Mary I (England) (1516–1558; Ruled 1553–1558)

MARY I (ENGLAND) (1516–1558; ruled 1553–1558)

MARY I (ENGLAND) (1516–1558; ruled 1553–1558), queen of England and Ireland. Mary's early life was dominated by her dynastic importance as daughter of Henry VIII (ruled 1509–1547) and heir to England's crown, involving negotiations for betrothal first to the French dauphin and then to her Habsburg cousin Charles V (ruled 1519–1556). Although Charles chose another prospective bride, her relationship with him remained one of the most important factors in her life. In 1525 she was created Princess of Wales, but from 1527 the estrangement of Henry VIII from her mother Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536) undermined her position. Prevented from seeing Catherine after 1531, she was bastardized when the Aragon marriage was annulled (1533) and reduced to a lady-in-waiting to the new heir presumptive, Elizabeth (ruled 1558–1603). The death of Anne Boleyn (1507?–1536) brought further humiliation. After spirited resistance, in 1536 Mary was forced to acknowledge herself a bastard.

Mary's position improved after Henry's final marriage to Catherine Parr (1512–1548) in 1543 and an act of Parliament in 1544 recognized her as second in line to the throne. During the reign of her half-brother Edward VI (1547–1553), she faced fresh troubles by stubbornly maintaining the Catholic liturgy. In 1550 unsuccessful efforts were made to arrange her escape to Habsburg territories. Edward's privy council tried to bypass her in making Lady Jane Grey (1537–1554) queen in 1553, but aided by Catholic advisers, Mary drew on popular provincial outrage at this insult to Henry VIII's bloodline and staged a brilliantly effective coup d'état based in East Anglia. She moved swiftly to restore not only traditional worship but also obedience to the pope (a much less popular cause), although legal problems delayed England's reconciliation with Rome until November 1554. She also insisted on keeping the title of "kingdom" for the island of Ireland, which her father had unilaterally adopted in place of the former papal grant to English monarchs of "lordship" of Ireland. She brushed aside objections to marriage with her cousin Charles V's son King Philip II (ruled 1556–1598) of Spain, which crystallized in Sir Thomas Wyatt's Rebellion (January 1554). Amidst general panic in London at the rebels' approach, Mary displayed firm courage and rallied support in a major speech at Guildhall. To her joy, Philip arrived to marry her at Winchester Cathedral on 25 July 1554.

Once the old heresy laws were restored (1555), persecution included almost three hundred burnings of Protestants. This was more intense than any previous English antiheresy campaign and uncomfortably reminiscent of recent Habsburg persecution in the Netherlands. Protestant sufferings handed a propaganda asset to her opponents, but Mary obstinately persisted in encouraging the burnings. Her hopes for Catholicism were complicated in 1555, when Cardinal Gian Pietro Carafa was elected Pope Paul IV (reigned 1555–1559). He was bitterly anti-Spanish and an old enemy of the papal legate in England, Mary's close ally and cousin Cardinal Reginald Pole (1500–1558). Mary, who wished to be the papacy's most loyal daughter, defied the pope when he revoked Pole's legatine powers and tried to summon him to Rome on heresy charges. Meanwhile her marriage did not produce an heir to secure a Catholic future. Mary's belief that she was pregnant caused national embarrassment and ridicule when the truth became plain in summer 1555. Philip's good nature was strained by the English lack of enthusiasm for his presence. He returned in 1557 only to secure England's help for Spain in war against France (and the papacy). After initial success, the French capture of Calais, England's last mainland European territory, in January 1558 was a bitter blow, and Mary's illness that summer was not her longed-for child but stomach cancer. She knew in her terminal illness that her half-sister Elizabeth would destroy everything she had worked for. Pole died of influenza within hours of Mary on 17 November.

Mary's brief reign provokes differing assessments. Traditionally mainstream English historiography saw reaction, an unimaginative return to the pre-1529 past. A. G. Dickens stressed Protestant vigor that rendered her task a losing battle, and both A. F. Pollard and G. R. Elton were drawn to the metaphor of sterility in describing the reign. Eamon Duffy has led reassessments of Mary's religious program, stressing elements anticipating Roman Catholic Church reforms after the Council of Trent (1545–1563), for instance, Pole's proposals for clergy training colleges (seminaries) attached to cathedrals and the provision of instructional literature, some of which drew on initiatives of the early Reformation in England. In secular government, administrative and financial reorganization begun by Edward's government officials continued. Major restructurings of customs revenue and of provisions for national defense were not greatly modified for more than half a century. Philip also encouraged naval expansion, which ironically chiefly benefited Elizabeth and her later wars against him. However the reign is judged, Mary's blighted personal history can only attract sympathy.

See also Edward VI (England) ; Elizabeth I (England) ; England ; Henry VIII (England) ; Philip II (Spain) ; Tudor Dynasty (England) .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Duffy, Eamon. The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, c. 1400–1580. New Haven and London, 1992.

Loades, David M. Mary Tudor: A Life. Oxford, 1989.

——. The Reign of Mary Tudor. Rev. ed. London, 1991.

Diarmaid MacCulloch