a local man, Fr. Barnes departed from his prepared text to denounce lawsuits by one Christian against another - inside the parish church of Cambridge University's College of Lawyers. At a time when King Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey were attempting to stop the smuggling of Martin Luther's books into England from the Continent, Barnes' remarks immediately drew suspicion.^[2]

As a result, in 1526 Barnes was brought before the vice-chancellor for preaching a heretical sermon, and was subsequently interrogated by Wolsey and four other bishops. He was ordered to abjure his sermon or be burnt; and, after choosing the former, was committed to the Fleet prison, but afterwards conditionally released to the Austin Friary in London. Although under house arrest in the Friary, Barnes was allowed visitors. It was subsequently discovered that while incarcerated there, Barnes was secretly a distributor of illegal copies of William Tyndale's Protestant Bible.^[2]

He escaped to Antwerp in 1528, and also visited Wittenberg, where he became good friends with Martin Luther.^[3] While at Wittenberg in the summer of 1531, Barnes was commissioned to ascertain the opinion of Luther and other continental divines on the divorce proceedings between Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. That year he also published the first edition of A Supplication, which essentially outlined Lutheran theology in an appeal to Henry VIII. Stephen Vaughan, an agent of Thomas Cromwell in the Low Countries and an advanced reformer, came across a copy of Barnes's work and was so impressed by his description of Lutheran political philosophy that he pleaded with Cromwell to invite the exile home.^[3]

In late 1531 Barnes returned to England, becoming one of the chief intermediaries between the English Court and the Lutheran German States, and he spent the next several years going between England and Germany. He was a vocal defender of King Henry's policy of Caesaropapism, in the vain hope that the King would choose Lutheranism for the theology of the Church of England. In 1539 Barnes was employed in negotiating with William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg for King Henry's marriage to Anne of Cleves. The policy was Cromwell's, but Henry VIII had already in 1538 refused to embrace Lutheranism, and the statute of Six Articles, followed by the immediate annulment of the King's marriage to Anne of Cleves in 1540, ultimately brought Cromwell and all other agents of his policies to ruin.

A denunciation by Barnes of Bishop Stephen Gardiner in a sermon at St Paul's Cross launched a battle to the death between the Crypto-Lutheran, Crypto-Calvinist, and Crypto-Catholic courtiers in King Henry's council, which raged during the spring of 1540. Barnes was forced to apologise and recant; and Bishop Gardiner delivered a series of counter-sermons at St Paul's Cross. But a month later Cromwell was made earl of Essex, Gardiner's friend, Bishop Sampson, was sent to the Tower, and Barnes openly reverted to Lutheranism, but it proved a delusive victory. In July, however, Cromwell was attainted, the marriage between the King and Anne of Cleves was annulled and Barnes was convicted of heresy and sentenced to execution by burning.

On 30 July, 1540, Barnes and five other religious dissidents were drawn on hurdles from the Tower of London to Smithfield for execution. In a deeply ironic moment, each hurdle carried both a condemned Lutheran pastor and a condemned Catholic priest.

The two fellow Lutherans pastors; William Jerome and Thomas Gerrard, were, like Barnes, burnt at the stake for heresy under the Six Articles. Meanwhile, three Roman Catholic priests: Fr .Thomas Abel, Fr. Richard Fetherstone and Barnes' companion on the hurdle, Fr. Edward Powell, were hanged, drawn, and quartered, officially for high treason, but in reality for rejecting both the King's title as Supreme Head of the Church of England and State control over the Church.

Legacy

Both Catholics and Lutherans throughout Europe were shocked and horrified by the executions. Some historians have concluded that Barnes was crucial in having the English Protestants and Catholics alike understand the Reformation around them.^[1]

The feast day of Rev. Barnes and his two companions is commemorated every year on the Lutheran Calendar of Saints.

The three Catholic priests executed with Barnes were among the fifty-four English Catholic Martyrs who were Beatified by Pope Leo XIII on 29 December, 1886.

