All about history book of british rs 97

Mary I

“Mary demonstrated that a woman could
rule in her own right”
people (including two of his own wives) during
immediately with her first parliament in October
his reign, according to Holinshed’s Chronicles. It
deeming the marriage of her late parents valid
while passing the First Statute of Repeal (which
was more the stark violence of Mary’s executions
essentially negated all the religious legislation
during a time when Reformist and Counterenacted during Edward VI’s reign). Her father’s
Reformist propaganda was flying around Europe
Act of Supremacy was also rejected, with
that gave her actions such a lasting infamy.
religious authority removed from the
Mary’s reign only lasted five years
crown and returned to Rome.
and while it was marred by the
The annual
These changes were largely a
mass burnings of Protestants and
cost of the Great
popular move since England
the largely disastrous alliance
Wardrobe shot
had only been a Protestant
with Spain (which even led to
nation for six years, but such
the loss of Calais to France in
through the roof in the

legislative restoration also
one of the Tudor dynasty’s
early part of her reign
came with a sting in the tail:
most embarrassing military
due to her taste for
the revival of the Heresy Acts.
debacles), Mary did attempt
lavish materials
These acts deemed anyone
to make some changes that
practising any faith other than
ultimately benefited the kingdom.
and dresses
Roman Catholicism a heretic by
Financial reforms included changing
proxy, leading to the voluntary exile of
the way the government collected
over 800 nobles who refused to renounce
taxes, including the normalisation of import
their new faith. The Heresy Acts decreed that
tax. She even used Philip’s reluctance to include
heretics should be put to death by beheading or by
England in Spain’s grip on the lucrative trade with
being hanged, drawn and quartered; however the
the New World to create new trade opportunities
use of burning was also adopted. During Mary’s
with the east coast of Africa.
reign, around 290 Protestants were executed –
By the time of her death on 17 November

many of them burnt at the stake – for heresy,
1558, Mary’s attempts to restore England to its
creating an air of aggressive persecution.
Catholic roots had left the country in religious
So was Mary really the bloodiest monarch of
and political turmoil. However, for all her violent
the Tudor line? Despite her dramatic nickname,
acts of religious reform, and her poor choice of a
Mary’s brief Protestant purge was a single drop
marital alliance with Spain, Mary appears to have
compared to the oceans of blood spilled by
loved her country deeply. She also demonstrated
her predecessors. Edward VI had 5,500 rebels
that a woman could rule in her own right, setting a
murdered in the Prayer Book Rebellion in 1549,
precedent upon which her half-sister and successor
while Henry VIII executed a staggering 72,000
Elizabeth I would build.

Defining moment
O Marriage to
Prince Philip
Less than a week
after dealing with the
conspiracy to place Lady
Jane Grey on the English
throne, Mary marries
Prince Philip, the son of
Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V. Such a marriage

blocks her Protestant halfsister’s position as heir.
25 July 1554

O Mary is crowned
After riding into London in
August with her half-sister
Elizabeth and 800 supporting
nobles, Mary releases the
imprisoned Stephen Gardiner,
bishop of Winchester, whom
she makes lord chancellor.
She is crowned by Gardiner at
Westminster Abbey.
1 October 1553

England drawn into war
March 1557
In January 1556, Prince Philip’s father Charles V abdicates from the throne,
effectively making Philip the new king. Often absent from Mary’s side
for great periods, the new Spanish monarch finally returns to England
in March 1557. Philip has reignited the war with France (following a very
brittle peace treaty between the two nations) and is keen to use his alliance
with England to bolster his forces. War is officially declared in June, but
the conflict causes strain with the papacy as Rome has political ties to the
French king. The war is a political and economic disaster for England and
even leads to the loss of Calais in January 1558.

O The false pregnancy
Around September 1554
Mary’s menstruation cycle

stops – she then begins gaining
weight as well as dealing with
bouts of nausea. Mary takes
this as a sign of pregnancy,
but her belly recedes more
than a year later. It was a
phantom pregnancy.
Sep 1554 – Oct 1555

O Burning Protestants
At the beginning of 1555, the
restoration of Roman Catholicism
in England leads to the return of
the Heresy Acts. With religious
doctrine on her side, Mary starts
executing Protestant nobles.
Burning at the stake is the most
prevalent method and around
290 are executed in the purge.
February 1555

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Mary I often indulged herself by buying
expensive dresses from the continent

Life in the time
of Mary I
Irish settlement
During her reign, Mary continued the Tudor

conquest of Ireland by establishing a number
of English settlements. These were placed in
the Irish Midlands, effectively creating the King
and Queen’s counties. The two main towns
were named Maryborough and Philipstown.

Rainy season
The five years of Mary’s rule were
uncharacteristically rainy. Persistent rain for
months on end led to oversaturated soil,
which in turn ruined entire crops. This, and
damage from flooding, plunged the country
into famine.

A strained economy
Poor weather conditions and harvests
contributed to an already strained economic
climate. Despite the alliance between England
and Spain, trade between them was brittle at
best. Spain refused to include England in its
lucrative hold on the New World.

Mary and money
Mary made attempts to implement changes
to the state of English currency and taxation.
Prior to her reign, sheriffs had failed to
adequately enforce and collect import taxes,
so the queen had new legislation drawn up
that clearly defined new rules for efficiently
taking incoming resources.

Monastic restoration
While the lands confiscated in Henry VIII’s
Reformation were not relinquished by the
crown, Mary was determined to help rebuild
the monasteries that were torn apart decades
before. She even used her own finances to
restore a number of sites across the nation.

Defining moment

1702

The queen is dead
17 November 1558
As 1557 draws to a close, Mary appears to fall pregnant yet again. Sadly it
proves to be another phantom term and the queen is forced to make the
defining decision of her reign. In 1558 she names Elizabeth as her lawful
successor. Mary falls ill during an influenza pandemic that is gripping
London. It’s not known whether it was the influenza that took her life or
ongoing complications with ovarian cysts and uterine cancer.

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