Most important of all, Sir Thomas More was promptly and decisively alienated.

{283} It was More, according to Henry VIII, who "by subtle, sinister slights unnaturally procured and provoked him" to write against the heretic.

His _Defence of the Seven Sacraments_, in reply to the _Babylonian Captivity_, though an extremely poor work, was greeted, on its appearance, as a masterpiece.
[Sidenote: July, 1521] The handsome copy bound in gold, sent to Leo X, was read to the pope and declared by him the best antidote to heresy yet produced.

In recognition of so valuable an arm, or of so valiant a champion, the pope granted an indulgence of ten years and ten periods of forty days to the readers of the book, and to its author the long coveted title Defender of the Faith.

Luther answered the king with ridicule and the controversy was continued by Henry's henchmen More, Fisher, and others.