1 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:06,520 HE SPEAKS ARABIC 2 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:14,280 We live in an age of religious extremism, 3 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:16,880 an age of terror and violent slaughter. 4 00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:26,000 We are locked in a bewildering ideological battle 5 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:28,080 with religious fundamentalism. 6 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:33,280 It's a battle that's taken most of us by surprise 7 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:37,040 because religious fundamentalism seems so odd, 8 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:41,280 so alien to our own easy-going way of life. 9 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:44,560 But, you know, it's not. 10 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:47,560 We've been here before - here at home, 11 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:51,640 here at the very heart of our own civilisation. 12 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:55,280 Exactly 500 years ago, 13 00:00:55,280 --> 00:01:00,760 a breach within Christianity tore Europe, England, 14 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:02,720 and the Church apart. 15 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:07,200 It was the same literalism, the same passionate intensity, 16 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:11,920 the same apocalyptic violence as now. 17 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:15,360 It's our very own jihad. 18 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:18,640 It's called the Reformation. 19 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:28,480 The Protestant Reformation was also a political and cultural revolution. 20 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:31,040 It unleashed bloodshed, terror, 21 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:33,280 and the destruction of religious art - 22 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:36,680 a combination we recognise all too well. 23 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,400 It began with a provincial German monk, 24 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:45,080 and it threatened the most powerful institution in the Western world - 25 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,320 the Catholic Church - with destruction. 26 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:53,360 In England, it led to a hard Brexit, 16th-century style, 27 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:55,880 as King Henry VIII broke with Rome 28 00:01:55,880 --> 00:02:00,600 and declared himself Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of England. 29 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:04,760 It was a tale of espionage, 30 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:08,840 enhanced interrogation, and horrific death 31 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:12,040 as a handful of brave and inspired souls 32 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:14,760 fought to introduce the new ideas, 33 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:19,760 and the authorities fought back savagely to stamp out the infection. 34 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:25,800 So, how did one man's simple act of protest 35 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:29,360 in the backwoods of Germany spark a violent revolution 36 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:34,400 that would transform England, Europe and the Western world? 37 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:54,320 In the early 1500s, the Catholic Church 38 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:57,120 shaped every aspect of human life. 39 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:03,480 And here in Rome, its head, the Pope, 40 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:07,800 ruled a spiritual empire bigger than the Caesars. 41 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:13,360 It's hard to overestimate the power of the Catholic Church 42 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:15,200 in the Late Middle Ages. 43 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:19,680 It was a vastly wealthy, bureaucratic machine, 44 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:21,560 the very heart of Europe. 45 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:25,800 It controlled education, media, family law. 46 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:29,240 It had its own private language in Latin, 47 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:31,840 and the clergy, whatever their nationality, 48 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:33,960 swore obedience to the Pope, 49 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:38,600 whose toe even kings knelt on the ground to kiss. 50 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:42,920 But its greatest power was over men's minds. 51 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:51,000 Churches were dominated by a huge painting of the Last Judgment... 52 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:59,800 ..when Jesus' judge sentenced each soul to the joys of heaven... 53 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:04,880 ..or the eternal torments of hell. 54 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:10,640 It was a terrifying vision. 55 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,120 The Church mitigated its stark horror 56 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:20,080 by the doctrine of purgatory. 57 00:04:20,080 --> 00:04:24,320 This was an intermediate state between heaven and hell 58 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:28,320 where the not-too-sinful soul was purged of its offences 59 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:30,960 and made fit to enter paradise. 60 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:33,960 You could reduce the amount of time you spent in purgatory 61 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:37,040 by doing good works, saying prayers, 62 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:40,280 going on pilgrimages, giving to the poor, 63 00:04:40,280 --> 00:04:43,800 or you could draw on the good works of others - 64 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:47,040 Jesus, the saints, the Virgin Mary, 65 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:50,240 whose transcendent goodness had endowed the Church 66 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:52,720 with a treasury of merit. 67 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:54,600 The Pope dispensed - 68 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:57,000 in return for consideration, of course - 69 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:01,640 this treasury in the form of spiritual IOUs, 70 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:04,480 known as indulgences. 71 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:08,000 These were printed bits of paper that, 72 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:13,240 in return for cold, hard cash, absolved the soul of its offences 73 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:16,880 and acted as its passport to paradise. 74 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:30,080 Indulgences were often sold to finance church schemes, 75 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:33,560 and in 1517, the Pope's pet project 76 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:37,640 was the rebuilding of St Peter's on a magnificent scale. 77 00:05:44,840 --> 00:05:47,800 Indulgences were sold across Europe. 78 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:51,360 There was even a catchy advertising jingle. 79 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:54,680 "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, 80 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:58,160 "the soul from purgatory springs." 81 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:00,880 It was as though the Church had forgotten Christ 82 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:03,200 and become fixated on wealth. 83 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:09,800 And for one German monk, this was an abomination. 84 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:23,120 On the 31st of October 1517, 85 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:27,400 Martin Luther very publicly denounced this scandal. 86 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:34,720 According to legend, he strode through the town 87 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:37,360 to the great doors of All Saints' Church... 88 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:41,600 ..and hammered up a document for all to see. 89 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:51,080 It was his 95 Theses, a mere 95 points of contention 90 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:54,800 with the Church's teachings on sin and penance. 91 00:06:56,920 --> 00:07:01,680 Were these the brave hammer blows of fate against the old order, 92 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:03,960 as the traditional story goes, 93 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:07,840 or was it the equivalent of pinning an agenda 94 00:07:07,840 --> 00:07:12,440 on a university notice board, as revisionists suggest? 95 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:15,480 Actually, you know, it doesn't much matter, 96 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:19,560 since nobody disputes the magnitude of the results. 97 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:26,720 Luther's protest would plunge Europe 98 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:30,040 into two centuries of religious war... 99 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:35,720 ..unleashing bloodshed and brutality across the continent... 100 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:40,000 ..all in the name of God. 101 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:55,960 Martin Luther was an unlikely revolutionary. 