Monday, February 25, 2008
This Day in the History of Catholic Reversals
On this day in 1570, English Queen Elizabeth I, was excommunicated by Pope Pius V, because she had become, well, a Protestant. Her dad, Henry VIII, had been awarded the title, Defender of the Faith, for his well reasoned refutation of Luther's position. What a reversal. I had always believed that the reasons for the attempted Spanish invasion 18 years later were all secular, because the English were waging war against Spanish shipping, but there may well have been another reason for Catholic Spain to seek to punish the Protestant queen.
The portrait is from 1575. Not exactly Cate Blanchett in my book.
Labels: Queen Elizabeth I
