09/04/2026
TODAY IN HISTORY: On September 4, 1531 Robert Barnes (d. 1540), who had fled England for his ardent Lutheran faith, courageously took Luther’s unfavorable reply concerning the divorce of King Henry VIII to the English monarch.
Robert Barnes was born around 1495 and educated in Cambridge. He became an Augustinian priest, eventually becoming prior of Austin Friary. (The English Bible translator Myles Coverdale also was a member of the friary.) By the mid-1520s, Barnes seems to have been engaging with Martin Luther's writings. Barnes was imprisoned after raising suspicion with a "Lutheran" sermon, however he escaped and fled to continental Europe in 1528.
Barnes visited Wittenberg and personally befriended Martin Luther during this time. He shows up occasionally in the Table Talks—their mutual knowledge of Latin allowed them to communicate in spite of the language barrier between the German and English theologians. In 1531, Robert Barnes published a work outlining Lutheran theology to Henry VIII entitled "A supplicatyon made by Robert Barnes doctoure in diuinitie, vnto the most excellent and redoubted prince kinge henrye the eyght" (usually referred to by contemporary scholars by the much more manageable "A Supplication"). He published other works around this time, some under the pseudonym Antonius Anglus ("Anthony Englishman"). It was the lucidity and strength of Barnes' writing, especially on political philosophy from a Lutheran perspective, that won him favor with Thomas Cromwell and allowed for his re-entry into England.
It was also about this time that Barnes was commissioned to ascertain Luther's opinions (as well as those of other churchmen in Europe) on Henry VIII's impending divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Luther's opinion was (unsurprisingly) unfavorable: He did not endorse the divorce and remarriage. This did not bode well for Barnes.
Because of Barnes' association with Thomas Cromwell, his uneasiness with Henry's marital flippancy, and his Lutheranism, Barnes eventually found himself on the wrong side of the infamous king. He, along with five other "religious dissidents," were executed by burning at the stake on 30 July, 1540. He is known as the first English Lutheran martyr.
You can read about Robert Barnes, his "Supplication," and his theology in this article available at JSTOR (If you are not affiliated with an institution that grants JSTOR access, you can create a free account and read up to 100 full-length articles a month at no charge.): https://www.jstor.org/stable/41154392
Photo source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Martin_Kronheim_-_Foxe%27s_Book_of_Martyrs_Plate_IV_-_Barnes_and_his_Fellow-Prisoners_Seeking_Forgiveness.jpg