102 00:07:55,960 --> 00:08:02,720 In 1517, he was a 33-year-old monk and professor of biblical theology 103 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:05,920 at the University of Wittenberg in Saxony. 104 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:13,200 Saxony was just one of a jigsaw 105 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:15,720 of small, German-speaking states 106 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:18,680 that comprised present-day Germany. 107 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:20,720 Each had its own ruler, 108 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:23,160 but all fell under the overlordship 109 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:24,960 of an elected monarch, 110 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:26,800 the Holy Roman Emperor, 111 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:28,840 who was crowned by the Pope, 112 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:30,280 and all were subject 113 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:33,120 to papal authority and taxation. 114 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:40,440 In the introduction to his Theses, 115 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:43,680 Luther wrote of his wish to stir up debate. 116 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:53,200 A new invention allowed him to succeed beyond his wildest dreams. 117 00:08:56,880 --> 00:08:58,960 Just over 70 years earlier, 118 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:02,360 Johannes Gutenberg had developed his printing press. 119 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:07,480 This piece of technology would transform Luther 120 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:09,960 from a little-known monk and academic 121 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:12,480 into Europe's most published author... 122 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:16,640 ..and a wanted man. 123 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:22,280 Luther originally wrote the 95 Theses in Latin, 124 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:26,160 the language of academic and theological discourse. 125 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:28,800 But even within the Latin of the Theses, 126 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:32,040 Luther showed himself aware of that wider audience 127 00:09:32,040 --> 00:09:34,120 outside the universities, 128 00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:38,360 and nine of the Theses list the sharp arguments 129 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:41,560 that the laity were using against indulgences. 130 00:09:41,560 --> 00:09:42,960 "And how," Luther asked, 131 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:45,040 "are we going to answer those arguments 132 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:48,200 "if the Church doesn't reform itself?" 133 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:52,320 Well, of course, the Church showed no sign of reforming itself, 134 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:55,840 so what Luther did was to write a tract. 135 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:59,800 He called it a Sermon On Indulgences And Grace, 136 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:03,720 and he wrote it in German and he had it printed. 137 00:10:10,680 --> 00:10:14,080 Experts still marvel at the extraordinary impact 138 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:16,320 of Luther's sermon. 139 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:20,120 This was the work which propelled Luther 140 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:24,760 to the front ranks of European thought and theology. 141 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:28,080 Until that point, he had been writing in Latin, 142 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:29,760 but when he did this, 143 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:34,200 and published these 20 short propositions in German... 144 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:36,920 Just one second. So, the form in German 145 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:40,280 very closely echoes the 95 Theses. 146 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:41,800 These are numbered points. 147 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:43,920 They are numbered points, but they're reduced. 148 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:46,240 So, we have 20 instead of 95. 149 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:48,560 We have short paragraphs. He's learned how to lecture. 150 00:10:48,560 --> 00:10:50,200 I've always said to my students, 151 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:53,280 "Can you imagine the lecturer concluding, "And 95thly..."?" 152 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:55,480 THEY LAUGH 153 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:57,760 Well, I think he's learned how to write, as well, 154 00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:00,800 because this is a work of instinctive brilliance. 155 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:03,880 I mean, he calls it a sermon, but it's nothing like a sermon. 156 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:06,280 Sermons are meant to be endurance tests 157 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:08,520 of repetition and reiteration, 158 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:10,800 and they last for hours. And Biblical citations. 159 00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:13,400 And this can be read aloud in ten minutes. 160 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:17,200 It's 20 short, snappy points. A tabloid sermon. 161 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:18,840 Well, you could say. 162 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:22,960 And it's published in Wurttemberg, but unlike the 95 Theses, 163 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:26,920 which was circulated only in the intellectual community, 164 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:29,280 this went viral immediately. 165 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:34,080 It was reprinted in Leipzig, in Nuremberg, in Augsburg, 166 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:35,920 and then in Strasbourg, as well. 167 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:38,800 And so, by the end of 1518, 168 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:42,080 there were at least 14 editions of this circulating. 169 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:47,920 And by 1520, Luther had written something like 60 original works. 170 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:51,840 Collectively, they had sold several hundred thousand copies, 171 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:55,120 and Luther was now the most published author 172 00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:57,280 in the history of printing, 173 00:11:57,280 --> 00:11:59,960 and that is an extraordinary transformation 174 00:11:59,960 --> 00:12:03,960 for someone who, five years before, had written precisely nothing. 175 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:14,120 Luther's enemies would liken the spread of his ideas 176 00:12:14,120 --> 00:12:16,440 to a virus or contagion... 177 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:20,800 ..and the carrier was the printed word. 178 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:30,000 We, too, are living through a media revolution, 179 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:33,040 with the rise and rise of social media. 180 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:36,040 So, think of Luther and the printing press 181 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:39,360 as the ultimate Twitter storm 182 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:43,960 with Luther himself pungent, pithy, fearless, 183 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:46,240 often downright vulgar and rude, 184 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:49,640 cutting the self-styled great and good down to size, 185 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:52,400 winning the largest number of followers 186 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:55,480 and taking on allcomers. 187 00:12:55,480 --> 00:13:00,480 In what? An Arab Spring? A Velvet Revolution? 188 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:03,680 A jihad? 189 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:16,680 In Rome, the Pope, Leo X, was made aware of Luther's attack... 190 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:20,320 ..but he dismissed it as a... 191 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:28,680 Rome was a vast, slow-moving legal bureaucracy... 192 00:13:31,880 --> 00:13:34,320 ..but Luther's ideas moved fast. 193 00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:35,800 They were getting everywhere... 194 00:13:37,560 --> 00:13:39,720 ..and England was next. 195 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:47,800 In March 1518, 196 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:51,440 just five months after Luther's protest in Wurttemberg, 197 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:54,040 a ship approached the south-east coast 198 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:55,880 of Catholic England. 199 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:04,320 On board was a courier bearing a letter. 200 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:12,280 The letter was from the Dutch humanist scholar Desiderius Erasmus, 201 00:14:12,280 --> 00:14:16,840 and it was addressed to his friend and fellow scholar Thomas More, 202 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:20,880 who'd just joined the inner circle of the government of Henry VIII. 203 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:25,760 Enclosed in the letter was a copy of the 95 Theses. 