Mary I

(1516–58)

   Queen.

   Mary was the daughter of Henry VIII of England by Catherine of Aragon. She was thus a grand-daughter of ferdinand and isabella of Spain. After her father divorced her mother, she was declared illegitimate, but in 1544 she was restored and placed second in the succession after her half-brother, Edward vi. She was intensely Roman Catholic, and on the death of Edward, there was an unsuccessful attempt to place the Protestant Lady Jane Grey on the throne in her place, but Mary was crowned Queen in 1553. She is remembered for the persecution of Protestants which took place during her reign. Thomas cranmer, Hugh latimer and Nicholas ridley were among many who were burnt at the stake for their religious beliefs. Their deaths were recorded in John foxe’s popular Book of Martyrs. This persecution, coupled with her marriage to Philip II of Spain, made her extremely unpopular and earned her the soubriquet ‘Bloody Mary’. In fact she was kind and gentle by nature, but she grossly misunderstood the mood of the times. She was succeeded by her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth I.

   D.M. Loades, The Reign of Mary Tudor (1979).