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In 1517 a man called Martin Luther had made a protest about the way the Catholic Church was run. He had nailed a number of
questions, 95 to be precise, to a church door in a town in Germany. The Catholic Church, at the time, allowed people to buy freedom from God’s punishment if they
had committed any sins. Obviously the money went to the church which made it very rich.
The Pope told Luther to say that he didn’t mean what he said and Luther replied that he didn’t think the Pope was Head of the Church. Because of this
protest, Luther and his followers became known as Protestants.
The reason I have told you all of this, while writing about the
history of England, is that Henry VIII wrote a book in which he said that the Pope was the supreme Head of the Church. In recognition of this the Pope at the
time, Leo X, granted Henry the title of Defender of the Faith. As the Pope spoke Latin, the actual title was Fidei Defensor.
If you would like to take a 2p coin, or any coin actually but I didn’t want this to be an expensive exercise, out of your pocket or purse and read
what is written on it, you will see the letters “FID DEF”. Even today this title is given to our monarch although definitely not the fid that was intended by
dear old Leo X. By the way, I am not sending you a kiss here; he was Leo the tenth, using Roman numerals.
Forward to 1527AD