Literature

Shortly after their executions, a dialogue in verse was published, The Metynge of Doctor Barnes and Dr. Powell at Paradise Gate and of theyre communicacion bothe drawen to Smithfylde fro the Towar (London, 1540), in the British Museum.
Martin Luther published Barnes' confession after writing a preface of his own as Bekenntnis des Glaubens (1540).
Robert Barnes also appears in The Mirror & the Light, by Hilary Mantel.

References

^ ^a ^b Ryrie, Alec (2007). "Chapter 6: 'A saynt in the deuils name': Heroes and Villains in the Martyrdom of Robert Barnes". In Freeman, Thomas S.; Mayer, Thomas F. (eds.). Martyrs and martyrdom in England, c.1400-1700. Boydell Press. pp. 144–165. ISBN 978-1-84383-290-4.
^ ^a ^b Maas, Korey. The Reformation and Robert Barnes: History, Theology and Polemic in Early Modern England, Boydell & Brewer, 2010 ISBN 9781843835349
^ ^a ^b "Barnes, Robert". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/1472. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{short description|16th century martyr in the English Reformation}}
-{{Other people|Robert Barnes}}
+{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
 [[File:Joseph Martin Kronheim - Foxe's Book of Martyrs Plate IV - Barnes and his Fellow-Prisoners Seeking Forgiveness.jpg|thumb|250px|"Barnes and his Fellow-Prisoners Seeking Forgiveness", from an 1887 edition of ''[[Foxe's Book of Martyrs]]'', illustrated by Kronheim.]]
-'''Robert Barnes''' (c. 1495 – 30 July 1540) was an [[England|English]] [[English Reformation|reformer]] and [[martyr]].
+'''Robert Barnes''' ({{Circa|1495}} – 30 July 1540) was an [[England|English]] [[English Reformation|reformer]] and [[martyr]].
 ==Life==
-Barnes was born in [[King's Lynn]], [[Norfolk]] in 1495,<ref name="freeman">{{Cite book|last1=Freeman|last2=Mayar|first1=Thomas S.|first2=Thomas F.|title=Martyrs and martyrdom in England,  c.1400-1700|publisher=Boydell  Press|year=2007|chapter=6|page=145|isbn=1-84383-290-9}}</ref> and was educated at [[Cambridge]], where he was a member of the [[Austin Friary, Cambridge|Austin Friars]]. Sometime after 1514 he was sent to study in [[Leuven]]. Barnes returned to Cambridge in the early 1520s, where he graduated [[Doctor of Divinity]] in 1523, and, soon after, was made Prior of his Cambridge convent.
+Barnes was born in [[King's Lynn]], [[Norfolk]] in 1495,<ref name="freeman">{{cite book |last=Ryrie |first=Alec |date=2007 |editor-last1=Freeman |editor-last2=Mayer |editor-first1=Thomas S. |editor-first2=Thomas F. |title=Martyrs and martyrdom in England, c.1400-1700|publisher=Boydell Press|pages=144–165|chapter=Chapter 6: 'A saynt in the deuils name': Heroes and Villains in the Martyrdom of Robert Barnes| isbn=978-1-84383-290-4}}</ref> and was educated at [[Cambridge]], where he was an [[Augustinians|Augustinian]] [[Roman Catholic priest|priest]] of the [[Austin Friary, Cambridge|Austin Friars]]. Sometime after 1514 he was sent to study in [[Leuven]]. Barnes returned to Cambridge in the early 1520s, where he graduated [[Doctor of Divinity]] in 1523, and, soon after, was made Prior of his Cambridge convent.
-[[John Foxe]] says that Barnes was one of the Cambridge men who gathered at the [[White Horse Tavern, Cambridge|White Horse Tavern]] for [[Bible]]-reading and [[theology|theological]] discussion in the early 1530s. At the encouragement of [[Thomas Bilney]], Barnes preached at the Christmas Midnight Mass in 1525 at [[St Edward King and Martyr, Cambridge|St Edward's Church]] in Cambridge. Barnes' sermon, although against clerical pomp and ecclesiastical abuses, was neither particularly unorthodox nor surprising. However, seeing a churchwarden whose civil suit resulted in the imprisonment of a local man, Barnes departed from his prepared text to denounce lawsuits by one Christian against another&mdash;and this in a church traditionally associated with the lawyers' college. Coming at a time when [[Thomas Wolsey|Cardinal Wolsey]] was attempting to stop the infiltration from the continent of copies of Luther's works, Barnes' remarks appeared suspect.