204 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:30,040 As far as we know, it's the first time that they'd reached England. 205 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:33,920 But Erasmus pays them no particular attention. 206 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:37,920 After all, both he and More, as scholars and freethinkers, 207 00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:40,520 had written equally scathing satire 208 00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:44,000 on the corruptions of church and state. 209 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:47,680 But they'd kept their satire safely in Latin. 210 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:51,160 Presumably, they thought that Luther would do the same. 211 00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:59,480 But Luther didn't respect polite academic convention. 212 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:02,720 He was spreading his ideas in German. 213 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:07,640 A stream of Lutheran publications in German, 214 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:11,120 increasingly radical and in ever-increasing numbers, 215 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:14,960 made it to England across the trade routes of the North Sea. 216 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:18,200 And, as they did so, Thomas More abandoned 217 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:24,040 his earlier cultivated, ironical detachment, and took sides. 218 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:26,520 The Lutheran heresy, he decided, 219 00:15:26,520 --> 00:15:29,200 threatened the unity of the Catholic faith, 220 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:33,640 imperilled souls, and must be stamped out, 221 00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:37,880 or at least it must be stopped from infecting England. 222 00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:52,720 In Wurttemberg, Luther's attack on indulgences 223 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:56,160 was evolving into fundamental doctrines. 224 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:01,680 The key one - raising the power of personal faith 225 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:05,240 above the remedies offered by the hierarchy of the Church. 226 00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:11,600 Mankind was saved not by prayer or fasting or indulgences, 227 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:13,760 but only by faith - 228 00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:17,240 by faith in Christ, as told in the New Testament. 229 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:24,680 Anything else was a corruption, an obstacle - and that included Rome. 230 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:37,760 Meanwhile, in Rome, the papal condemnation of Luther 231 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:40,320 was reaching its stately climax. 232 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:46,760 On the 15th of June 1520, after four all-day meetings, 233 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:51,840 the Pope and his council issued the formal decree known as a bull, 234 00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:54,240 and entitled, after its opening words, 235 00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:58,320 Exsurge Domine - Arise, O Lord. 236 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:00,760 Learning a little from Luther himself, 237 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:04,560 the bull employed the strongest and most violent language, 238 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:08,200 and, printed in pamphlet form, like this, 239 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:11,480 it, too, became an instant bestseller. 240 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:19,240 Luther was given 60 days to recant or be excommunicated, 241 00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:21,800 which meant expulsion from the Church 242 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:25,600 and condemnation to the eternal fires of hell. 243 00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:35,880 His works were ordered to be burned. 244 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:39,160 Far from backing down, 245 00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:42,880 Luther seemed energised - liberated, even - 246 00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:45,320 and, in a matter of a few mere weeks, 247 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:48,080 produced three crucial works that, 248 00:17:48,080 --> 00:17:50,720 between them, amounted to a manifesto 249 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:54,160 for a political and religious revolution. 250 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:57,040 The most important of them was addressed to 251 00:17:57,040 --> 00:18:00,240 the Christian nobility of the German nation. 252 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:01,720 Writing in German, 253 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:05,360 Luther called on the German princes unilaterally 254 00:18:05,360 --> 00:18:10,200 to reform the German Church and rescue it from the clutches of Rome 255 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:13,480 that was bleeding Germany dry. 256 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:18,360 Brilliantly targeted, seething with hatred of Italians and Jews, 257 00:18:18,360 --> 00:18:22,000 here was the rampant, uninhibited voice 258 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:24,600 of German nationalism, 259 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:27,680 and it sold like hot cakes. 260 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:34,000 But Luther went further. 261 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:39,120 On the 10th of December 1520, he publicly burned the papal bull. 262 00:18:42,120 --> 00:18:44,240 There could be no going back. 263 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:52,480 In January 1521, 264 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:55,800 Martin Luther was formally excommunicated 265 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:57,600 from the Catholic Church. 266 00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:01,640 Two months later, he was charged with heresy 267 00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:06,440 and summoned to a hearing in front of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V 268 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:08,720 and representatives of the Church. 269 00:19:10,120 --> 00:19:12,400 The Imperial Diet, as it was known, 270 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:15,800 was to be held in the German city of Worms. 271 00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:22,320 While Luther remained in Wurttemberg, he was safe. 272 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:24,720 But a journey to Worms would take him 273 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:27,160 through less-friendly German states, 274 00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:30,480 risking kidnap, torture, execution. 275 00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:35,560 Luther's survival had, to date, 276 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:39,480 been ensured by Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony. 277 00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:44,840 Frederick now secured a promise of safe passage, 278 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:46,920 and Luther set out. 279 00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:54,160 If the Catholic Church was hoping to destroy Luther at Worms, 280 00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:57,480 it had badly miscalculated the popular mood. 281 00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:00,720 Everywhere he went, he was hailed as a hero. 282 00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:05,600 100 horsemen rode through the city gates to escort him inside, 283 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:08,080 and as he descended his carriage, 284 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:12,200 a monk reached out to touch the hem of his robe. 285 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:16,320 By taking on the power of the Church, 286 00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:18,880 Luther had become a local legend, 287 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:22,880 a figurehead for a populist, antiestablishment movement 288 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:26,120 that was spreading across the German-speaking states 289 00:20:26,120 --> 00:20:30,560 as resentment about taxes and foreign interference grew. 290 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:36,160 The Pope's ambassador at Worms was horrified 291 00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:38,520 as he reported back to Rome. 292 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:42,520 "The whole of Germany is in full revolt," he wrote. 293 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:46,560 "Nine-tenths raise the war cry "Luther!" 294 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:48,680 "whilst the watchword of the other tenth, 295 00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:53,720 "who are indifferent to Luther, is, "Death to the Roman Curia!"" 296 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:00,440 Summoned before the Diet, 297 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:03,960 Luther was ordered to renounce his heretical writings. 298 00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:05,480 He refused. 299 00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:12,720 "Here I stand," he is supposed to have declared. 300 00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:14,760 "I can do no other." 301 00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:26,240 Whilst the Emperor Charles V 302 00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:28,720 and the Diet were debating Luther's fate, 303 00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:32,280 Luther's safe conduct was honoured and he was allowed to leave Worms. 