was sent to France to assist Edward Fox [q. v.] in procuring a favourable answer from foreign universities (Letters and Papers, iv. 6481; Pocock, Records of the Reformation, i. 559). He had resigned the vicarage of Sutton Valence before 20 May, and on 26 Oct. 1530 was collated by Warham to the living of Ivychurch, Kent. In 1536 he was proctor for Anne Boleyn, and subscribed the articles of religion, and in 1537 had a share in compiling the ‘Institution of a Christian Man’ (Letters and Papers, vi. 299, xi. 60, xii. ii. 402–3). In 1538 Cranmer appointed him his commissary of faculties.
On 11 March 1538–9 Wotton was one of the ambassadors sent to the Duke of Cleves to negotiate a marriage between Henry VIII and the duke's sister Anne, and a league with the German protestant princes against Charles V. On 23 April Cromwell requested the ambassadors to procure a portrait of Anne of Cleves, and on 11 Aug. following Wotton reported that ‘your Grace's servant, Hanze Albein, hath taken th' effigies of my ladye Anne and the ladye Amelye, and hathe expressyd theyr imaiges verye lyvelye’ (ib. XIV. ii. 33). His description of Anne's domestic virtues was, however, pitched in a minor key, and he remarked that she could not sing or play upon any instrument. In July Henry nominated him archdeacon of Gloucester, though he was not admitted until 10 Feb. 1539–40, and on 25 Oct. 1539 commissioned him as sole ambassador to the dukes of Saxony and Cleves. As a further reward for his services Henry designed for him in the same month the bishopric of Hereford, which Bonner had just vacated by his translation to London. Wotton, however, had a rooted aversion to bishoprics; ‘for the passion of God,’ he wrote to his friend Dr. Bellasis on 11 Nov., ‘if it be possible yet, assay as far as you may to convey this bishopric from me,’ signing his letter ‘yours to his little power. Add whatsoever you will more to it, so you add not bishop’ (ib. xiv. ii. 501; Todd, Deans of Canterbury, 1793, p. 4). On this and on subsequent occasions Wotton successfully resisted all attempts to make him a bishop. Meanwhile he accompanied Anne of Cleves to England in December 1539, and on 27 Jan. 1539–40 was again sent as ambassador to her brother, reaching Cleves on 5 Feb. In April he attended the duke to Ghent, on his negotiations with Charles V about the duchy of Gueldres, returning to Cleves in May. In July he had the unpleasant task of communicating to the duke Henry's repudiation of his sister. Naturally the negotiations for an alliance did not prosper; the Duke of Cleves threw himself into the arms of Francis I, and on 20 June 1541 Wotton was recalled.
He had in his absence been nominated first dean of Canterbury on 22 March 1540–1, when the monks were replaced by secular canons, but he was not installed until 8 April 1542. He was also appointed first archdeacon of Gloucester on 3 Sept. 1541, when it was erected into a separate see. Subsequently, on 7 Aug. 1544, he was nominated dean of York, being installed by proxy on 4 Dec. following. He retained with it the deanery of Canterbury, and on 13 March 1545–6 was collated to the prebend of Osbaldwick in York Cathedral. But even these semi-spiritual functions had no attractions for Wotton, and he soon found relief from them in further diplomatic service. In spite of the unfortunate end of his mission to Cleves, his ability was recognised by Henry, and in March 1543 he was sent with Sir Thomas Seymour (afterwards Baron Seymour of Sudeley) [q. v.] to the court of Charles V's sister Mary, regent of the Netherlands. Their immediate object was to secure the exemption of English goods from import duties in the Netherlands, but the imminence of war between England and France and France and the emperor soon led to negotiations for an offensive alliance between Henry VIII and Charles V, in which Wotton took considerable part, endeavouring especially to persuade Charles to include the Scots in his declaration of hostility (State Papers, ix. 363–604). On 24 Nov. 1543 he was transferred from the regent's court to that of the emperor, and, the terms of the alliance having been settled, he accompanied Charles V during his invasion of France in the summer of 1544, while Henry besieged and took Boulogne. His post was difficult, for it soon became evident that the allies were pursuing not a common but separate aims, and at the end of August Charles V, having penetrated as far as Vitry, made peace with France, leaving Henry at war. Wotton saw clearly enough what was going to happen, but was powerless to prevent it (see Cal. State Papers, Spanish, vol. vii. throughout; State Papers, Henry VIII, vol. x. passim; and Froude, iv. 55 seq.) To induce Charles to carry out his engagements, Hertford and Gardiner were in the autumn associated with Wotton as special ambassadors to the emperor, but were recalled in December. In the following March Paget joined Wotton in an endeavour to persuade Charles to renew the war on France, and in April Wotton accompanied the emperor to Worms. He was recalled in August, being