<ref name=Maas>[https://books.google.com/books?id=M_aARwxw7lkC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=Robert+Barnes+(martyr)&source=bl&ots=rGIlw3xbk6&sig=4mebki1gXe56O1O1dIL2mFN2E04&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjP9_vi4oLLAhUHaRQKHVU3Cds4ChDoAQgbMAA#v=onepage&q=Robert%20Barnes%20(martyr)&f=false Maas, Korey. ''The Reformation and Robert Barnes: History, Theology and Polemic in Early Modern England'', Boydell & Brewer, 2010] {{ISBN|9781843835349}}</ref>
+[[John Foxe]] says that Barnes was one of the Cambridge men who gathered at the [[White Horse Tavern, Cambridge|White Horse Tavern]] for [[Bible]]-reading and [[theology|theological]] discussion in the early 1530s. At the encouragement of [[Thomas Bilney]], Barnes preached at the [[Christmas Day]] [[Midnight Mass]] in 1525 at [[St Edward King and Martyr, Cambridge|St Edward's Church]] in Cambridge. Barnes' sermon, although against clerical pomp and ecclesiastical abuses, was neither particularly unorthodox nor surprising. However, after seeing a churchwarden whose civil suit resulted in the imprisonment of a local man, Fr. Barnes departed from his prepared text to denounce [[lawsuit]]s by one Christian against another - inside the parish church of Cambridge University's College of Lawyers. At a time when [[King Henry VIII]] and [[Thomas Wolsey|Cardinal Wolsey]] were attempting to stop the [[smuggling]] of [[Martin Luther]]'s books into England from the Continent, Barnes' remarks immediately drew suspicion.<ref name=Maas>[https://books.google.com/books?id=M_aARwxw7lkC&dq=Robert+Barnes+%28martyr%29&pg=PA3 Maas, Korey. ''The Reformation and Robert Barnes: History, Theology and Polemic in Early Modern England'', Boydell & Brewer, 2010] {{ISBN|9781843835349}}</ref>
+[[File:History of the great reformation in Europe in the times of Luther and Calvin.. (1870) (14763424424).jpg|thumb|left|Barnes before Cardinal Wolsey, 1870 illustration]]
-As a result, in 1526 he was brought before the vice-chancellor for preaching a [[heterodoxy|heterodox]] [[sermon]], and was subsequently examined by Wolsey and four other bishops. He was condemned to [[abjure]] or be burnt; and preferring the former alternative, was committed to the [[Fleet prison]] and afterwards to the [[Austin Friars, London|Austin Friars]] in [[London]]. Although confined to the house, he was allowed visitors. It was subsequently discovered that while there, Barnes became a known distributor of contraband copies of the Bible in the vernacular.<ref name=Maas/>
+As a result, in 1526 Barnes was brought before the vice-chancellor for preaching a [[heterodoxy|heretical]] [[sermon]], and was subsequently interrogated by Wolsey and four other bishops. He was ordered to [[abjure]] his sermon or be burnt; and, after choosing the former, was committed to the [[Fleet prison]], but afterwards conditionally released to the [[Austin Friars, London|Austin Friary]] in [[London]]. Although under [[house arrest]] in the Friary, Barnes was allowed visitors. It was subsequently discovered that while incarcerated there, Barnes was secretly a distributor of illegal copies of [[William Tyndale]]'s [[Tyndale Bible|Protestant Bible]].<ref name=Maas/>
-He escaped to [[Antwerp (city)|Antwerp]] in 1528, and also visited [[Wittenberg]], where he made [[Martin Luther]]'s acquaintance. He also came across [[Stephen Vaughan (merchant)|Stephen Vaughan]], an agent of [[Thomas Cromwell]] and an advanced reformer, who recommended him to Cromwell: "Look well," he wrote, "upon Dr Barnes' book. It is such a piece of work as I have not yet seen any like it. I think he shall seal it with his blood" (''Letters and Papers of Henry VIII'').
