Barnes, Robert

Barnes, Robert chaplain to Henry VIII, and one of the English Reformers, who began his career by preaching against the pride and display of Wolsey. In 1535 he was sent to Wittenberg by Henry VIII to confer with the theologians there- about the king's divorce, and he imbibed Lutheran views, which, on his return to England, he began to preach. Some time after, finding himself in danger, he escaped into Germany, and there formed the acquaintance of Luther, Melancthon, and other Protestant leaders. In 1536, as the reformers were in favor with Henry VIII, he returned to England; but, preaching imprudently against Gardiner and against the royal supremacy, he incurred the king's displeasure, and was compelled to recant. Subsequently he retracted his recantation, and was seized and condemned unheard by the Parliament of 1540. On the 30th of July in that year he was burnt, with William Jerome and Thomas Gerard. They all suffered with the patience and fortitude of the old martyrs. His published writings are A Treatise containing a Profession of Faith (first published in Latin, 1531): — Vitae Roman. Pontificorum quos papas vocamus (Wittenb. 1536, with preface by Luther; also Bale, 1568, 8vo). See Burnet, History of the Reformation, 1:474, 477; Fox, Book of Martyrs; Collier, Eccl. Hist. of England, v. 78; Hook, Eccl. Biog. 1:522.