Lesson VII: Mary I
"Bloody" Mary
Until she was 17, Mary lived the life of a pampered princess. Then everything was taken away from her by her father's second marriage and the country's break from the Roman Catholic Church. Mary was declared illegitimate, but clung to her dignity. For some time she'd refused to acknowledge her stepmother or her half-sister, Elizabeth. A vengeful Henry had forbidden Mary to see her
mother, and she did not speak to her father for three years. Now, at 37, she found herself Queen, swept into the role on a tide of public support after Lady Jane's arrest, though she had scarcely even been welcome at court during her brother's reign. Like her siblings, she was an intelligent woman, if nervous and highly-strung. She was often ill from nerves, in fact, suffering from various illnesses that today we would recognize as stress-related. Religion had separated her from her siblings, as well as the age difference, and she was never able to stop herself from resenting Elizabeth because of the way Anne Boleyn had treated Mary's mother, Katherine of Aragon, who had died during the time when she and her daughter were forbidden to meet.
But Mary was determined to do her best for her subjects, and as part of that she intended to marry and hoped to produce an heir so that the Protestant Elizabeth would not inherit. Many of her subjects wanted her to marry Edward Courtenay, the great-grandson of Edward IV, father of Elizabeth of York; but Mary thought him too young (he was ten years her junior) and he also lacked the poise necessary in a king, having spent most of his life as a prisoner in the Tower of London simply because of his royal ancestry -- he was the last survivor of the Yorkist dynasty and some felt his claim to the throne was superior.
Princess Mary as a young girl - the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon
At last she chose to marry Phillip of Spain, son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor. Some of her subjects were very unhappy with this choice, for Phillip was not only stauchly Catholic, Spain in general was disliked and they feared he would make England subject to Spain. Aside from Lady Jane, England had had only one female ruler up to that point, the Empress Maud in 1141, and her reign was both brief and unpopular (she was never even formally crowned, "reigning" in the midst of civil war), largely due to her husband, who was also a foreigner. But Mary had fallen in love with Phillip through the stories she heard of him (he was eleven years younger but had considerable experience of the world and of ruling), and hoped to produce a Catholic heir to the throne.
It was at Phillip's insistence that the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey was executed, for he felt Mary's throne would not be secure while the girl lived. He issued an ultimatum: before he would come to England, Lady Jane had to be either dead or safely converted to Catholicism. Despite knowing the consequences, Jane stubbornly clung to her Protestant faith and was duly beheaded along with her husband, though Mary regretted this, feeling that the girl had been only a pawn. Phillip, in fact, always had much more of a hold over his wife than most of Mary's advisers felt comfortable with, which would lead to quite a few problems during her reign.
Mary quickly broke her promise regarding religion, starting the process of returning England to the Roman Catholic fold and reviving old laws against heresy so that she could condemn Protestants to death. In all, though she ruled for less than five years, she had about 240 men and 60 women burned at the stake as heretics, far more than any other English ruler. Some of these victims were prominent, learned men, but others were simple farmers or country folk, and some probably understood very little of why they were being killed. Resentment grew over these deaths, and an anonymous Protestant published a poem containing the lines, "When these with violence were burnt to death, we prayed to God for our Elizabeth." At the time, Mary honestly believed she was doing what was best for the souls of her subjects, though by the 17th century, this would earn her the nickname of "Bloody Mary". Ironically, though Phillip took most of the blame for her harshness, thanks in large part to Spain's ruthless treatment of non-Catholics, he actually urged caution on many occasions, but Mary would not listen.
Philip II of Spain, Queen Mary's husband
It was also during her reign, in 1558, that the English lost their last bit of French territory, the city of Calais and the surrounding area, which they had held since 1347. It was that which she claimed she would regret the most. During her final illness, she told her ladies in waiting that when she was "dead and opened, you will find Calais lying in my heart," meaning that its loss made her heart heavy.
After many health problems, including a phantom pregnancy, Mary's reign began to fall apart. Her councilors were divided and uncooperative, people were not flocking back to Catholicism as she had expected, and her beloved Phillip had little interest in staying in England since he did not have the power he wanted. Mary considered him to be king and tried to have him crowned as such, but Parliament would not agree, and officially Phillip was only her consort. He began to spend more and more time in Spain, realizing he would not be able to claim England, at least not this way. (See Lesson VIII for the other way in which he tried to claim England.) Also, the nobles were beginning to flock to Elizabeth's side, realizing that she would soon be queen.
Mary died on 17 November 1558, steadfast in her faith though saddened at her failure to return England to the religion that she felt was the only true one.
