Mary I, 1516–58, queen of England

Mary I (Mary Tudor), 1516–58, queen of England (1553–58), daughter of Henry VIII Henry VIII, 1491–1547, king of England (1509–47), second son and successor of Henry VII .

Early Life

In his youth he was educated in the new learning of the Renaissance and developed great skill in music and sports.
..... Click the link for more information. and Katharine of Aragón Katharine of Aragón, 1485–1536, first queen consort of Henry VIII of England; daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragón and Isabella of Castile. In 1501 she was married to Arthur, eldest son of Henry VII.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Early Life

While Mary was a child, various husbands were proposed for her—the eldest son of Francis I of France (1518), Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (1522), Francis I himself (1527), and several others. She was a pawn in her father's diplomatic intrigues. In 1525 she was given a separate household as the Princess of Wales; but in 1527, Henry began negotiations for a divorce from Katharine, and Mary, remaining loyal to her mother and to the Roman Catholic Church, spent the next nine years in misery. She was separated from Katharine, denied presence at court, treated as illegitimate, and forced to serve her half sister Elizabeth as lady in waiting. Plans to escape to the Continent failed, and in 1536 Mary was finally forced to acknowledge herself as illegitimate and to repudiate her church, statements from which she was later absolved by the pope.

Reign

During the spread of Protestantism in the reign of her half brother, Edward VI Edward VI, 1537–53, king of England (1547–53), son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour. Edward succeeded his father to the throne at the age of nine. Henry had made arrangements for a council of regents, but the council immediately appointed Edward's uncle,
..... Click the link for more information. , Mary was steadfastly loyal to her faith, observing Mass in her private chapel in defiance of the Act of Uniformity and appealing to Emperor Charles V for protection. On Edward's death John Dudley, duke of Northumberland Northumberland, John Dudley, duke of, 1502?–1553, English statesman. The son of Edmund Dudley, minister of Henry VII, John was restored to his inheritance in 1512 after his father's attainder and execution (1510).
..... Click the link for more information. , arranged the short-lived usurpation of the throne by Lady Jane Grey Grey, Lady Jane, 1537–54, queen of England for nine days. She was the daughter of Henry Grey, marquess of Dorset (later duke of Suffolk ), and Frances Brandon, daughter of Henry VIII's sister Mary.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Mary, however, supported by an overwhelming number of loyal subjects, soon ascended the throne.

In the early part of her reign Mary showed considerable clemency toward her political opponents, but she and her advisers were set upon two policies—her marriage to Philip (later Philip II Philip II, 1527–98, king of Spain (1556–98), king of Naples and Sicily (1554–98), and, as Philip I, king of Portugal (1580–98).

Philip's Reign

..... Click the link for more information. of Spain), son of Emperor Charles, with the consequent Spanish alliance, and the restoration of papal supremacy in England. The former aroused violent opposition, which was focused in the unsuccessful rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyatt Wyatt, Sir Thomas, c.1520–54, English soldier and conspirator; son of the poet Sir Thomas Wyatt. In Jan., 1554, when Queen Mary's intention to marry Philip II of Spain was announced, Wyatt joined a planned insurrection against the queen.
..... Click the link for more information. , but both the marriage and alliance were carried out in 1554. Late in the same year papal authority was reestablished in England. Early in 1555, Parliament repealed the antipapal laws of Henry VIII and restored the ecclesiastical courts and the laws against heresy, but they refused to restore church property that had been seized.

There then began the religious persecutions that lasted for the rest of the reign. The number burned at the stake amounted almost to 300 and included such eminent figures as Nicholas Ridley Ridley, Nicholas, c.1500–1555, English prelate, reformer, and Protestant martyr. In 1534, while a proctor of Cambridge, he signed the decree against the pope's supremacy in England.
..... Click the link for more information. , John Rogers Rogers, John, 1500?–1555, English Protestant martyr, grad. Cambridge, 1526. He became a Roman Catholic priest, but under the influence of William Tyndale , whom he met in Antwerp, he turned (1535) to Protestantism.
..... Click the link for more information. , Hugh Latimer Latimer, Hugh (lăt`əmər), 1485?–1555, English bishop and Protestant martyr.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Thomas Cranmer 5)). Cranmer supported the claims of Lady Jane Grey after Edward's death. Upon the accession (1553) of the Roman Catholic Queen Mary I , he was tried for treason, convicted of heresy, stripped of his preferments, and condemned.
..... Click the link for more information. . The epithet "Bloody Mary" was a result of these acts, though they were less severe than many on the strife-torn Continent.

In 1555, Philip, frustrated by Parliament in his attempt to win coronation, left his wife and went to his dominions in the Netherlands. He returned briefly in 1557, mainly for the purpose of drawing England into the existing war between Spain and France, the chief results of which were the loss (1558) of Calais and the increasing hostility of the English people toward their queen. Mary, whose general ill health may have been aggravated by her grief over Philip's absence, died childless. She was succeeded by her half sister, Elizabeth I Elizabeth I, 1533–1603, queen of England (1558–1603).

Early Life

The daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn , she was declared illegitimate just before the execution of her mother in 1536, but in 1544 Parliament reestablished her in the
..... Click the link for more information. .

Bibliography

See biographies by M. Waldman (1972) and D. Loades (1989).

Mary I

or Mary Tudor

(born Feb. 18, 1516, Greenwich, near London, Eng.—died Nov. 17, 1558, London) Queen of England (1553–58). The daughter of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, she was declared illegitimate after Henry's divorce and new marriage to Anne Boleyn (1533). In 1544 Mary was restored to court and granted succession to the throne. After becoming queen (1553), she married Philip II of Spain, restored Roman Catholicism, and revived the laws against heresy. The resulting persecution of Protestant rebels and the execution of some 300 heretics earned her the hatred of her subjects and the nickname “Bloody Mary.” She waged an unsuccessful war against France that in 1558 resulted in the loss of Calais, England's last foothold on the Continent.

Mary I

family name Tudor, known as Bloody Mary. 1516--58, queen of England (1553--58). The daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, she married Philip II of Spain in 1554. She restored Roman Catholicism to England and about 300 Protestants were burnt at the stake as heretics