Birth: 18 February 1516Mary Tudor was the first and only living child to Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.
Mary grew up with a happy childhood; she was well educated in music and language arts by her mother. Her father doted upon her and made her the Princess of Wales, a title normally given to a male.
Henry arranged several marriages for Mary: first to Dauphin Francis, son of King Francis I. The contract was later repudiated, and in 1522, Mary was betrothed to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. But that engagement was later broken off as well.
However, as years went on and Catherine produced no sons, Henry began to worry. Eventually, Henry annulled his marriage to Catherine and married her lady-in-waiting Anne Boleyn. Mary was declared illegitimate and stripped of her title as Princess. Catherine was sent from court and not allowed to communicate with her daughter. In 1533, Anne gave birth to a daughter Elizabeth, and Mary was forced to serve as a lady-in-waiting to the new Princess.
Mary’s mother, Catherine, never recognized the divorce for the rest of her life and always said that she was the rightful Queen. She also never acknowledged Henry as the Head of the Church and raised Mary as a strong believer in the Catholic faith.
When Anne Boleyn was beheaded in 1536, Elizabeth was demoted to a Lady and declared a bastard just like Mary was. Henry married Jane Seymour, who tried to bring the family together. Mary was welcomed back to the court and took a liking to her new mother. Jane gave birth in 1537 to Edward, the son that Henry always wanted. Mary was the chief mourner at Jane’s funeral.
In 1543, Henry married his last wife, Katherine Parr, who, like Jane, tried to bring the family closer. She befriended Mary and was a motherly figure to Edward and Elizabeth. She also was the Protestant influence in their lives, except for Mary, who still respected Katherine despite their religious differences.
On his will, Henry made Edward his heir, and Mary succeeding him only if he died childless. Elizabeth would also succeed Mary if Mary did not have an heir as well.
When Henry died in 1547, Edward VI, a ferment Protestant, became King. He passed the Act of Uniformity, which established the Book of Common Prayer as the only legitimate form of worship in England, and then replacing it with a more revised Protestant prayer book in 1552.
This was not good news for Mary. The two of them struggled with the issue of religion throughout Edward’s reign, and Edward was often angry since Mary continued to celebrate Mass, which was banned.
Around 1532, Edward fell ill and John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland and the Lord Protector, moved to execute a plan that would work in his Protestant favor. Knowing that having Mary as a Catholic Queen would be disastrous to his power, he arranged for his son, Guildford, to marry Lady Jane Grey, who was in line of succession after Mary and Elizabeth. This way, Lady Jane will remain under his control. He managed to convince Edward to name Jane as his heir.
Edward died on July 6, 1533 and Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen. Her reign, if one can call it that, only lasted 9 days. Mary fled to Norfolk but managed to rally supporters, since most people believed that Mary was the rightful heir, despite the fact that she was a Catholic. Finally, the Privy Council declared Mary the rightful Queen and she returned to London. Dudley was tried and executed for treason. Lady Jane and her husband’s lives were spared, as Mary realized Dudley forced them into the situation.
Mary was crowned Queen on October 1, 1553.
Mary’s first act in parliament was validating her father’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Then, Mary tried to retract all the religious reforms Edward passed during his reign, which proved to be very difficult.
Next came the search for a suitable husband. Mary rejected the possibility of Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon, who was an Englishman and one of the few remaining descendents of the House of York.
With the influence of her cousin, Holy Emperor Charles V, Mary agreed to marry his son, Prince Phillip of Spain. This upset the country greatly for they did not want to be ruled by a foreign power. Plots to put Elizabeth on the throne began to form, including one involving Sir Thomas Wyatt. Wyatt, along with the Duke of Suffolk (who still believed his daughter Jane was the rightful Queen) led armies from Kent into London, where they were crushed by Mary’s troops. They were both executed for treason, along with Lady Jane and her husband, as a precaution for further plots. Mary also imprisoned Elizabeth in the Tower of London before sending her to Woodstock Palace.
Phillip and Mary were married on July 25, 1554 at Winchester Cathedral. In Phillip’s mind, his relationship with Mary was one for political purposes only, unlike Mary, who genuinely loved him. In September, Mary announced she was pregnant (which later turned out to be false). Elizabeth was released from house arrest and brought back to court, probably because Mary no longer saw Elizabeth as a threat when Mary was pregnant. Phillip tried to arrange a marriage for her to the Duke of Savoy, but it fell through.
Mary spent most of her reign trying to bring back the Catholic faith. She reconciled with the Pope, and Reginald Cardinal Pole returned from his exile in Rome in November 1554 to be the Pope’s legate. He later became the Archbishop of Cantebury.
Mary convinced the Pope to let the church owners keep the confiscated monastic lands, but other Church property that the crown possessed was returned to the monks in 1555. Eventually, the Parliament passed “An act for the Renewing of the Three Statues made for the punishment of Heresies,’” which allowed Mary to begin burning heretics.
In January 1555, the burnings began. Priest John Rogers, Bishop of Gloucester John Hooper, and John Cardmaster were among the first to be burned after refusing to stop their religious activities. In March 1556, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was burned with him throwing his hand first into the fire as a sign of retracting his previous recantation of his Protestant faith.
These burnings obviously did not bring the people to the Catholic faith, but rather increased the people’s hatred of the Queen. There were about 280 victims and Mary received the nickname, “Blood Mary.”
Meanwhile, Phillip convinced Mary to support Spain in a war against the French. England declared war on France on June 7, 1557 after Thomas Stafford, who was exiled in France, attacked Scarborough, England. French King Henry II denied any involvement. As a result, Phillip invaded and claimed St. Quentin in France. In January 1558, the French fought back and took Calais, a land that was under English rule for over 200 years.
Mary was blamed for the loss of Calais and the country became divided in factions, with most disapproving of the Spanish. The only good news was that Mary believed she was pregnant again, although it turned out to be false for the second time. Mary fell ill and only grew worse from there on.
In March 1558, Mary wrote up her will but did not include Elizabeth as her heir. She also added that Phillip would have no rule or authority in England. On November 6, her counselors managed to convince Mary to name Elizabeth as her heir. Mary agreed with hopes that Elizabeth would uphold the Catholic faith.
Mary died on November 17, 1558 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.