304 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:37,520 As Luther and his two companions were riding through thick forest... 305 00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:42,720 ..suddenly, they were ambushed 306 00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:45,280 by a posse of armed and masked highwaymen. 307 00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:53,840 Luther's companions were overpowered at the point of the sword, 308 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:55,920 Luther ordered down from his wagon 309 00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:59,240 and flung on the back of a horse and spirited away. 310 00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:05,640 No-one knew where or by whom. 311 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:25,320 Back in England, the figure of Martin Luther, 312 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:27,520 this curious German monk, 313 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:30,120 was beginning to register with the authorities. 314 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:36,720 Cardinal Wolsey, the Lord Chancellor, 315 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:39,760 had a palace here in Whitehall at the time. 316 00:22:42,360 --> 00:22:45,080 He had eyes and ears everywhere, 317 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:49,160 and one of them, Cuthbert Tunstall, had been dispatched to Worms. 318 00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:56,000 Cuthbert Tunstall was an outstanding figure 319 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:58,360 of the Early Renaissance in England. 320 00:22:58,360 --> 00:23:02,600 Educated in different countries, multilingual and a polymath, 321 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:06,560 he was scholar, lawyer and theologian. 322 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:10,680 Wolsey talent-spotted Tunstall early, 323 00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:14,720 and in 1520, he was given the plum post of ambassador 324 00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:18,720 to the young Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. 325 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:22,680 As such, he accompanied the emperor to the Diet of Worms, 326 00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:26,560 from which he sent an extraordinary series of dispatches, 327 00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:28,680 mostly in cipher. 328 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:31,760 And the dispatches finished up here, 329 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:36,640 in what was then Wolsey's great town palace in Westminster. 330 00:23:40,360 --> 00:23:44,000 Tunstall was the first Englishman fully to understand 331 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:46,960 the threat presented by Martin Luther, 332 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:49,840 and he gave Wolsey a stark warning. 333 00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:56,760 This dispatch was written on the 29th of January 1521 - 334 00:23:56,760 --> 00:24:00,440 around the time of the opening of the Diet of Worms. 335 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:03,280 In it, and with extraordinary prescience, 336 00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:08,880 Tunstall explains how Luther's shift of language from Latin into German 337 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:12,000 had turned him into a mortal enemy of the Church. 338 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:14,840 And then he goes on to recommend what had to be done 339 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:18,040 to stop the threat spreading to England. 340 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:20,320 Wolsey must, he says, 341 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:23,360 "Call before him the printers and book-sellers 342 00:24:23,360 --> 00:24:25,720 "and give them a straight charge 343 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:28,960 "that they bring none of Luther's books into England, 344 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:32,280 "nor that they translate none of them into English..." 345 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:46,720 Tunstall's hair-raising dispatch from Worms 346 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,160 galvanised Wolsey into action. 347 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:58,280 He ordered a ceremonial burning of Luther's books. 348 00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:11,200 It was to be one of many book burnings all over Europe 349 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:14,600 in response to the Pope's condemnation of Luther... 350 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:23,480 ..and it was one of the most spectacular. 351 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:33,320 It took place here in the precinct of Old St Paul's Cathedral 352 00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:35,880 on the 12th of May 1521. 353 00:25:38,120 --> 00:25:41,920 As books were tossed onto the bonfire before a vast crowd, 354 00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:44,320 John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, 355 00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:49,480 preached a two-hour sermon against Luther and his perilous heresy. 356 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:54,760 Fisher's sermon was in English, 357 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:59,040 but the books burned whilst he spoke were in Latin or German. 358 00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:01,280 This meant that, for the time being, at least, 359 00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:05,120 in England, Lutheranism was someone else's problem, 360 00:26:05,120 --> 00:26:09,520 and the book burning itself was aimed largely at a foreign audience. 361 00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:13,840 Also aimed at a foreign audience was the book that Wolsey brandished 362 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:16,440 in his hand throughout the ceremony. 363 00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:18,240 It was the unfinished draft 364 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,200 of a Latin treatise against Martin Luther, 365 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:25,240 and it was being written, Wolsey and Fisher loudly proclaimed, 366 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,880 by none other than King Henry VIII himself. 367 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:39,760 Two months after the book burning at St Paul's, 368 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:43,320 Henry's manuscript was printed by the King's printer. 369 00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:49,960 It was entitled Assertio Septem Sacramentorum - 370 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:53,320 Defence Of The Seven Sacraments. 371 00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:57,000 It was a strike against Luther's biblical fundamentalism 372 00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:00,560 and dedicated to Pope Leo X himself. 373 00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:05,440 It was also, thanks to Tunstall's reports from Worms, 374 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:07,280 bang up to the minute. 375 00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:10,360 In his key dispatch of the 29th of January, 376 00:27:10,360 --> 00:27:15,200 Tunstall had informed Henry and Wolsey that Luther's latest book 377 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:17,280 committed the ultimate heresy 378 00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:23,160 of reducing the traditional seven Catholic sacraments to only three. 379 00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:27,200 Henry's book called the Defence Of The Seven Sacraments 380 00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:32,240 was a powerful reassertion of the traditional number and doctrine. 381 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:44,920 Richard, we're looking here at a first edition of Henry's book. 382 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:50,160 Explain to me, seven sacraments - what actually is a sacrament? 383 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:55,040 Well, the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church are 384 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:57,160 held to be the guaranteed means, really, 385 00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:00,040 by which the benefits of Christ's saving work 386 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:01,920 are communicated to the faithful. 387 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:05,760 In other words, the sacrament is 388 00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:09,240 part of the soul's progress to salvation? 389 00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:12,280 That's right. The merits, as they would say in the Late Middle Ages. 390 00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:15,360 The merits of the Passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ 391 00:28:15,360 --> 00:28:17,560 are communicated, first of all, in baptism, 392 00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:19,280 and then at various stages of life. 393 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:21,160 For example, through the Eucharist - 394 00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:23,040 through the ritual meal of bread and wine, 395 00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:25,120 or the body and blood of Christ - 396 00:28:25,120 --> 00:28:28,960 confession, because it was expected that everybody should make 397 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:31,320 a full and proper confession of their sins 398 00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:33,160 before receiving the Eucharist. 