In 1575 when Hubert Languet’s safety briefly stood in doubt, Sidney received intelligence from an unlikely source. The Heidelberg theologian, Zacharias Ursinus, wrote…
Greetings….
So far as I can tell from letters, by him and others, received some days ago, our friend Languet is still at the court of the Emperor, which he has followed to Regensburg. With his prince he is in ill favour, and in great peril. He cannot obtain access to his friends without
immediate danger, nor dare he enter the presence of his master: yet because of his virtue and honesty, neither will he take precautions to protect himself instead. And so he remains, and lives out of the public eye, in great perturbation of spirit. Let us at least hope that he will be dismissed, whether with bad grace or good. Great is the hatred the hypocrites bear him; and we always considered his master’s tolerance towards him suspect—not without reason. Let us pray God to protect him. I shall wait anxiously to see what becomes of him after the close of the Regensburg Diet…..That Master Heinrich Bullinger has died at Zurich, and that he has been succeeded by Master Rudolph Walter, you doubtless know.
Ursinus closes his letter thus: “May the Lord Jesus guide and protect your Excellency and grant to your virtue and piety such rewards as may increase the glory of His name and well-being of his Church.”9
