HOW DID "DEF." COME ON ENGLISH COINS?

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 127, 31 December 1915, Page 1 (Supplement)

HOW DID "DEF." COME ON ENGLISH COINS?

Uu October 11, 1521, the Latin tu - "i'idei Defensor," of which "lid. Dei.'' is an abbreviation, meaning in Engl'sh "Of the Faith the Defender," or "Defender of the Faith,"' was conferred by Pope Leo X. upon Henry VIIL, King of England, because that sovereign iiad written a tract against Martin Luther, the German Reformer, on behalf of the Church of Rome. The document conferring this title is of the sort called a "Bull," because it 'a stamped with the Pope's seal, from the Latin word fftr head of a nail or a stud, which it resembles in shape. The biiliject of this book was "An Assertion of the Seven Sacraments," which is contrary to the Thirty-nine Articles of lotW, in Queen Elizabeth's reign, contained in the present Church of England Prayer Book. The ambassador, when presenting the Kind's book, kissed the Pope's foot and each of his checks, and then made an oration, and th 0 Pope delivered the reply that he bad prepared. By a dispensation of Pope JulMts 11., Henry was allowed in 1503 to many Catherine of Arragon, widow of hUeidvr brother Arthur; and wiicn in 1-331 Pope Clement VII. refused hi 1)1 ;i divorce ill this ease, and Henry nevertheless married Anne Boleyn. the Pope excommunicated him. But Convocation and Parliament that year declared the King supreme head of the Church, a title which was. on January 1") next, formally added to the royal style or title, as it continued ever since, and' accordingly that chosen by the Pope continues un the coins.