399 00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:35,480 And then there were the sacraments that marked, 400 00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:39,360 for the most part, stages of life - confirmation, marriage, of course, 401 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:42,080 and then, at the end of life, Extreme Unction, 402 00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:44,200 as it was known then - the final anointing, 403 00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:47,280 which would prepare the body and soul for the separation of death. 404 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:52,520 So, why is it, then, that Luther feels so passionately, 405 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:55,120 first of all, that the number has to be reduced, 406 00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:57,200 and questions, in some ways, 407 00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:00,160 the fundamental doctrine of a sacrament itself? 408 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:03,120 Luther and the other Protestant theologians after him 409 00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:04,880 are concerned that with any sacrament 410 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:06,560 that should deserve the name, 411 00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:10,000 Christ himself should be shown to have instituted it. 412 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:13,160 And it is with baptism and the Eucharist that they are happy. 413 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:14,920 The other sacraments are, as it were, 414 00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:19,320 not instituted by Christ. 415 00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:22,800 So, our Assertio - what is the impact of it? 416 00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:25,400 I mean, there weren't many books by kings, were there? 417 00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:27,360 There were very few in Latin. 418 00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:29,200 Its impact was substantial for a few years, 419 00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:31,280 I think not least because of its royal authorship. 420 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:33,960 Between 1522 and 1524, 421 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:38,040 there were eight or nine editions of this text 422 00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:40,680 in places as far apart as Cologne and Rome. 423 00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:42,880 He's almost getting up there with Luther, isn't he? 424 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:45,400 Well, he's a fair way short of Luther, 425 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:46,960 it has to be said. But, still... 426 00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:50,640 But he's ahead of most of Luther's Catholic opponents at this point. 427 00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:53,240 That is itself something really astonishing, isn't it? 428 00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:55,440 It is quite, actually. So, England really is, 429 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:59,240 and England's king, is seen, and sees himself, 430 00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:01,480 as Martin Luther's principal opponent. 431 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:05,600 Yes, he's taking this, and himself, very seriously. 432 00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:08,000 King David confronting, you know... 433 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:10,280 The German Goliath. ..the German Goliath. 434 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:18,360 The Pope's own copy was magnificent. 435 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:22,120 Illuminated manuscript, bound in cloth of gold, 436 00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:27,680 and with verses chosen by Wolsey, inscribed in the King's own hand. 437 00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:30,600 The manuscript, as Wolsey foretold, 438 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:33,840 was laid up amongst the treasures of the Vatican Library, 439 00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:35,760 where it still remains. 440 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:41,200 And Henry was given the papal title of Defender of the Faith, 441 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:45,880 which Queen Elizabeth II still proudly holds. 442 00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:54,560 Henry had established his credentials 443 00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:57,760 as the Pope's most loyal ally. 444 00:30:57,760 --> 00:30:59,720 But where was Luther? 445 00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:05,800 Luther's mysterious disappearance on the way home from Worms 446 00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:08,720 occasioned his followers much anguish. 447 00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:12,080 But it wasn't a kidnapping or an assassination 448 00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:14,600 by the stooges of the Pope or the Emperor. 449 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:17,920 It was a rescue by the agents of Luther's protector, 450 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:20,200 the Elector Frederick the Wise, 451 00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:23,040 charged with bringing him to a place of safety. 452 00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:25,080 And they brought him here, 453 00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:29,080 to the isolated, almost impregnable Wartburg, 454 00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:31,760 high on its towering peak. 455 00:31:39,240 --> 00:31:41,080 Here in Wartburg Castle, 456 00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:43,120 Luther went undercover. 457 00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:49,040 He grew his hair and beard, 458 00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:52,840 and became Junker Jorg, or Squire George. 459 00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:56,360 Confined to his room, 460 00:31:56,360 --> 00:32:00,480 Luther embarked on the next stage of his religious revolution. 461 00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:05,360 The medieval church used Saint Jerome's 462 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:10,360 fourth-century Latin translation of the Greek New Testament. 463 00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:12,240 Known as the Vulgate, 464 00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:15,720 it was treated as the sole authoritative text, 465 00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:17,880 and crucial Catholic doctrines 466 00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:21,320 depended on its particular choice of words. 467 00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:24,760 All Luther's religion was rooted in the Bible. 468 00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:27,680 He believed in sola scriptura - 469 00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:31,400 that the Bible was the sole infallible guide 470 00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:34,320 to faith and practice. 471 00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:37,600 So, Luther decided to use his time in the Wartburg 472 00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:43,000 to start afresh and to make his own new translation of the Bible 473 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:46,320 from the original Greek into German. 474 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:50,800 But it was to be HIS German - pungent, pithy, 475 00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:54,880 and comprehensible by all Germans, north and south. 476 00:32:54,880 --> 00:33:00,320 And, above all, it was to be his - Luther's - reading of the Bible. 477 00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:04,400 The thing that strikes an English reader 478 00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:07,440 is how much there is of Luther in it. 479 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:09,960 HE CHUCKLES He, at times, 480 00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:11,400 as far as I can see, 481 00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:15,440 doctors the translation to make it clearer. 482 00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:18,840 Luther does, at certain points, 483 00:33:18,840 --> 00:33:22,040 introduce new answers into his translation 484 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:25,160 to reflect his theological beliefs. 485 00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:28,440 The most famous is, of course, when he translates, 486 00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:30,440 "A man is justified by faith alone." 487 00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:33,440 "Alone" is nowhere to be found in the Greek original, 488 00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:36,480 but Luther is convinced it has to be faith alone 489 00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:38,160 because that's the way... 490 00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:40,360 That's what Luther thinks it means. 491 00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:44,080 That's the way the Greek must be translated in German. 492 00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:47,080 But, of course, Luther was on a mission 493 00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:49,640 when he translated his New Testament. Of course. 494 00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:53,600 It was fundamental for him to deliver the unabridged, 495 00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:57,200 in his view, gospel to the Germans. 