used the old weapons of church authority against freedom. He adhered to the dogma of
transubstantiation, even after his breach with Rome. Pope Clement VII. judged that this book was
written with the aid of the Holy Spirit, and promised indulgence to all who read it. At the same
time he gratified the ambition of the vain king by confirming the title "Defender of the Faith,"
which Leo had already conferred upon him.^495
The Protestant successors of Henry have retained the title to this day, though with a very
different view of its meaning. The British sovereigns are defenders of the Episcopal Church in
England, and of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, and in both characters enemies of the Church
of Rome.
Luther read the King a lecture (in Latin and German) such as was rarely read to any crowned
head. He called him "King Henry, of God’s disgrace (or wrath), King of England," and heaped
upon him the most abusive epithets.^496 He incidentally hit other princes, saying that "King Henry
helps to prove the proverb that there are no greater fools than kings and princes." Such a style of
polemics can not be justified by the coarseness of the age, or the nature of the provocation, and did
more harm to Luther than to Henry. His best friends regretted it; yet long afterwards he even
surpassed the violence, if possible, in his savage and scurrilous attack upon Duke Henry of
Brunswick.^497
When there was a prospect of gaining Henry VIII. for the cause of the Reformation, Luther
made the matter worse by a strange inconsistency. In a most humble letter of Sept. 1, 1525, be
retracted (not his doctrine, but) all the personal abuse, asked his pardon, and offered to honor his
name publicly. Henry in his reply refused the offer with royal pride and scorn, and said that he now
despised him as heartily for his cowardice as he had formerly hated him for his heresy. He also
charged him with violating a nun consecrated to God, and leading other monks into a breach of
their vows and into eternal perdition. Emser published a German translation of Luther’s letter and
the King’s answer (which was transmitted through Duke George of Saxony), and accompanied it
with new vituperations and slanders (1527). All the Romanists regarded this controversy, and the
similar correspondence with Duke George, as a great blow to the Reformation.
Luther now resumed his former sarcastic tone; but it was a painful effort, and did not improve
the case. He suspected that the answer was written by Erasmus, who had "more skill and sense in
his finger than the King with all his wiseacres." He emphatically denied that he had offered to
retract any of his doctrines. "I say, No, no, no, as long as I breathe, no matter how it offend king,
emperor, prince, or devil .... In short, my doctrine is the main thing of which I boast, not only against
princes and kings, but also against all devils. The other thing, my life and person, I know well
enough to be sinful, and nothing to boast of; I am a poor sinner, and let all my enemies be saints
or angels. I am both proud and humble as St. Paul (Phil. 2:3)."
(^495) Pallavicino and Hergenröther (III. 41) show that Leo conferred the title in a bull of Oct. 11, 1521, and that Clement confirmed it in
a bull of March 5, 1523.
(^496) Especially in the German edition of his reply, where Henry is styled not only a gekrönter Esel (crowned donkey) and elender Narr
(miserable fool), but even a verruchter Schurke, unverschämter Lügner, Gotteslästerer, etc ."I say it before all the world, that the King
of England is a liar and no gentleman (ein Unbiedermann)." He makes fun of his title "Defender of Faith." The papists who deny Christ
may need such a defender; but "the true church disdains a human patron, and sings, ’Dominus mihi adjutor’ (Ps. 9:10), and ’Nolite confidere
in principibus’ (Ps. 118:8, 9)." In conclusion he apologizes for his violence, because he had to deal with "unvernünftigen wilden Ungeheuern."
Card. Hergenröther (Kirchengesch. III. 41, 3d, 1886) says: "Luther antwortete in der gemeinsten und boshaftesten Weise, die Grobheit
zur Classicität ausbildend."
(^497) Wider Hanswurst, 1541.