Luther was swift to publish this scathing response (Against Henry, King of England) to Henry’s Assertio Septem Sacramentorum, considering that Henry had failed to counter his strongest arguments, and that the Assertio could have been produced ‘by the dearest enemy of the King to disgrace the King eternally’. He was openly critical of Henry’s motivations, accusing him of having little real interest or knowledge in theology and suggested that recognition from the Pope was the desire of this ‘most unprincipled of stage actors’.