496 00:33:57,200 --> 00:33:59,840 Setting aside its religious impact, 497 00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:02,680 what is its impact on the German language? 498 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:06,320 As I understand it - and I'm no German expert at all - 499 00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:09,600 it really is one of the fundamental texts of modern German. 500 00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:12,880 Yes, it is. It's very influential for modern German 501 00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:16,680 because it was so widespread and it received... 502 00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:18,320 It was read by so many people. 503 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:21,600 Luther didn't invent modern German, 504 00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:27,680 but he was quick to embrace certain changes in syntax and grammar 505 00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:29,680 that had already been around in his time, 506 00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:34,600 and he adopted a sort of German 507 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:38,640 that could be understood by many people. 508 00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:42,640 He says of himself he doesn't speak any particular German dialect, 509 00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:44,480 but speaks, or writes, in a German 510 00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:46,760 that can be understood as well by the... 511 00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:49,480 By a Bavarian as well as a Prussian. Exactly. 512 00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:52,240 As a Bavarian or a Low German speaker. 513 00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:58,680 Published in September 1522, 514 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:04,240 Luther's Bible began to fix a standardised modern German language. 515 00:35:04,240 --> 00:35:08,560 It forged a growing sense of nationhood and national identity 516 00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:10,680 amongst the German states... 517 00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:17,280 ..and that helped turn Luther's religious revolution 518 00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:20,440 into a political revolution, as well. 519 00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:26,640 Luther's revolution now threatened to carry all before it. 520 00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:28,640 The princes were attracted 521 00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:31,880 by the political and economic power it gave them, 522 00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:34,960 and the common people by the freedom and the autonomy 523 00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:37,160 that it seemed to promise them. 524 00:35:37,160 --> 00:35:40,920 The term Protestant was coined in 1529. 525 00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:45,200 And in 1531, the Lutheran cities and principalities 526 00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:48,480 united themselves into a defensive alliance 527 00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:51,960 known as the Schmalkaldic League. 528 00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:53,760 In little more than a decade, 529 00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:57,040 half of Germany had gone Protestant, 530 00:35:57,040 --> 00:35:59,040 gone Lutheran. 531 00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:09,240 As Europe began to fracture along religious lines, 532 00:36:09,240 --> 00:36:12,440 it would be engulfed by apocalyptic violence... 533 00:36:14,560 --> 00:36:20,000 ..waves of holy war, terror and iconoclasm 534 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:23,800 of the kind we are all too familiar with today. 535 00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:37,640 In England, Luther's revolution was being held at bay 536 00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:40,280 by Henry VIII's Catholic government. 537 00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:45,680 But in the mid-1520s, one man would challenge that. 538 00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:50,080 William Tyndale was a Gloucestershire man 539 00:36:50,080 --> 00:36:52,920 through and through. He studied at Oxford 540 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:57,160 before returning to his native county as a chaplain and tutor 541 00:36:57,160 --> 00:37:02,160 to a rich and well-connected family here at Little Sodbury. 542 00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:04,680 Tyndale was a natural linguist. 543 00:37:04,680 --> 00:37:08,280 He also had a powerful religious conviction 544 00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:11,200 and he combined the two in his life's work - 545 00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:15,800 to translate the Bible from the original languages into English. 546 00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:24,040 Tyndale was risking his life by confronting the Church authorities. 547 00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:27,440 "They only banned translations of the Bible," he said... 548 00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:39,200 And he was resolute his work would change that. 549 00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:46,920 In 1524, Tyndale slipped out of the country 550 00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:48,920 and took refuge in Germany. 551 00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:54,440 There, he found the support and protection needed 552 00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:57,200 to undertake his subversive work. 553 00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:05,640 The following year, in 1525, his translation was complete. 554 00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:10,920 German presses began printing his English translation of the Bible. 555 00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:14,520 Even in Germany, this was a dangerous enterprise. 556 00:38:14,520 --> 00:38:17,760 Catholic spies were everywhere. 557 00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:20,640 The printing of Tyndale's English New Testament 558 00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:22,640 began secretly in Cologne. 559 00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:27,960 An edition of 3,000 copies was well underway 560 00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:31,440 when it was accidentally uncovered by a fierce opponent 561 00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:34,760 of Martin Luther called Johann Cochlaeus. 562 00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:39,360 The presses were stopped. 563 00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:42,000 Tyndale fled with the printed sheets, 564 00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:44,480 and Cochlaeus informed Wolsey and Henry 565 00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:47,240 of what had happened, in bloodcurdling terms. 566 00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:53,760 "There was an underground plot," he wrote. 567 00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:55,800 "And the heretics had sworn..." 568 00:39:05,480 --> 00:39:08,760 Inspired by Luther's attack on the Catholic Church, 569 00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:11,840 and fiercely resenting papal taxes, 570 00:39:11,840 --> 00:39:16,440 German peasants were rising up to win greater freedoms. 571 00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:21,200 Reports of the peasants' revolt made Henry's court extra jumpy. 572 00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:25,440 They were terrified the insurrection might spread to English soil. 573 00:39:36,400 --> 00:39:38,480 The King and Cardinal Wolsey 574 00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:42,880 relaunched the campaign against Luther and his followers in England. 575 00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:50,800 The dirty work was left to Sir Thomas More. 576 00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:55,680 On the 26th of January 1526, 577 00:39:55,680 --> 00:39:58,920 More lead an armed raid on the Steelyard, 578 00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:01,040 the Thames-side London depot 579 00:40:01,040 --> 00:40:04,040 of the German merchants of the Hanseatic League. 580 00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:08,760 Twilight was falling, 581 00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:11,560 and the merchants were about to sit down to their supper 582 00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:14,440 when More and his men burst into their hall. 583 00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:21,240 The doors were locked and guarded and More harangued the merchants, 584 00:40:21,240 --> 00:40:26,400 accusing them of possessing and importing Lutheran heretical books. 585 00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:28,520 Three of them were arrested on the spot 586 00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:30,360 and others the following morning 587 00:40:30,360 --> 00:40:34,720 when More returned to the Steelyard to conduct a room-by-room search. 588 00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:41,400 Those found in possession of heretical works were interrogated, 589 00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:43,200 some by Wolsey himself. 590 00:40:45,080 --> 00:40:47,920 Overawed, they confessed and recanted. 591 00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:54,000 On the 11th of February, 592 00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:56,920 another book burning was staged at St Paul's... 593 00:40:58,240 --> 00:41:02,720 ..and the contrite Lutherans were subject to public humiliation. 594 00:41:02,720 --> 00:41:05,800 SHOUTING, FIRE CRACKLES 595 00:41:09,680 --> 00:41:12,920 They were paraded three times round the fire, 596 00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:15,120 bearing faggots of wood kindling... 