Barnes, Robert (1495–1540)

English Lutheran reformer and martyr. In 1535, he acted as Henry VIII's legate in Germany, where he tried to persuade the Lutheran Church to approve the annulment of the king's marriage to Catherine of Aragon (see Reformation). He was burned at the stake in 1540 for attacking the anti-Protestant bishop Stephen Gardiner.

Barnes was educated at Cambridge. His reformist tendencies first became apparent in 1525, when he was imprisoned for preaching a sermon that condemned the worldliness of the church. He recanted and escaped to Germany, where he became a close associate of Martin Luther. Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's chief minister, then persuaded the king to allow Barnes to undertake diplomatic missions on their behalf.