oyal predecessor of Henry VIII.

Selden (_Titles of Honour_, ed 1631, p. 54) says:

"The beginning and ground of that attribute of DEFENDER OF THE FAITH,
which hath been perpetually, in the later ages, added to the style of
the kings of England, (not only in the first person, but frequent also
in the second and in the third, as common use shows in the formality of
instruments of conveyance, leases and such like) is most certainly
known. It began in Henry the VIII. For he, in those awaking times, upon
the quarrel of the Romanists and Lutherans, wrote a volume against
Luther," &c.

Selden then states the well-known occasion upon which this title was
conferred, and sets out the Bull of Leo X. (then extant in the Collection
of Sir Robert Cotton, and now in the British Museum), whereby the Pope,
"holding it just to distinguish those who have undertaken such pious
labours for defending the faith of Christ with every honour and
commendation," decrees that to the title of King the subjects of the royal
controversialist shall add the title "Fidei Defensori." The pontiff adds,
that a more worthy title could not be found.

Your correspondent, COLONEL ANSTRUTHER, calls attention to the statement
made by Mr. Christopher Wren, Secretary of the Order of the Garter (A.D.
1736), in his letter to Francis Peck, on the authority of the Register of
the Order in his possession; which letter is quoted by Burke (_Dorm. and
Ext. Bar._, iv. 408.), that "King Henry VII. had the title Defender of the
Faith." It is not found in any acts or instruments of his reign that I am
acquainted with, nor in the proclamation on his interment, nor in any of
the epitaphs engraved on his magnificent tomb. (Sandford, _Geneal. Hist._)
Nor is it probable that Pope Leo X., in those days of diplomatic
intercourse with England, would have bestowed on Henry VIII., as a special
and personal distinction and reward, a title that had been used by his
royal predecessors.

I am not aware that any such title is attributed to the sovereign in any of
the English records anterior to 1521; but that many English kings gloried
in professing their zeal to defend the Church and religion, appears from
many examples. Henry IV., in the second year of his reign, promises to
maintain and defend the Christian religion (_Rot. Parl._, iii. 466.); and
on his renewed promise, in the fourth year of his reign, to defend the
Christian faith, the Commons piously