Note 27 — Chapter XVI · THE MERCHANTS OF THE STEELYARD

Mr. Cust suggests that this message was addressed to Holbein. He says: “At Lady Day, 1539, he (Holbein) seems to have been still absent (in Basel), though he was back in England before Midsummer.” (Burlington Magazine, February 1906, p. 359.) This, however, is not probable. Holbein was certainly back from Basel by December 1538, when he received £10 for his journey to Upper Burgundy, and he presented a portrait of Prince Edward to the King on New Year’s Day, 1539. He received no salary on Lady Day, 1539, because he had already received a year’s wages in advance at Midsummer, 1538, to date from the previous Lady Day, and not because he was out of England. At this period messages and money were being constantly sent to Christopher Mount, who was much abroad on missions to the German Protestant princes, and the question of the marriage with Cleves was only one of the many affairs, and one of the least important, upon which he was then engaged.