Robert Barnes

Background

Barnes was born in King's Lynn, Norfolk in 1495.

Education

He entered the Austin house at Cambridge in 1511; twelve years later he became a doctor of divinity.

Career

At Cambridge Barnes came under the influence of the "New Learning" and was converted to Protestantism. The friar was considered a danger to the established order because he persisted in preaching revolutionary ideas before "the lower sort as envieth ever authority. " What particularly alarmed the government was his assertion that no true Christian might sue a fellow Christian. He was ordered to recant and did so but almost immediately fled to Europe in 1528. Three years later he returned when Henry VIII's divorce and break with Rome placed the state on the side of religious innovation. Barnes became a leading advocate of religious change and the royal supremacy. In 1539 the pendulum swung back to conservatism in matters of faith and doctrine and Barnes again found himself in trouble with the authorities, this time fatally. Friar Barnes was "a good fellow in company" but his "merry scoffing wit" antagonized important people at court. He failed to recant fully and was imprisoned. Still obdurate, he was condemned to death, and in one of the most terrifying examples of Tudor impartiality, Barnes and two other Protestants, along with three Catholics were all executed at Smithfield on July 30, 1540. The Protestants were burned for heresy while the Catholics were hanged and quartered for treason.

Achievements

• Some historians have concluded that Barnes was crucial in having the English Protestants and Catholics alike understand the Reformation around them.

Politics

Barnes became a leading advocate of religious change and the royal supremacy.