I Care Not A Fig For

This remark was made by Henry VIII to the papal nuncio in 1531, during the tense negotiations over the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Pope Clement VII had threatened excommunication if Henry proceeded with the divorce, but Henry — emboldened by his control of the English Church and Parliament — dismissed the threat contemptuously. The confrontation marked a decisive turning point: within three years Henry had passed the Act of Supremacy (1534), breaking entirely with Rome and establishing himself as head of the Church of England.