806 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 To 1580.
ness of the empire, and the terrible calamities of the Smalkaldian and the Thirty Years’ Wars. In 1525 the Peasants’ War broke out, and gave new strength to the reaction, but only for a short time.
§ 70. Luther and Henry VIII.
HeEnRIcus VIII.: Adsertio VII. Sacram. adv. Luth. Lond. 1521. A German translation by Frick, 1522, in Walch, XIX., 158 sqq. LuTHERUS: Contra Henricum Regem. 1522. Also freely reproduced in German by Luther. His letter to Henry, Sept. 1, 1525. Auf des Konigs in England Ldsterschrift M. Luther’s Antwort. 1527. Afterwards also in Latin. See the documents in WALCH, XIX. 153-521; Erl. ed., XX VIII. 343 sqq.; XXX. 1-14. Comp. also Luther’s letters of Feb. 4 and March 11, 1527, in Dz WETTE, 111. 161 and 163.
With all his opposition to Ultra-Protestantism in church and state, Luther did not mean to yield an inch to the Romanists. ‘This appears from two very personal controversies which took place during these disturbances, — the one with Henry VIII. concerning the sacraments; the other with Erasmus about predestination and free-will. In both he forgot the admirable lessons of moderation which he had enjoined from the pulpit in Wittenberg. He used again the club of Hercules.
Henry VIII. of England urged Charles V. to exterminate the Lutheran heresy by force, and wrote in 1521 (probably with the assistance of his chaplain, Edward Lee), a scholastic defence of the seven sacraments, against Luther’s “ Babylonish Captivity.” He dedicated the book to Pope Leo X. He treated the Reformer with the utmost contempt, as a blasphemer and servant of Satan. He 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
§ 70. LUTHER AND HENRY VIII. 397
king by confirming the title “Defender of the Faith,” which Leo had already conferred upon him.!
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.2. 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.’
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, he retracted (not his doctrine, but) all the personal
1 Pallavicino and Hergenroéther (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, 15238.
2 Especially in the German edition of his reply, where Henry is styled not only a yekroénter Esel (crowned donkey) and elender Narr (miserable fool), but even a verruchter Schurke, unverschimter Liigner, Gotteslasterer, etc. “1 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 ‘‘unverniinftigen wilden Ungeheuern.’? Card. Hergenrother (Kirchengesch. 111. 41, 3d, 1886) says: ‘‘ Luther antwortete in der gemeinsten und boshaftesten Weise,
die Grobheit zur Classicitat ausbildend.’’ ὃ Wider Hanswurst, 1541.