+He escaped to [[Antwerp]] in 1528, and also visited [[Wittenberg]], where he became good friends with [[Martin Luther]].<ref name="ODNB">{{Cite ODNB|id=1472|title=Barnes, Robert}}</ref> While at Wittenberg in the summer of 1531, Barnes was commissioned to ascertain the opinion of Luther and other continental divines on the divorce proceedings between Henry VIII and [[Catherine of Aragon]]. That year he also published the first edition of ''A Supplication'', which essentially outlined [[Lutheran theology]] in an appeal to Henry VIII. [[Stephen Vaughan (merchant)|Stephen Vaughan]], an agent of [[Thomas Cromwell]] in the [[Low Countries]] and an advanced reformer, came across a copy of Barnes's work and was so impressed by his description of Lutheran [[political philosophy]] that he pleaded with Cromwell to invite the exile home.<ref name= "ODNB" />
-In 1531 Barnes returned to England, becoming one of the chief intermediaries between the English government and [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] [[Germany]]. In 1535 he was sent to Germany in the hope of inducing Lutheran divines to approve of Henry's divorce from [[Catherine of Aragon]], and four years later he was employed in negotiations connected with [[Anne of Cleves]]'s marriage. The policy was Cromwell's, but [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] had already in 1538 refused to adopt Lutheran theology, and the statute of Six Articles (1539), followed by the king's unsuccessful marriage to Anne of Cleves (1540), brought the agents of that policy to ruin.
+In late 1531 Barnes returned to England, becoming one of the chief intermediaries between the English Court and the [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] [[List of states in the Holy Roman Empire|German States]], and he spent the next several years going between England and Germany. He was a vocal defender of King Henry's policy of [[Caesaropapism]], in the vain hope that the King would choose Lutheranism for the theology of the [[Church of England]]. In 1539 Barnes was employed in negotiating with [[William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg]] for King Henry's marriage to [[Anne of Cleves]]. The policy was Cromwell's, but [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] had already in 1538 refused to embrace [[Lutheranism]], and the statute of [[Six Articles (1539)|Six Articles]], followed by the immediate [[annulment]] of the King's marriage to Anne of Cleves in 1540, ultimately brought Cromwell and all other agents of his policies to ruin.
-[[File:History of the great reformation in Europe in the times of Luther and Calvin.. (1870) (14763424424).jpg|thumb|left|Barnes before Cardinal Wolsey, 1870 illustration]]
+A denunciation by Barnes of Bishop [[Stephen Gardiner]] in a sermon at [[St Paul's Cross]] launched a battle to the death between the Crypto-Lutheran, [[Crypto-Calvinist]], and [[Crypto-Catholic]] courtiers in King Henry's council, which raged during the spring of 1540. Barnes was forced to apologise and recant; and Bishop Gardiner delivered a series of counter-sermons at St Paul's Cross. But a month later Cromwell was made [[earl of Essex]], Gardiner's friend, [[Richard Sampson|Bishop Sampson]], was sent to the [[Tower of London|Tower]], and Barnes openly reverted to Lutheranism, but it proved a delusive victory. In July, however, Cromwell was [[attainder|attainted]], the marriage between the King and Anne of Cleves was [[annulment|annulled]] and Barnes was convicted of heresy and sentenced to [[execution by burning]].
+On [[30 July]], 1540, Barnes and five other religious [[dissidents]] were drawn on hurdles from the [[Tower of London]] to [[Smithfield, London|Smithfield]] for execution. In a deeply ironic moment, each hurdle carried both a condemned Lutheran pastor and a condemned Catholic priest.
