Next in the Tudor line: Mary I, Queen of England... AKA "Bloody Mary."
- Was the only living child of Henry VIII and his first wife, the Catholic (and Spanish) Catherine of Aragon. - Was an intelligent but precocious child. Her grasp of mathematics and writing was very good for her age, but she was stubborn and outspoken. - She was very well versed in music, and often entertained visiting dignitaries with her playing of musical instruments. - She favored her father, inheriting his ruddy cheeks and reddish hair, (common among the British royals.) - Was raised fervently Catholic by her mother. - Her father began to show less and less interest in Mary as she got older, mainly because he was no longer enamored with the marriage to her mother. Mary was sent with a nominal title to Wales, but soon returned to the home court. She was betrothed to the Dauphin (heir to France,) but that arrangement was annulled when Cardinal Wolsey managed to secure an alliance without the marriage. She would be betrothed a few more times, with no actual marriage ever happening. Her father used her as a political bargaining chip, more than a daughter. - Now a teenager, Mary was plagued with irregular menstruation, depression, severe pains, and a growing hatred for her father. Her father divorced her mother, who she loved dearly. Henry VIII forbade Mary from seeing her mother for years. - Refused to accept Anne Boleyn as her stepmother and queen. Mary was forced to "play nice" with Anne, which she rarely did. - When Elizabeth was born, Mary was stripped of all her titles, becoming "Lady Mary" and having her entire household fired from their duties. She was then sent to live with her little sister, and was expected to help care for her. This did nothing to improve relations with her father, and she seems to have resented this ill treatment. - Mary retaliated by refusing to ever refer to her little sister as "Princess," and refusing to talk to her father in public or private, for 3 years. - Though she and her mother were often ill, Henry VIII refused to let Mary visit her mother. Even when Catherine lay on her deathbed, Mary was not allowed to visit. When Catherine died, Mary was inconsolable. When Henry and Anne publicly celebrated her mother's death, Mary slipped deeper into despair and bitterness. - By now, Anne was falling out of favor. When Anne was beheaded, Elizabeth was also stripped of her titles and made a bastard. This does not seem to have bothered Mary overmuch. - Jane Seymour wanted very much to reconcile Henry and Mary, and begged Henry to bury the hatchet. Henry would only agree to reconcile if Mary recognized him as head of the Church. She refused. She was then bullied by Henry's advisers until she reluctantly signed the statement speaking out against her own mother and in support of her father's claim to religious supremacy. Though she was now bitter and hateful, she returned to court, and things seem to have calmed down for a time. - Jane Seymour and Mary seemed to have gotten along fairly well, although Mary still stubbornly refused to convert to Protestantism. When queen Jane had baby prince Edward, Mary was made his godmother. When the queen died, Mary was put in charge of the mourning and gave a eulogy. - Now worried about pressure from the Holy Roman Empire, Thomas Cromwell advised a double marriage. Mary would be married to the Duke of Cleves, and Henry would be married to his sister, Anne. Both marriages were disastrous. Henry divorced Anne within a month, and Mary stubbornly refused to accept her marriage to a Protestant, so that never happened. Cromwell lost his head, Mary stayed unmarried. - Now dealing with a new stepmother who was 6 years YOUNGER than herself (Mary was 25, Catherine Howard was 19,) Mary once again fell out of favor. She was... vocal... about her father's infatuation with a child. - Soon after, Mary's godmother, Margaret Pole (Plantagenet,) who also happened to be the daughter of old George "I got drowned in a tank of Malmsey wine" Plantagenet,) and her son were implicated in a Catholic plot to kill Henry VIII. She and two others were executed. (the old woman wound up with a blundering executioner who had to hack off her head after numerous misses, which left her corpse literally hacked to pieces.) Reginald, her son, was a Cardinal, and evidence on him was shaky at best (he would later be absolved and died after Mary.) It is commonly believed that all this was done to try to extinguish the Plantagenet line for good, as it was never proven that there actually WAS any plot. - Luckily for Mary, she was not at all involved, though she was suspected. She managed NOT to get her head cut off by her father.... however, her stepmother was not so lucky. The next year, Catherine Howard was beheaded for cheating on the King. Mary seems to have not cared too much. - Now the "Lady of the House," Mary was expected to do the honors of hosting parties and entertaining dignitaries. By all accounts, she was actually quite skilled in this. - Catherine Parr, her fifth stepmother, enjoyed a good relationship with Mary and Elizabeth. Catherine was able to convince Henry to not only reach out to his daughters, but to re-legitimize them, as well. Henry did so, then promptly died. - Now second in line, Mary had to contend with her teenage brother, Edward VI. The two did NOT get along. Edward was a hard core reformist Protestant, Mary was a hard core Catholic. They fought incessantly, often in public. They reduced each other to tears in public on more than one occasion. - Mary refused to convert or stop hearing the Catholic Mass... this infuriated the young King, and relations grew icy. Elizabeth seems to have given up on both of her siblings, retreating into studies and reading. - Now 34, Mary was publicly humiliated by her 13 year old brother. She retreated to a country home and refused to return to court. - Two years later, Edward was dying... one of his last acts was to return his sisters to their old status of being bastards. He then appointed Lady Jane Grey as his heir, and died. Mary, infuriated by this move, made moves to seize the throne herself. - Mary was ordered to come to her brother's funeral by Lord Dudley, but