Mary I
Mary I was the Queen of England and Ireland between the years of 1553 and 1558. Prior to becoming Queen, she was known as Mary Tudor.
Mary I was the fifth monarch of the Tudor dynasty. In terms of her legacy as a ruler, Mary I is perhaps best known for having returned England to Roman Catholicism after the radical Protestant reforms of Henry VIII, her father, with whom she had a tumultuous relationship. While she initially had the public support of her countrymen, she eventually fell out of favour, for in the process of returning her nation to the Catholic Church, she had nearly three hundred dissenters executed. For this reason, she is often referred to in the history books as "Bloody Mary." Her half sister, Elizabeth I, would take over after her death, and effectively reverse a lot of the policies that she had enacted during her reign. Interestingly enough, Mary and Elizabeth were both cousins of Mary Queen of Scots.
Mary Tudor was born in London in the year 1516, the first surviving daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Throughout her childhood, Mary suffered from numerous ailments, including headaches and poor eyesight, which modern historians have ascribed to syphilis that she possibly contacted from her parents, although this has never been firmly established. (The story that Henry VIII contacted syphilis from Catherine actually emerged one hundred years after his death, so there is no way of knowing whether this is true or not.)
Despite her numerous health problems, Mary was a very intelligent, studious child. She was tutored by some of the finest academics England had to offer at the time, and excelled at such subjects as music, science, and Greek and Latin. Henry VIII was very proud of his daughter's numerous talents, and rewarded her with her own court at the age of nine at Ludlow Castle. Despite the fact that Henry VIII seemed to love his daughter very much, he was still very perturbed by the fact that Catherine was not able to produce a son for him.
When Mary was still a child, her father attempted to negotiate several marriages for her, but they all fell through. When she was only two years old, Henry VIII promised his daughter's hand to the Dauphin Francis, who was the son of France's king. This engagement lasted for three years, when the contract was annulled. Mary's next arranged engagement was to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who was her first cousin. That engagement did not last long, either, however. It was then suggested that Mary marry the King of France himself, despite the fact that he was quite old at the time. It was thought that this marriage would provide a convenient alliance with France. One of King Henry's advisors was eventually able to secure an alliance with the country without having to hand over Mary to the elderly king.
Meanwhile, Mary's parents' marriage was in danger because her mother had failed to provide Henry with the male heir he so desired. Henry attempted to have his marriage to her annulled, but the Pope refused all his requests. Henry had claimed that his marriage to Catherine was unclean because she had been previously married to his brother Arthur, although there is some debate as to whether or not that marriage had ever been consummated. In the year 1533, Henry secretly married Anne Boleyn.
Henry VIII then broke with the Roman Catholic Church and declared himself to be the head of the Church of England. As a result of this, Mary's mother was demoted to Princess Dowager of Wales. Mary was then deemed to be illegitimate. She lost her title of princess and became simply Lady Mary.
Mary was kicked out of the Court, her servants were fired, and she was made to work as a lady in waiting to Elizabeth. She was not allowed to see her mother, nor attend her funeral in the year 1536. Her treatment at this time was widely considered to be unfair. Some say that Anne Boleyn encouraged her ladies in waiting to abuse Mary physically and verbally, although this was never done in front of the King. The situation between Mary and her father also became worse. Mary was eventually tricked into reconciling with Henry by submitting to him as head of the Church of England. In doing so, she acknowledged that the marriage between her mother and father was unlawful and was therefore forced to accept her own illegitimacy.
Mary probably thought her troubles had come to an end when Anne Boleyn was beheaded in the year 1536. Like Mary before her, Princess Elizabeth was then degraded to a Lady and removed from the line of succession. Within days of Anne Boleyn's execution, Henry married Jane Seymour, who died shortly after giving birth to the male heir Henry was so desperate for, the future Edward VI. Mary was to be Edward's godmother and the chief mourner at Jane Seymour's funeral. In return, Henry agreed to give her a household. Mary was also now permitted to reside in royal palaces. Her main places of residence during this era were Hatfield House, the Palace of Beaulieu, Richmond and Hunsdon. Later, she would be given the Palace of Beaulieu.
In the year 1543, Henry took his sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr. She managed to bring the family closer together. The next year, Henry returned Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession after Edward, despite the fact that both women were to remain illegitimate by law.
In the year 1547, Henry passed away. He was to be succeeded by Edward VI, who would attempt to establish Protestantism throughout England. The Act of Uniformity enforced Protestant rites for church services, including the use of Thomas Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer. Mary had remained faithful to the Catholic church throughout the religious upheaval of the previous years. At this point, she asked to be allowed to worship in her own private chapel, but was ordered to stop. After appealing to her cousin Charles V, she was allowed to worship again in private. Religious disagreements would, however, continue to be a major problem between Mary and Edward. When Mary was in her thirties, she attended a reunion with Elizabeth and Edward for Christmas, where Edward humiliated her in front of the court for refusing to abide by his laws regarding worship.
Edward did not want the Crown to go to either Mary or Elizabeth, so he excluded both of them from the line of succession in his will. This exclusion was illegal, as it was made by a minor and contradicted the Act of Succession that was passed in the year 1544 which had effectively restored Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession. Under the guidance of John Dudley, the First Duke of Northumberland, Edward VI instead devised that he should be succeeded by Northumberland's daughter-in-law Lady Jane Grey. After nine days, however, a popular uprising of support for Mary ended with her being universally acclaimed queen.
While Mary had tremendous support for the mistreatment she suffered during the early years of the reign, she lost nearly all the public sympathy after becoming the wife of Philip II of Spain. The marriage contract stated that England was not allowed to get involved with any Spanish wars, but this guarantee was not reinforced. Philip, for whom the marriage was mainly political, spent the majority of his time governing his Spanish and European territories, and little of it with Mary I. After Mary passed away, Philip became a suitor for Elizabeth , but she was not interested in him.
After retroactively validating her mother and father's marriage and thus legitimizing herself, she set about re-aligning England with the Roman Catholic Church. The severe persecution of Protestants in England earned Mary the name "Bloody Mary." During the course of her five year reign, almost three hundred people were burned on the stake. These included several notable clerics, including the former Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, the former Bishop of London Nicholas Ridley, and the reformist Hugh Latimer. John Foxe would vilify Mary I in his Book of Martyrs. Spanish ambassadors were apparently shocked at how much the English reviled her and at the celebration that occurred following her death.
Some speculate that the nursery rhyme "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary" can be linked to Mary's attempts to bring Roman Catholicism back to England, although it is probably in actuality a reference to her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots.
During her reign, Mary's poor health led her to suffer two false pregnancies. This led Mary to decree in her will that her husband Philip should be the regent during the minority of her child. No child was ever born, however, and Mary wound up passing away at the age of 42, most likely of ovarian cancer, at St. James's Palace in late 1558. She was succeeded by her half sister, who would become Elizabeth I. Although her will instructed that she was to be buried next to her mother, Mary was interred in Westminster Abbey in a tomb she would eventually share with Elizabeth.
Original Authors: Coby DuBose
Edit Update Authors: M.A.Harris
Updated On: 23/07/2008
