lly presented in a consistory of cardinals; and, on the 11th,
Leo promulgated his bull conferring on Henry his coveted title, "Fidei
Defensor".

[Footnote 347: _L. and P._, iii., 1297.]

[Footnote 348: _Ibid._, iii., 1273.]

[Footnote 349: F.M. Nichols, _Epistles of Erasmus_,
p. 424; _L. and P._, iv., 5412.]

[Footnote 350: _L. and P._, iii., 1450.]

[Footnote 351: _Ibid._, iii., 1574, 1654, 1655,
1659.]

Proud as he was of his scholastic achievement and its reward at the
hands of the Pope, Henry was doing more for the future of England by
his attention to naval affairs than by his pursuit of high-sounding
titles. His intuitive perception of England's coming needs in this
respect is, perhaps, the most striking illustration of his political
foresight. He has been described as the father of the British navy;
and, had he not laid the foundations of England's naval power, his
daughter's victory over Spain and entrance on the path that led to
empire would have been impossible. Under Henry, the navy was first
organised as a permanent force; he founded the royal dockyards at
Woolwich and Deptford, and the corporation of Trinity House;[352] he
encouraged the planting of timber for shipbuilding, enacted laws (p. 127)
facilitating inland navigation, dotted the coast with fortifications,
and settled the constitution of the naval service upon a plan from
which it has ever since steadily developed. He owed his inspiration to
none of his councillors, least of all to Wolsey, who had not the
faintest glimmering of the importance of securing England's naval
supremacy, and who, during the war of 1522-23, preferred futile
invasions on land to Henry's "secret designs" for destroying the navy
of France.[353] The King's interest in ships and shipbuilding was
strong, even amid the alluring diversions of the first years of his
reign. He watched his fleet sail for Guienne in 1512, and for France
in 1513; he knew the speed, the tonnage and the armament of every ship
in his navy; he supervised the minutest details of their construction.
In 1520 his ambassador at Paris tells him that Francis is building a
ship, "and reasoneth in this mystery of shipman's craft as one which
had understanding in the same. But, sir, he approacheth not your
highness in that science."[354] A French envoy records how, in 1515,
the