fled to East Anglia, where many Catholics still lived... many of whom had been brutally oppressed by the Dudleys. She rallied an army and marched on London. - Now rightly seen as the "Long suffering daughter" of Henry VIII, Mary now had overwhelming popular support. She grabbed her sister Elizabeth and rode triumphantly into London to a mob of cheering Londoners. Lord Dudley and Jane Grey were imprisoned, then Lord Dudley was executed. - Mary was now in a very precarious position. She was Mary I, queen of England... but her entire council was Protestant, and had helped bring Jane Grey to the throne. She combated this by appointing a Catholic friend of hers to a bishopric and the council. This man, Stephen Gardiner, effectively took over the council and crowned Mary queen in 1553. - Mary now needed an heir... she did NOT want her Protestant sister Elizabeth taking over. Several men were offered, but in the end, Mary chose the son of the Holy Roman Emperor king Charles V. His name was Philip. Philip was nominally in charge of Spain. (Charles would later abdicate Spain to his son.) More importantly, Philip was a fervent Catholic. - EVERYONE was against this marriage, it seemed. The Protestants hated it because it would put TWO Catholic "zealots" on the throne. The House of Commons hated it because it would make a foreigner the king of England. Nearly everyone hated it because it meant that England would become part of the Hapsburg empire. (Charles V was the head of the powerful Hapsburg dynasty which ruled most of Europe and parts of the new world by this time.) - Mary, characteristically, was bull headed and stubborn. She married Philip anyway. In response, rebellions broke out. Wyatt's rebellion, led by Thomas Wyatt the younger (son of a poet,) and the Duke of Suffolk (Jane Grey's father,) marched to London to depose Mary and Philip and put Elizabeth on the throne. - Wyatt's rebellion failed. Wyatt, the Duke of Suffolk, Jane Grey, and Guildford Dudley were beheaded by Mary. Elizabeth was imprisoned, just for good measure. It was commented that Mary was "Indeed her father's daughter." - Now in control, Mary expected to be listened to. Parliament gave her a reality check when they imposed the "Queen Mary's Marriage Act" upon her. Philip would be styled the King of England, but in name only. Parliament would be under no obligation to listen to him or pass any laws in his name. In addition, England would not engage in any wars on his or his father's behalf, nor would he remain King of England after Mary died. Philip and Mary resented this Act greatly... but England resented them, too. There wasn't much they could do but agree. - Philip was immediately unhappy. He did not marry Mary for love, it was only to secure England politically. He did not need more children, for he already had some from his first marriage. Still, he did his duty and slept with the now bitter and middle aged Mary. He could not speak English... they had trouble communicating. It was a miserable marriage for Mary. - In April 1555, Mary gained weight, was nauseous in the mornings, and stopped menstruating. She took this as a sign that she was pregnant, and rejoiced, thanking God for her good fortune. Plans were made to make Philip the regent should she die in childbirth. Philip, however, had his doubts. He thought it more likely she was entering menopause than pregnant, and said so to his friends in court. A rumor went round saying that the queen was gassy, not pregnant, and the baby was more likely to be a fart than a prince. - Sure enough, within a few weeks, her abdomen receded, and it was clear she was not pregnant. She was heartbroken. Philip left her and went home, disgusted by the whole thing. He sent a letter to Elizabeth offering to marry her if Mary should die. When that didn't work, he tried to marry his cousin to her. Elizabeth smartly refused. Mary was now embarrassed, shamed, and angry. - Mary believed that this false pregnancy was punishment from God for allowing Protestantism to continue in England. So, she set about "atoning" for this sin by MURDERING PROTESTANTS ACROSS HER REALM. - Mary had said that she would not persecute Protestants during her reign. She lied. She had leading Anglican Bishops burned at the stake. Thomas Cranmer, the long suffering adviser to the Tudors, was told he could keep his life if he repudiated Protestantism and rejoin the Catholic church. He did so... but Mary ordered him executed anyway. Before he was burned alive, he hatefully said that he was Protestant, and that he always had been. - Mary continued the reign of terror, burning high born men, low born men, and even pregnant women at the stake. In her own lifetime, she was reviled and called "Bloody Mary." The country despised her.... and rightly so. Even "King" Philip wrote to her saying she had gone too far. - Philip tried to convince Mary to go to war against France, and she wanted to. However, Parliament refused to cooperate. French forces took Calais, the last English holding in France. England would never again own any part of the mainland. Mary, of course, was blamed for this. - As if being cursed by God, torrential rains flooded the countryside, resulting in widespread famine. Mary seems to have taken this as a sign that all of England was to be punished by the Lord, and the killings continued. - Philip again visited briefly in 1557. Mary once again stopped menstruating, but again, there was no baby. Dejected and miserable, she had to finally acknowledge that Elizabeth would succeed her, as the only living Tudor left. Her health suddenly worsened. - Mary died at age 42 in great pain and distress. It is believed now that she had ovarian cysts or uterine cancer, which would also explain her lifetime of irregular and difficult menstruation. Philip wrote that he felt "a reasonable regret upon hearing of her death." Elizabeth, who had spent her life waiting in the wings as quietly as she could, would now succeed the throne. Mary was not lamented... in fact, there was dancing in the streets when she died. Still, she was given a properly somber funeral, and was buried in a tomb in Westminster Abbey. |
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