[5] Though the title's precise origin is unknown, it had become widespread by the middle of the fourteenth century, and around the year 1350 a mendicant preacher stated in a sermon that "it is commonly said that the land of England is the Virgin's dowry".
[5] Around fifty years later, Archbishop Thomas Arundel, discussing Mary and the Incarnation, wrote that "we English, being ... her own Dowry, as we are commonly called, ought to surpass others in the fervour of our praises and devotions".
[7] By the reign of Henry V, the title dos Mariae, "dowry of Mary", was being applied to England in Latin texts[8] and according to chronicler Thomas Elmham, English priests sought the intercession of "the Virgin, protectress of her dower" on the eve of the Battle of Agincourt.
[13] The residents at English College in Valladolid, Spain, owned a painting which depicted Mary being handed a scroll carrying the words, "We will remain under the shade of your wings till the wickedness passes" by a group of kneeling Jesuits.
Addressing a group of Catholic pilgrims from England in Rome, he spoke of "the wonderful filial love which burnt within the heart of your forefathers towards the great Mother of God ... to whose service they consecrated themselves with such abundant proofs of devotion, that the kingdom itself acquired the singular and highly honourable title of 'Mary's Dowry.