October 11, 1521 - King Henry VIII Named Defender of the Faith

About 13 years before King Henry VIII of England would break all ties with the Catholic Church of Rome, he was awarded the Defender of the Faith by Pope Leo X for his thesis "The Assertion of the Seven Sacraments". The thesis was a blistering tract against the "heresy" of Martin Luther when Henry was given the award on October 11, 1521.