While the word of God was used as the basis for Henry VIII's assumption as Head of the Church of England, it was also utilized as an example of the paramount duty of obedience that loyal subjects owed their king. This call for obedience was a central theme to the propaganda of the Henrician Reformation. In order to facilitate devotion to his position over the pope, Henry was inspired by divine law as illustrated in the Old Testament and perfect obedience to it as seen in the life and teachings of Christ in the New Testament. True obedience is obeying the divinely instituted authorities, supreme of which are kings, who are considered to be in God's image and his vicars on earth. Therefore the authority of the church and scriptures is placed within the realm of the king and not the pope. To define his supremacy Henry VIII looked to the Biblical sovereignty of David and Solomon and their jurisdiction over the priests of the temple, while he also began iconographically appearing in the guise of these biblical characters, most notably that of Josiah as abolisher of idols.

Henry VIII depicted as the Biblical King David reading books from Henry VIII's Psalter, c. 1530-33.

It was at this time that Henry VIII began to work on images that would enhance his royal iconography and create a cult of monarchy that sought to visually reflect the king's sacred authority. The invocation of biblical kings confirmed his power within the realm, while also fulfilling the divine role as head of the Church of England that he cast himself in.

Henry VIII was the first English king to appropriate the Renaissance fashion of issuing coinage displaying his image. Henry wished to turn his reign into a time of sacred and theocratic kingship and instituted this sacralization by reinstating the tradition of touching for the king's evil and calling for the canonization of his forbearer Henry VI . By instituting sacred kingship, the monarchy hoped to achieve new levels of respect and awe for the divine rule of kings.

Coin depicting Henry VIII as Supreme Head of the Church of England

Allegory of the Reformation. Detail of Pope Clement supressed by Henry VIII.

Another form of propaganda available to the realm was the rewriting of English history for the purpose of breaking with Rome and the papacy, while establishing the independence of the English church. Greater emphasis was placed on the legendary accounts of the origins of British Christianity over the evangelisation began by St. Augustine at the behest of Pope Gregory I. Revisionist such as John Bale, went as far as to write that British Christianity had its origins in the mythical arrival of Joseph of Arimathea in order to reduce any hint of papal intervention. This revisionist fervor was taken a step further in the new accounts ascribed to royal figures. The image of English kingship underwent immense alterations during the 1530's. Under this revisionist history, King John became an unfortunate patriot persecuted by an oppressive and an interfering Pope Innocent. Famous stories were modified and the role of saints downplayed. Henry II was no longer portrayed as a tyrant, and Thomas Becket was proclaimed a traitor with all mention of his martyrdom and sainthood erased. After 1530 books containing traditional English history ceased to be published or were adapted to this new way of thinking.

The attack on the images of St. Thomas Beckett was ordered in November of 1538. This defaced representation of Becket is from a screen at Burlington St. Andrew, Norfolk, which had only been completed in the mid 1530's.

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