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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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FD
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or FID DEF One or other of these abbreviations of Fidei Defensor (Latin for Defender of the Faith) has appeared on every British coin since the reign of *George I, in a somewhat cheeky perpetuation of a title granted to *Henry VIII in 1521 by Pope *Leo X. Henry was being hailed as a defender of the Roman Catholic faith, because of a pamphlet he had written attacking *Luther. When Henry himself later broke with Rome, the papacy stripped him of his title; but in 1543 Henry was able to persuade the English parliament to vote it back to him and to his successors in perpetuity, as defenders now of the *Church of England.
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