On this day in history, 11th October…
1521 – Title of Fidei Defensor, “Defender of the Faith”, conferred by Pope Leo X on Henry VIII. This was a reward for Henry VIII writing his pamphlet “Assertio septem sacramentorum adversus Martinum Lutherum” (“Declaration of the Seven Sacraments Against Martin Luther”), defending the Catholic Church against the works of Martin Luther.
1531 – Battle of Kappel and the death of Huldrych Zwingli, the Swiss Reformer.
1532 – Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn leave England for Calais, where Anne is treated as Henry VIII’s Queen and consort. See A Timeline of Anne Boleyn’s Relationship with Henry VIII – From 1528-1533
1537 – Solemn procession at St Paul’s to pray for the Queen, Jane Seymour, who was in labour, a labour which lasted over 30 hours. Charles Wriothesley writes of how the procession was made up of “all the orders of friars, preistes, and clarkes… the major and aldermen, with all the craftes of the citie” and that it was “donne to pray for the Queene that was then in laboure of chielde.”
1537 – Traditional date given to the birth of Lady Jane Grey. It is now thought that she was born in Spring 1537, “before the end of May” (Leanda de Lisle).
1542 – Death of Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder, “the Father of English Poetry” – See “Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder” for my article on this famous poet, courtier and diplomat.
1551 – John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, becomes Duke of Northumberland and Henry Grey, father of Lady Jane Grey, becomes the Duke of Suffolk.