ABSTRACT
King Henry’s death, and the evangelical majority on the Council, opened the door to a Lutheran settlement in England. Duke Maurice treated his guests kindly, promised faithfully to maintain the evangelical doctrine, and urged Philip Melanchthon to return to Wittenberg and resume his work at the university. Melanchthon brusquely rejected Matthias Flacius’ claim that the true evangelical doctrine had been contaminated. Melanchthon supported armed resistance by the Lutheran states should the Imperial forces attack, and military preparations were underway. Pressure of work at home, therefore, made a visit to England virtually impossible for Melanchthon in late 1548. Melanchthon had also received another invitation to England from Cranmer. Rifts were opening up among the Lutherans, particularly in the opposition to Melanchthon from Flacius and his supporters, and this unhappy state of affairs was getting worse. The political situation in Germany was another reason why Melanchthon might have preferred not to travel very far in 1552.
