Defending the faith

These fragments of early sixteenth century painted panelling were once part of a frieze featuring many of the great Saxon Kings. While the cycle was broken apart many years ago, historians have identified the pieces in the Society’s collection as part of a whole thanks to the brocade curtain

These fragments of early sixteenth century painted panelling were once part of a frieze featuring many of the great Saxon Kings. While the cycle was broken apart many years ago, historians have identified the pieces in the Society’s collection as part of a whole thanks to the brocade curtain depicted in the background of each fragment, which would have connected each element of the cycle when in its complete state.

The scheme would originally have been of a considerable size, requiring a large room for display and it is possible it was originally located in Eltham Palace Hall where the young Henry VIII spent his Christmases. It is believed the scheme was commissioned during the reign of Henry’s father, King Henry VII (a series of early kings painted contemporaneously for Henry VII at Richmond Palace may have been the prototype). As such, these pieces represent some of the earliest paintings of the Saxon Kings of England.

Henry VII had come to the throne as a challenger whose right to reign was questioned by many, so he sought to prove his legitimacy by tracing his ancestry back to one of medieval England’s most powerful Kings – Athelstan, who united the lesser kingdoms of England in the tenth century. The Saxon ruler was seen as a great peacekeeper and, after the turmoil and bloodshed of the War of the Roses, Henry VII hoped to draw a favourable comparison. The inscription on the featured panel identifies it as Athelstan, making a connection between the Tudors and the first King of England.

If Eltham Palace was their original home, the young Henry VIII may well have been impressed by the power of the imagery that surrounded him;  the story that it told of his powerful and noble ancestors; and by the figure of King Athelstan – the peacekeeping monarch who brought stability during turmoil and unified his Kingdom. Henry held onto this fascination with majesty as propaganda, and drew inspiration from the past when stepping forward to fulfil the humanist ideal of the peacekeeping King.

This is the Society’s early sixteenth century copy of Erasmus’s Hyperaspistes Diatribae adversus Servum Arbitrium M. Lutheri (A Defensive Shield against Martin Luther). The work was published in March 1526 and this second edition was printed by Johann Froben in the same year. The volume is beautifully presented in a blind-tooled binding of alum-tawed pigskin, secured with delicate metal clasps which still function.

Desiderius Erasmus (1467-1536) was a Dutch humanist scholar and one of the most celebrated intellectuals of the early sixteenth century. He was a few years older than Luther and had been writing on church reform for some time before Luther’s 95 Theses appeared.

Early on, Erasmus and Luther had found mutual agreement on points of reform. Luther had read and been inspired by the works of Erasmus, and Erasmus was sympathetic to, Luther’s early critiques of corruption within the Catholic church. Both detested the pomposities of the church and the physical and material manifestations of religion that they saw around them. Erasmus believed in personal piety rather than outward displays of faith such as – pilgrimage, penance, shrines, and rituals. Luther found the church practice of selling indulgences as a way of absolving sin, corrupt and objectionable. Both believed in the Bible as the true source of religious authority, and in a simpler form of faith.

However, where Erasmus was committed to maintaining the unity of the church that he believed could evolve and change, Martin Luther wanted a full-blown reformation. After Luther’s expulsion from the church in 1520, Erasmus began to distance himself from the protestant reformer and was eventually called, by the church and his royal patrons, to speak out against him.

Written in two parts, the Hyperaspistes deals with the question of free will and was written in response to Luther’s De Servo Arbitrio (On Enslaved Will) published in 1525, which in turn was written in reply to Erasmus’s De Libero Arbitrio (On Free Will). In his Servo Arbitrio Luther argued that humans could not achieve salvation through good deeds, as they could not choose between good and evil, and so could only be redeemed through the will of God. Despite attempts to quell the doubts that had been planted by Luther’s writings, the Protestant Reformation had begun.

This volume contains part of the correspondence exchanged between Martin Luther and King Henry VIII. The year following the publication of Henry’s ‘Defence of the Seven Sacraments’, which earned the King the title of ‘Defender of the Faith’, Luther published his Contra Henricum Regem Angliae, a scathing response to Henry’s pamphlet in which he attacked both the church hierarchy and the authority of the King. Thomas More was commissioned to reply, and his Responsio ad Lutherum was printed in two editions in 1523. Two years later Luther wrote his Epistola ad Henricum VIII, humbly apologising for any offence he may have caused. The apology was prompted by the belief that Henry had by this time come to view Lutheran Protestantism in a more positive light, but this was not the case and Henry’s own Responsio – the text illustrated here – made it clear that their correspondence was now at an end.

Martin Luther had issued his grievances against indulgences and other practices of the Catholic Church in hopes of prompting an academic debate that would result in ecclesiastical reform. But the dawn of printing meant that Luther’s message quickly spread across Europe, and by 1518 his books were being imported into England. Meanwhile Pope Leo X issued a bull clarifying the Church’s position on indulgences as a means of absolving sin, and declared Luther’s writings to be in conflict with the teachings of the Catholic faith. By 1520 they had been deemed heretical.

In response to this, the confiscation of Luther’s works was ordered in London and Cambridge and bookshops in the cities were searched for the heretical works. The following year saw Cardinal Wolsey organise a conference where the problem of Luther was discussed and theologians were encouraged to speak out against him. Shortly afterwards, copies of Luther’s books were burned at St Paul’s Cross in London.

Henry VIII had read Martin Luther’s tracts and Wolsey, knowing that a royal refutation would please Rome, persuaded Henry to write a public response. Thomas More would certainly have played a part, but it is reasonable to suppose that Henry added his own thoughts and finishing touches to the text. The pamphlet Assertio Septem Sacramentorum (Defence of the Seven Sacraments) was published in 1521, with authorship attributed to Henry and dedicated to the Pope. It is this treatise that ultimately gained Henry the title of ‘Defender of the Faith’ which was awarded by Pope Leo X on 11 October 1521. Luther was excommunicated the same year.

Here we have an eighteenth century engraving of a sixteenth century cast silver medal of Henry VIII, taken from the original that sits in the British Museum. The medal was commissioned in 1524, three years after Henry was awarded his papal title. Henry’s portrait features on the obverse of the medal, and on the reverse the inscription DEFENSOR FIDEI appears beneath the Tudor rose – another lasting example of successful Tudor propaganda. The inscription above, ODOR EIVS VT LIBANI, translates as ‘its smell [shall be] as Lebanon’, likening the perfume of the Tudor rose to the fragrant scent which emitted from the cedars of the valleys of Lebanon. Next to this is a 1534 proclamation issued on behalf of the King ‘concerning the price of meat’, issuing instructions to butchers to sell pork, mutton, and veal, at specific prices. The proclamation begins with a Latin heading that translates as ‘Henry VIII, King of England and France, defender of the faith…’.

Henry had worked hard to gain his title, and he wanted to make sure that it was acknowledged. In adding it to the proclamations, writs and medals that circulated throughout the realm, Henry ensured that all would know of his status and hoped that his subjects would view him as a unifying force. Henry had initially defended the Catholic faith against the developing threat of the Protestant Reformation. But when he turned against the Pope (or Bishop of Rome as he came to be known), Henry kept the title ‘Defender of the Faith’ and redefined it in his own image.