597 00:41:16,800 --> 00:41:20,840 ..which, at the end of their ordeal, they cast into the flames 598 00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:24,480 as an awful warning of what would happen to their bodies 599 00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:26,000 if they offended again. 600 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:31,000 But, despite the warning, 601 00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:34,640 heretical books were still being smuggled into England... 602 00:41:38,280 --> 00:41:40,600 ..including, for the first time, 603 00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:45,160 Tyndale's translation of the Bible into English. 604 00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:49,080 Karen, we're looking at one of the world's most important, 605 00:41:49,080 --> 00:41:53,160 rarest books - the first New Testament in English, 606 00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:56,640 translated by William Tyndale, first complete version of it, 607 00:41:56,640 --> 00:41:58,440 and I'm struck by... 608 00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:01,280 It's really rather a handsome, dignified book. 609 00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:04,120 It is indeed. It's actually very beautifully printed. 610 00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:08,960 Have we any idea at all of how long this would have taken to do? 611 00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:10,880 There was a first edition, 612 00:42:10,880 --> 00:42:14,280 a printing of the New Testament translated by Tyndale in Cologne, 613 00:42:14,280 --> 00:42:17,720 printed by Peter Quentel, which, as you know, was then interrupted. 614 00:42:17,720 --> 00:42:19,760 The printed process was then interrupted. 615 00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:22,120 They grabbed the sheets and ran to Worms, 616 00:42:22,120 --> 00:42:23,800 where this edition was produced. 617 00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:27,760 And it's thought that first copies of this particular 1526 edition 618 00:42:27,760 --> 00:42:31,680 were already sold here in England in February 1526. 619 00:42:31,680 --> 00:42:35,280 So it must have been probably even produced at the end of 1525, 620 00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:38,280 beginning of 1526. It is weeks. It is weeks. It is weeks. 621 00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:41,200 Do we have an idea of quantities? 622 00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:44,120 Three surviving. Yeah. Is there any guess 623 00:42:44,120 --> 00:42:46,960 as to what the size of the first edition might have been? 624 00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:49,560 The first edition in Cologne was about 3,000. 625 00:42:49,560 --> 00:42:53,640 The 1526, this one, was supposed to be about between 3,000 and 6,000. 626 00:42:53,640 --> 00:42:55,920 So, quite a large number. It's a lot. It is a lot. 627 00:42:55,920 --> 00:42:58,320 I mean, there was a market for it in England. 628 00:42:58,320 --> 00:43:01,000 It couldn't be produced there, but they knew they could sell it 629 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:03,200 if they could get the copies over to England. 630 00:43:03,200 --> 00:43:07,080 People treasure it, clearly, as a source of revelation. 631 00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:10,520 Absolutely. We have accounts, don't we, of people...? 632 00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:15,200 In a sense, they know the Bible exists, they hear it, 633 00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:18,040 but, suddenly, in their own language. 634 00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:22,320 Yeah, and it's not interpreted for them by the priests, 635 00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:24,120 which is obviously the great revelation. 636 00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:25,960 And it's a very, very accessible language. 637 00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:27,360 He uses a lot of verbs. 638 00:43:27,360 --> 00:43:29,440 So, he makes the language come alive, 639 00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:31,080 and the Word of God come alive to people. 640 00:43:31,080 --> 00:43:33,680 Somebody does something or says something, rather than, 641 00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:36,080 "It is done," or, "It is being done." We've got it here! 642 00:43:36,080 --> 00:43:39,720 "Eat, drink and be merry." Exactly. Just that point - three verbs. 643 00:43:39,720 --> 00:43:42,240 And three verbs we still use today in everyday language, 644 00:43:42,240 --> 00:43:44,400 where people probably don't necessarily realise 645 00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:45,240 where it comes from. 646 00:43:48,520 --> 00:43:53,520 A stream of heretical works followed Tyndale's New Testament to England, 647 00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:58,240 all in multiple printed copies, and all in English. 648 00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:10,720 The appearance of heretical printed books in English 649 00:44:10,720 --> 00:44:12,640 was a game-changer. 650 00:44:12,640 --> 00:44:14,720 Back in 1521, 651 00:44:14,720 --> 00:44:19,000 when he'd been an appalled observer at the Diet of Worms, 652 00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:23,440 Cuthbert Tunstall had realised that the key to Martin Luther's success 653 00:44:23,440 --> 00:44:25,040 was the fact that... 654 00:44:33,520 --> 00:44:38,280 Now William Tyndale's books were in English, 655 00:44:38,280 --> 00:44:41,720 and, likewise, in the hands of every man that can read. 656 00:44:43,400 --> 00:44:46,000 But it would be in the hands of a woman 657 00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:49,040 that Tyndale's books would wreak destruction 658 00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:51,600 on the Catholic Church in England. 659 00:45:03,680 --> 00:45:08,760 Hever Castle in Kent was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, 660 00:45:08,760 --> 00:45:12,280 Henry VIII's mistress and eventual second queen. 661 00:45:13,800 --> 00:45:18,040 She was also the femme fatale of the English Reformation. 662 00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:22,600 Anne seems to have been a bright girl, 663 00:45:22,600 --> 00:45:25,840 and her father, an ambitious Tudor courtier, 664 00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:31,120 decided to capitalise on the fact by giving her an excellent education. 665 00:45:31,120 --> 00:45:35,480 So, at the age of about ten, Anne was sent to the Continent 666 00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:38,360 to learn French and to perfect herself 667 00:45:38,360 --> 00:45:43,680 in the art of get your man, known as courtly love. 668 00:45:43,680 --> 00:45:47,320 Anne's father had married a duke's daughter. 669 00:45:47,320 --> 00:45:50,120 Anne, thanks to her excellent training, 670 00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:52,640 would do even better. 671 00:45:59,480 --> 00:46:03,120 Early in the 1520s, Anne returned to England 672 00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:07,840 and became lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine of Aragon. 673 00:46:07,840 --> 00:46:11,480 It wasn't long before she caught the King's eye. 674 00:46:12,720 --> 00:46:14,760 Catherine was vulnerable. 675 00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:18,560 Five years older than Henry, she was approaching 40... 676 00:46:20,240 --> 00:46:22,520 ..and she'd only given him a daughter 677 00:46:22,520 --> 00:46:25,520 instead of the longed-for son and heir. 678 00:46:31,600 --> 00:46:35,680 Henry and Anne spent the Christmas of 1526 apart - 679 00:46:35,680 --> 00:46:40,200 Henry at court, and Anne in seclusion here at Hever. 680 00:46:40,200 --> 00:46:43,600 But, around New Year's Day 1527, 681 00:46:43,600 --> 00:46:47,400 in an exchange of letters, they agreed to marry. 682 00:46:47,400 --> 00:46:52,160 First, however, there was the little matter of divorcing Catherine. 683 00:46:52,160 --> 00:46:55,640 Probably, Henry assumed that it would be straightforward. 684 00:46:55,640 --> 00:46:59,680 He thought that he had an unimpeachable moral case 685 00:46:59,680 --> 00:47:02,120 based on the Bible itself. 686 00:47:02,120 --> 00:47:05,320 Catherine was the widow of Henry's elder brother Arthur, 687 00:47:05,320 --> 00:47:08,200 who had died in 1502. 688 00:47:08,200 --> 00:47:11,080 But the Bible, in the Book of Leviticus, declared... 689 00:47:24,920 --> 00:47:26,800 What could be clearer? 690 00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:32,320 Henry fixated on this verse and clung to it like a lifeline. 691 00:47:32,320 --> 00:47:35,200 Henry also thought, understandably, 692 00:47:35,200 --> 00:47:38,040 in view of his defence of the Church against Luther, 693 00:47:38,040 --> 00:47:41,440 that he was in good standing in Rome. 694 00:47:41,440 --> 00:47:44,320 What could possibly go wrong? 695 00:47:48,640 --> 00:47:51,640 Henry ordered Wolsey to get the Pope 696 00:47:51,640 --> 00:47:54,080 to divorce him from Catherine of Aragon. 697 00:47:56,080 --> 00:47:58,160 But in May 1527, 698 00:47:58,160 --> 00:48:00,760 the mutinous troops of Catherine's nephew, 699 00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:03,600 Charles V, sacked Rome... 700 00:48:06,480 --> 00:48:09,760 ..and the Pope became little better than his prisoner 701 00:48:09,760 --> 00:48:11,720 in the Castel Sant'Angelo. 702 00:48:16,040 --> 00:48:18,640 Henry's services to Rome were nothing 703 00:48:18,640 --> 00:48:21,280 against this brutal turn of events. 704 00:48:23,320 --> 00:48:26,440 But Henry and Wolsey blinded themselves to the facts 705 00:48:26,440 --> 00:48:28,400 for the next two years, 706 00:48:28,400 --> 00:48:32,920 which led Henry to the greatest humiliation of his whole reign, 707 00:48:32,920 --> 00:48:37,360 when, in 1529, the public trial of his marriage to Catherine 708 00:48:37,360 --> 00:48:42,520 was aborted on the direct orders of Pope Clement VII himself. 709 00:48:44,680 --> 00:48:48,160 Wolsey fell as Henry's struggle for divorce 710 00:48:48,160 --> 00:48:52,080 destroyed yet another opponent of Martin Luther, 711 00:48:52,080 --> 00:48:56,240 and Henry himself was left looking for a new policy. 