430 ENGLISHMEN AT WITTENBERG July on 25 October 1595 ; and ' Guilielmus Friston Anglus in comi- tatu Soffolcie prope Gipsicum [Ipswich] natus, gratis inscriptus ' on 15 October 1601. 1 Preserved Smith. Appendix British Museum, Cotton MS. Vitellius B, xxi, fo. 120 f. 2 Wittenberg, 6 October 1535. Robert Barnes to Thomas Cromwell To the ryght honorable M. Thomas Cromwel, secretary to our sovereign lorde the Kyng's grace most worthy. Ryght honorable Syr, my deuty concyderyd your h[onor should know] that I have byn here with the elector and with hys [theologians] and have proposyd suche thynges as ware commytty[d unto me*. Your] h[onorable] goodnesse shal persayve be myne oration had to [the elector that(] thanke god) I have optaynyd al my petitions, as your h[onorable] M[astership will] understand by the electors ansuer, wyche I send yow als[o]. I desyre your h[onorable] M[astership] to rede myne oration to the elector and t[o] geve M. Almener a hys articles, that he and I mae agre, fo[r] we must propose more artycles here than wone, ne videam[ur] tantum querere nostra. I dyd tel M. Almener my menyng. Here ys a gret preparyng for hym in the electors owne castel. And as for locum in federe, 4 the elector was very glad of, in so much that streyt ways he wrot owt for a congregation of al them that be in federe to be had on S. Nycolas day 5 next. And his counsel ys that the Kynges imbassaturs shuld be ther with the King's g[race's] leters for dyvers causys, lest that other men shuld thynke that he wold take al the honore to hym selfe and so myght cause a gruge, and also he myght speke frelyer in the Kyng's cause yf the matter ware proposyd by us and not by hym. He intendeth very ernestly on owr pryncys syde, and doutyth not but al thynges shal come to passe as your g[racious] prynse wyl haue yt. And as for hys ful consent we haue yt, as your h[onorable] Mfastership] shal perseyve by hys ansuere. As concernyng phylyppus, 6 here hath byn gret labur, and ys yyt to haue hym in to franse, but I haue stopyd yt, and by gods g[race] (yf he and I do lyve) I shal bryng hym with me, not wythstondyng the elector wold not grant me so moche in hys ansuer for dyvers causys, nor yyt wold that I shuld wryt yt from me, be cause he wold not haue yt noysyd, and the sayng gothe here that the elector wyl not let hym departe, Notwithstandyng he hathe grantyd me with hys owne mouth that I shal haue hym at his retornyng home agene wyche wyl be within vi weks. Yt dyd cost me gret labur ere I brout yt to passe for as moche as he had [promised] the Kyng of franse afore, but I had wone furdele 7 1 Album, ii. 391, 426, 484. 2 An abstract of this is in Letters and Papers, ix. 543. In this and the following letter, extensions and restorations where the text is damaged are indicated by brackets: 3 An agent often spoken of in the contemporary State Papers. 4 i. e. in the Schmalkaldic League. A Bundestag was called especially to consider the admission of England as an ally. 5 6 December. 6 On this effort to bring Melanchthon to France, see Smith, Life of Luther, p. 296. 7 fordeaL Vortheil.
