Everything about Fidei Defensor totally explained
» "Defender of the Faith" redirects here. For the 1984 platinum album of British heavy metal group Judas Priest, see Defenders of the Faith.
Fidei defensor is an originally
Latin title which translates to
Defender of the Faith in
English and
Défenseur de la Foi in
French. The phrase has been used as part of the full
style of many monarchs since the early 16th century.
English usage
History
"
Defender of the Faith" has been one of the subsidiary titles of the English and later British and
Commonwealth monarchs since it was granted on
October 17,
1521, by
Pope Leo X to King
Henry VIII of
England. The title was conferred in recognition of Henry's book,
Assertio Septem Sacramentorum (
Defence of the Seven Sacraments), which defended the sacramental nature of
marriage and the supremacy of the
Pope. This was also known as the "Henrician Affirmation" and was seen as an important opposition to the early stages of the
Protestant Reformation, especially the ideas of
Martin Luther.
Following Henry's decision to break with
Rome in
1530 and establish himself as head of the
Church of England, the title was revoked by
Pope Paul III (since Henry's act was regarded as an attack on "the Faith") and Henry was
excommunicated. However, in
1544, the
Parliament of England conferred the title, "
Defender of the Faith", on King
Edward VI and his successors, now the defenders of the
Anglican faith, of which they (except the Catholic 'renegade'
Mary Tudor) remain the
Supreme Governors (formally above the Archbishop of Canterbury as
Primate), and mainly
against Catholicism, so the inverse of the original papal grant.
From 1653 until 1659,
Oliver Cromwell and
Richard Cromwell, the
republican heads of state during the period known as
The Protectorate, although more clearly profiled as Protestant than the Monarchy, didn't adopt the
style, "
Defender of the Faith". However, the style was reintroduced after the
restoration of the monarchy and remains in use to this day.
Modern usage
In her capacity as queen of the
United Kingdom,
Elizabeth II is
styled, "Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the
Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith". The title, "
Defender of the Faith", reflects her position as the
Supreme Governor of the Church of England and she's thus formally superior to the
Archbishop of Canterbury. The original Latin phrase -
Fidei Defensor - is referred to on all current
British coins by the abbreviations,
F D or
FID DEF. This reference was first added to British coins in
1714, during the reign of King
George I. The decision of the
Royal Mint to omit reference to the phrase (and other parts of the monarch's style) from the
Florin (a pre-decimal British coin) in 1849, caused such a scandal that the coin was replaced.
In most
Commonwealth Realms the phrase doesn't appear in the Monarch's full style, while maintaining the initial
By the Grace of God. For example, in
Australia Queen Elizabeth is presently styled, "...by the Grace of God, Queen of Australia and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth"). She is only styled "
Defender of the Faith" in Canada, New Zealand and the UK. Canada chose to include the phrase not because the sovereign is regarded as the protector of the state religion (Canada has none), but as a defender of faith in general. In a speech to the
House of Commons in
1953,
Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent stated:
"The rather more delicate question arose about the retention of the words, "Defender of the Faith". In England there's an established church. In our countries [theother monarchies of the Commonwealth] there are no established churches, but in our countries there are people who have faith in the direction of human affairs by an all-wise providence, and we felt that it was a good thing that the civil authorities would proclaim that their organisation is such that it's a defence of the continued beliefs in a supreme power that orders the affairs of mere men, and that there could be no reasonable objection from anyone who believed in the Supreme Being in having the sovereign, the head of the civil authority, described as a believer in and a defender of the faith in a supreme ruler."
At various times, some countries of the Commonwealth retained the title until they formally became republics, for example
South Africa from 29 May 1953 and Ireland. Others dropped it even sooner, for example in
1953, while still a dominion of the Commonwealth (till 1956),
Pakistan dropped the title in recognition of the contradiction between its overwhelmingly
Muslim population and having a monarch as the defender of the
Christian faith.
Charles, Prince of Wales, the present heir to the thrones of all the Commonwealth Realms, expressed a preference to change the style and the spirit should he succeed as expected. He commented in 1994, "I personally would rather see [myfuture role] as Defender of Faith, not
the Faith".
French usage
In
1811, when he proclaimed himself king,
Henri I of
Haiti awarded himself the title, "
Défenseur de la Foi", and incorporated it into his long, pompous
full style, which translates from the French as: By the grace of God and the constitutional law of the state, King of Haiti, Sovereign of
Tortuga, Gonâve and other adjacent Islands, Destroyer of Tyranny, Regenerator and Benefactor of the Haitian Nation, Creator of her Moral, Political and Martial Institutions, First Crowned Monarch of the New World,
Defender of the Faith, founder of the Royal and Military Order of Saint-Henry.
Today, the French variant is used as part of the official version of the monarch's style in Canada ("
...par la Grâce de Dieu, Reine du Royaume-Uni, du Canada et de ses autres Royaumes et Territoires, Chef du Commonwealth, Défenseur de la Foi" - mainly used in the francophone province of
Quebec).
Further Information
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