+The two fellow Lutherans pastors; William Jerome and [[Thomas Gerrard]], were, like Barnes, [[burnt at the stake]] for heresy under the [[Six Articles (1539)|Six Articles]]. Meanwhile, three [[Roman Catholic priest]]s: Fr .[[Thomas Abel (martyr)|Thomas Abel]], Fr. [[Richard Fetherstone]] and Barnes' companion on the hurdle, Fr. [[Edward Powell (martyr)|Edward Powell]], were [[hanged, drawn, and quartered]], officially for [[high treason in the United Kingdom|high treason]], but in reality for rejecting both the King's title as [[Supreme Head of the Church of England]] and [[Caesaropapism|State control over the Church]].
+==Legacy==
+Both Catholics and Lutherans throughout [[Europe]] were shocked and horrified by the executions. Some historians have concluded that Barnes was crucial in having the English Protestants and Catholics alike understand the [[English Reformation|Reformation]] around them.<ref name="freeman"/>
+The feast day of Rev. Barnes and his two companions is commemorated every year on the [[Calendar of saints (Lutheran)|Lutheran Calendar of Saints]].
-An attack upon [[Stephen Gardiner|Bishop Gardiner]] by Barnes in a sermon at [[St Paul's Cross]] was the signal for a bitter struggle between the [[Protestant]] and [[reactionary]] parties in Henry's council, which raged during the spring of 1540. Barnes was forced to apologise and recant; and Gardiner delivered a series of sermons at St Paul's Cross to counteract Barnes' invective. But a month or so later Cromwell was made [[earl of Essex]], Gardiner's friend, [[Richard Sampson|Bishop Sampson]], was sent to the [[Tower of London|Tower]], and Barnes reverted to Lutheranism. It was a delusive victory. In July, Cromwell was attainted, Anne of Cleves was divorced and Barnes was [[execution by burning|burnt]] (30 July 1540).
+The three Catholic priests executed with Barnes were among the fifty-four [[English Catholic Martyrs]] who were [[Beatification|Beatified]] by [[Pope Leo XIII]] on [[29 December]], 1886.
-Barnes was one of six executed on the same day: two, William Jerome and [[Thomas Gerrard]], were, like himself, burnt for heresy under the [[Six Articles (1539)|Six Articles]]; three, [[Thomas Abel]], [[Richard Fetherstone]] and [[Edward Powell]], were hanged for treason in denying the royal supremacy. Both Lutherans and Catholics on the continent were shocked. Luther published Barnes' confession with a preface of his own as ''Bekenntnis des Glaubens'' (1540).
+==Literature==
-Some historians have concluded that Barnes was crucial in having the English Protestants and Catholics alike understand the [[English Reformation|Reformation]] around them.<ref name="freeman"/>
+* Shortly after their executions, a dialogue in verse was published, ''The Metynge of Doctor Barnes and Dr. Powell at Paradise Gate and of theyre communicacion bothe drawen to Smithfylde fro the Towar'' (London, 1540), in the [[British Museum]].
+* [[Martin Luther]] published Barnes' confession after writing a preface of his own as ''Bekenntnis des Glaubens'' (1540).
+* Robert Barnes also appears in ''The Mirror & the Light'', by [[Hilary Mantel]].
 ==See also==
@@ Line 29: / Line 42: @@
 ==Further reading==
-*{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Barnes, Robert}}
+* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Barnes, Robert | volume= 3 |last1= Pollard |first1= Albert Frederick |author1-link= Albert Pollard | page = 413 |short=1}}
 *McGoldrick, James Edward (1979). ''Luther's English Connection: the Reformation Thought of Robert Barnes and [of] William Tyndale''. Northwestern Publishing House. {{ISBN|0-8100-0070-9}}
@@ Line 38: / Line 51: @@
 [[Category:1540 deaths]]
 [[Category:Protestant Reformers]]
-[[Category:English Lutherans]]
+[[Category:Doctors of Divinity]]
+[[Category:English Lutheran martyrs]]
 [[Category:People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar]]
 [[Category:People executed for heresy]]
 [[Category:Executed British people]]
-[[Category:People executed under Henry VIII of England]]
+[[Category:People executed under Henry VIII]]
 [[Category:16th-century Protestant martyrs]]
 [[Category:People from King's Lynn]]

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