Holbein was bound to return to England for at least another six months, as he had received nine months’ salary in advance, but there can be little doubt that he had, at the time, every intention of accepting the Council’s conditions. He was, however, so popular in England, and had so much work on hand, that he found it increasingly difficult to leave, so that in the end his arrangement with the Basel Council fell to the ground. It has been suggested, too, that the death of his uncle Sigmund in Berne, in November 1540, at about the time when Holbein was due to return to Basel, may have had something to do with his determination to remain in England; for Sigmund bequeathed all his property to his “dear brother’s son Hans,” and it was handed over to the latter’s wife in his absence. The will, from which we learn that “Sigmund Holbeyn” was then a citizen of Berne, and being old, was about to make a journey to Augsburg to see his relations, continues: “In the first place, I will and bequeath to my dear brother’s son Hans Holbeyn, the painter, citizen at Basel, both as my blood relation and my own race and name, as well as from the especial love I bear him and from the affinity in which he stands to me, the free gift of all my goods and property which I have and leave in the city of Berne, namely, my house, and courtyard, and the garden behind, standing in the Brunnengasse, on the sunny side, above by the Trom Wall, near Görg Zimmerman, the tailor’s, house. The said property is free from taxes, with the exception of five pounds interest, including the commutation-capital, which I owe out of it to Herr Bernhard Tillman, treasurer of the council at Berne, for money lent. Item, my silver utensils, household furniture, colours, painter’s gold and silver, implements for painting, and other things, nothing excepted, that he shall appropriate the same as my appointed heir, have it in his possession, do with it and live as with his own possession and property, unmolested by my sisters and by any one. What I have here bequeathed to him, will be found noted on a separate roll, so that my cousin can better inquire after it.”[336] Footnote 336: Woltmann, English translation, p. 106. Original text in Woltmann, ii. p. 33-5. He left what property he possessed in Augsburg to his three sisters, Ursula Nepperschmid and Anna Elchinger in Augsburg, and Margreth Herwart in Esslingen. The will is dated September 6, 1540, and the testator died very shortly afterwards.