712 00:49:06,120 --> 00:49:09,160 Anne Boleyn, meanwhile, had not been idle. 713 00:49:09,160 --> 00:49:11,480 She proved more clear-sighted than Henry, 714 00:49:11,480 --> 00:49:14,400 and far more willing to take risks. 715 00:49:16,840 --> 00:49:21,640 Anne had been introduced to advanced religious opinions in France, 716 00:49:21,640 --> 00:49:25,920 and she continued and deepened her interest in them in England, 717 00:49:25,920 --> 00:49:28,600 so much so that the Spanish ambassador, 718 00:49:28,600 --> 00:49:30,400 who was a bitter enemy, 719 00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:34,520 called her more Lutheran than Luther. 720 00:49:34,520 --> 00:49:38,120 There's no doubt that Anne was sincere in all of this, 721 00:49:38,120 --> 00:49:41,800 but her self-advancement was involved, as well. 722 00:49:45,600 --> 00:49:50,920 In 1529, Anne took a gamble and set out to turn Henry. 723 00:49:50,920 --> 00:49:53,720 She showed him a copy of an heretical book 724 00:49:53,720 --> 00:49:56,360 by the Lutheran William Tyndale. 725 00:49:56,360 --> 00:49:59,680 It was called The Obedience Of A Christian Man. 726 00:49:59,680 --> 00:50:05,080 Anne even marked up passages for Henry's special attention. 727 00:50:05,080 --> 00:50:07,680 Passages like this, no doubt... 728 00:50:16,000 --> 00:50:19,960 According to Christ's own teaching, Tyndale argued, 729 00:50:19,960 --> 00:50:23,040 everybody - churchmen and laymen alike - 730 00:50:23,040 --> 00:50:26,560 was under the absolute power of the king. 731 00:50:26,560 --> 00:50:29,080 In contrast, the authority of the Pope, 732 00:50:29,080 --> 00:50:32,320 and his presumption in daring to judge kings, 733 00:50:32,320 --> 00:50:36,720 was a shameful and irreligious usurpation. 734 00:50:36,720 --> 00:50:41,080 For Henry and Anne, it was a eureka moment. 735 00:50:41,080 --> 00:50:46,920 "This is a book for me and all kings to read," Henry said. 736 00:50:52,560 --> 00:50:55,840 Henry had found a theological justification 737 00:50:55,840 --> 00:50:57,720 for dethroning the Pope. 738 00:50:59,960 --> 00:51:04,080 England was on the road to its Tudor Brexit. 739 00:51:06,880 --> 00:51:11,320 Ten years previously, Henry had written a book to defend the papacy. 740 00:51:11,320 --> 00:51:16,640 Now he set up a kind of think tank to destroy its power. 741 00:51:16,640 --> 00:51:21,280 The Royal Library was augmented with scores of weighty tomes, 742 00:51:21,280 --> 00:51:24,400 all carefully catalogued and cross-referenced. 743 00:51:24,400 --> 00:51:28,400 And a team of scholars working closely with the King himself 744 00:51:28,400 --> 00:51:31,640 combed them to find historical evidence 745 00:51:31,640 --> 00:51:34,680 that the kings of England had been, in practice, 746 00:51:34,680 --> 00:51:40,200 as well as in Tyndale's theory, free from papal jurisdiction. 747 00:51:40,200 --> 00:51:44,600 And - to Henry's satisfaction, at least - they found it. 748 00:51:48,040 --> 00:51:53,600 In 1533, Parliament passed the Act in Restraint of Appeals, 749 00:51:53,600 --> 00:51:56,240 which repudiated the authority of Rome 750 00:51:56,240 --> 00:51:59,440 and declared England to be an empire... 751 00:52:06,400 --> 00:52:08,880 Protected by the act, Thomas Cranmer, 752 00:52:08,880 --> 00:52:11,960 the newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, 753 00:52:11,960 --> 00:52:15,080 declared Henry's marriage to Catherine invalid, 754 00:52:15,080 --> 00:52:18,200 and his marriage to Anne good. 755 00:52:18,200 --> 00:52:22,880 A week later came the moment that Henry and Anne had been waiting for. 756 00:52:22,880 --> 00:52:27,200 On Whitsunday, the 1st of June, Cranmer crowned Anne queen 757 00:52:27,200 --> 00:52:30,520 in a magnificent ceremony in Westminster Abbey. 758 00:52:30,520 --> 00:52:33,560 After six long years, 759 00:52:33,560 --> 00:52:37,560 Henry had got his divorce at last. 760 00:52:45,000 --> 00:52:50,240 The great anti-Lutheran defender of Rome was now its bitter enemy. 761 00:52:50,240 --> 00:52:54,080 It was Henry's turn to be threatened with excommunication 762 00:52:54,080 --> 00:52:56,320 and the eternal flames of hell. 763 00:52:58,360 --> 00:53:00,920 Henry's reply was devastating. 764 00:53:03,360 --> 00:53:08,120 He had himself styled Supreme Head in Earth of the Church of England, 765 00:53:08,120 --> 00:53:11,200 only under Christ, by an Act of Parliament. 766 00:53:14,800 --> 00:53:16,880 To all intents and purposes, 767 00:53:16,880 --> 00:53:20,400 Henry had made himself Pope in England. 768 00:53:23,560 --> 00:53:25,840 The tables were now turned, 769 00:53:25,840 --> 00:53:29,000 and with the divorce and the break with Rome, 770 00:53:29,000 --> 00:53:33,480 victims and victors exchanged roles almost overnight. 771 00:53:34,760 --> 00:53:37,480 Lutheran heretics became government agents, 772 00:53:37,480 --> 00:53:40,240 others were even made bishops, 773 00:53:40,240 --> 00:53:44,480 whilst their erstwhile Catholic persecutors found themselves - 774 00:53:44,480 --> 00:53:49,360 if they remained loyal to Rome - facing imprisonment or death. 775 00:53:52,160 --> 00:53:55,640 Henry's most prominent victim was Sir Thomas More. 776 00:53:57,360 --> 00:54:00,440 More had succeeded Wolsey as Lord Chancellor, 777 00:54:00,440 --> 00:54:04,160 and intensified the campaign against the Lutheran heresy. 778 00:54:13,040 --> 00:54:16,680 When the clergy were bullied into recognising Henry 779 00:54:16,680 --> 00:54:20,720 as supreme head of the Church, More resigned. 780 00:54:20,720 --> 00:54:23,240 Thereafter, he was a marked man. 781 00:54:24,680 --> 00:54:26,720 More was tried for treason 782 00:54:26,720 --> 00:54:31,000 for refusing to recognise Henry as supreme head of the Church. 783 00:54:31,000 --> 00:54:33,880 Despite the doubtful evidence against him, 784 00:54:33,880 --> 00:54:37,920 the jury took only 15 minutes to find More guilty. 785 00:54:37,920 --> 00:54:41,520 More then dropped his guard and spoke his mind. 786 00:54:41,520 --> 00:54:44,360 "Parliament could not make the King 787 00:54:44,360 --> 00:54:46,720 "Supreme Head of the Church," he said, 788 00:54:46,720 --> 00:54:50,440 "since England, being but a small part of the Church, 789 00:54:50,440 --> 00:54:53,920 "could not make a particular law disagreeable 790 00:54:53,920 --> 00:54:56,800 "to the general law of the Church." 791 00:54:56,800 --> 00:54:59,760 It's Remainer versus Brexiteer, 792 00:54:59,760 --> 00:55:03,000 and the chief justice, in dismissing More's arguments, 793 00:55:03,000 --> 00:55:08,560 came down firmly on the side of national parliamentary sovereignty. 794 00:55:21,920 --> 00:55:26,000 Thomas More was beheaded in 1535... 795 00:55:27,480 --> 00:55:31,040 ..and the forces of Roman Catholicism in England 796 00:55:31,040 --> 00:55:33,760 found themselves in headlong retreat. 797 00:55:37,880 --> 00:55:43,920 Between 1536 and 1540, Henry laid waste to the monasteries, 798 00:55:43,920 --> 00:55:47,000 plundering their riches and executing those 799 00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:50,160 who refused to renounce the papal supremacy. 800 00:55:53,200 --> 00:55:58,960 Dotted all over England, these cold, bare, ruined choirs, 801 00:55:58,960 --> 00:56:02,080 as Shakespeare called them, are the most visible monuments 802 00:56:02,080 --> 00:56:04,640 of Henry VIII's brutal triumph 803 00:56:04,640 --> 00:56:08,160 over the wealth and power of the Catholic Church. 804 00:56:10,760 --> 00:56:15,920 But, though Henry broke with Rome, he never joined with Luther. 805 00:56:15,920 --> 00:56:19,640 Instead, he steered a careful middle way 806 00:56:19,640 --> 00:56:21,960 between Wittenberg and Rome. 807 00:56:21,960 --> 00:56:27,800 So, Crypto-Lutherans, like Cranmer, became powerful councillors, 808 00:56:27,800 --> 00:56:31,240 providing they kept their faith under wraps. 809 00:56:31,240 --> 00:56:36,280 And Crypto-Papists like Tunstall remained in high favour, too, 810 00:56:36,280 --> 00:56:40,720 providing they acknowledged the royal supremacy. 811 00:56:40,720 --> 00:56:44,920 But step out of line in either direction 812 00:56:44,920 --> 00:56:47,240 and a horrible death loomed, 813 00:56:47,240 --> 00:56:51,360 as in 1540 when, to vindicate his middle way, 814 00:56:51,360 --> 00:56:56,800 Henry burned three Lutherans and disembowelled three Catholics 815 00:56:56,800 --> 00:56:59,600 all on the same day. 816 00:57:09,440 --> 00:57:14,280 Luther's Reformation was fuelled by religious fundamentalism 817 00:57:14,280 --> 00:57:16,960 and political opportunism. 818 00:57:16,960 --> 00:57:21,360 Henry's was triggered by lust and a hunger for dynastic power. 819 00:57:24,280 --> 00:57:27,520 Henry's middle way would subject England 820 00:57:27,520 --> 00:57:30,040 to a long, hard Brexit. 821 00:57:31,560 --> 00:57:34,200 It unleashed decades of religious schism, 822 00:57:34,200 --> 00:57:36,520 terror and political violence, 823 00:57:36,520 --> 00:57:40,080 as Catholics and Protestants vied for supremacy. 824 00:57:41,840 --> 00:57:45,720 It would drive a wedge between Britain and the rest of Europe 825 00:57:45,720 --> 00:57:49,440 that shapes our politics and culture to this day. 826 00:57:51,920 --> 00:57:57,200 It would also be the defining moment of Tudor England. 827 00:57:57,200 --> 00:58:01,160 Henry's Reformation was as much about England and Englishness 828 00:58:01,160 --> 00:58:04,920 as Luther's was about Germany and German-ness. 829 00:58:04,920 --> 00:58:07,800 But Henry did more than print propaganda. 830 00:58:07,800 --> 00:58:10,920 He also built real physical defences, 831 00:58:10,920 --> 00:58:13,840 like this castle at Deal in Kent, 832 00:58:13,840 --> 00:58:17,080 to protect an heretical England against invasion 833 00:58:17,080 --> 00:58:20,360 from a hostile Catholic Europe. 834 00:58:20,360 --> 00:58:25,120 Most importantly, Henry fostered the idea of empire. 835 00:58:25,120 --> 00:58:30,280 Under Henry, empire meant national self-government under the king. 836 00:58:30,280 --> 00:58:33,760 But under Elizabeth - Henry's daughter by Anne Boleyn - 837 00:58:33,760 --> 00:58:38,440 and her successors, empire came to mean the government of others 838 00:58:38,440 --> 00:58:41,280 by a rampantly self-assertive nation, 839 00:58:41,280 --> 00:58:44,040 confident through its reformed religion 840 00:58:44,040 --> 00:58:48,520 of its God-given right to rule the whole world.