Mary I

Lore & Background

Mary was the only surviving child of Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. She was declared illegitimate and barred from the succession after her parents' marriage was annulled in 1533, but was restored by the Third Succession Act 1543. Her half-brother Edward VI succeeded their father in 1547; when he became terminally ill in 1553, he attempted to remove Mary as heir, correctly supposing she would reverse Protestant reforms. Upon his death, leading politicians proclaimed Lady Jane Grey queen, but Mary assembled a force in East Anglia, deposed Jane, and later executed her.

Mary married Philip of Spain in July 1554, becoming queen consort of Habsburg Spain on his accession in 1556. The marriage was controversial in England. During her five-year reign, more than 280 religious dissenters were burned at the stake in what became known as the Marian persecutions. Her attempt to restore to the Church property confiscated in the previous two reigns was largely thwarted by Parliament.

Reader's Guide

Mary I's significance lies in her determined but ultimately unsuccessful effort to reverse the English Reformation. Her reign, though short, was marked by the Marian persecutions, in which over 280 Protestants were executed, earning her the posthumous label 'Bloody Mary'. Her marriage to Philip II of Spain was deeply unpopular and contributed to English fears of foreign domination. After her death in 1558, her half-sister Elizabeth I reversed Mary's re-establishment of Catholicism, setting England on a Protestant course. Mary's legacy is thus one of religious conflict and the consolidation of Protestant identity in England, as well as a cautionary example of the costs of religious intolerance. Her reign also demonstrated the potential for a female monarch to rule effectively, despite contemporary prejudices.

Did You Know?

• Mary was baptised into the Catholic faith three days after her birth at the Church of the Observant Friars in Greenwich.
• By age nine, Mary could read and write Latin, and studied French, Spanish, music, dance, and perhaps Greek.
• She was contracted to marry her 22-year-old cousin Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, at age six, but the engagement was broken off.
• Mary was not permitted to see her mother Catherine of Aragon after Henry VIII sent Catherine away from court.