Henry VIII’s Humanist Theology of Marriage in the <i>Assertio septem sacramentorum</i> of 1521

In his celebrated defense of the sacramental system against Martin Luther, the Assertio septem sacramentorum of 1521, King Henry VIII was careful to repeat standard theological formulas from traditional sources in order to contrast what he saw as the universal Church’s unchanging doctrine with the novelties of “one little friar.” It is therefore surprising that, in the case of matrimony, Henry abandoned this strategy, making claims about its sacramentality that were not supported by the theological consensus, and even offering a muted criticism of the Catholic Church’s traditional preference for celibacy. This article argues that Henry’s attempt to present a more positive theology of marriage drew on the work of Desiderius Erasmus and on a previously overlooked source, the Renaissance oratio nuptialis tradition, the latter most likely mediated through the In laudem matrimonii oratio (1518) of his later bishop of London, Cuthbert Tunstall.