1 | <html>
|
---|
2 |
|
---|
3 | <head>
|
---|
4 | <meta name="page_topic" content="Queen Mary I of England half-sister of Elizabeth I 'Bloody Mary' : Biography, Portraits, Primary Sources 1553-1558">
|
---|
5 | <meta name="content" content="Queen Mary I: Biography, Portraits, Primary Sources 1553-1558">
|
---|
6 | <meta name="author" content="Marilee Mongello">
|
---|
7 | <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 5.0">
|
---|
8 | <meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document">
|
---|
9 | <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
|
---|
10 | <meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-us">
|
---|
11 | <title>Queen Mary I: Biography, Portraits, Primary Sources</title>
|
---|
12 | <style fprolloverstyle>A:hover {color: #0000FF; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold}
|
---|
13 | </style>
|
---|
14 | </head>
|
---|
15 |
|
---|
16 | <body link="#0000FF" vlink="#0000FF" alink="#0000FF">
|
---|
17 |
|
---|
18 | <table border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%" height="667">
|
---|
19 | <tr>
|
---|
20 | <td width="25%" height="29"></td>
|
---|
21 | <td valign="top" width="50%" height="29">
|
---|
22 | <p align="center"><font size="4"><br>'In thee, O lord, is my trust, let me never be
|
---|
23 | confounded: if God be for us, who can be against us?' <BR></font><I><FONT
|
---|
24 | size=-1>Mary Tudor's constant exclamation as queen of England</FONT></I></p>
|
---|
25 | <p> </td>
|
---|
26 | <td width="25%" height="29"></td>
|
---|
27 | </tr>
|
---|
28 | <tr>
|
---|
29 | <td width="25%" height="3"></td>
|
---|
30 | <td width="50%" height="3">
|
---|
31 | <p align="center">
|
---|
32 | <img border="0" src="mary1cardinal.gif" alt="Queen Mary I" width="455" height="109"></td>
|
---|
33 | <td width="25%" height="3"></td>
|
---|
34 | </tr>
|
---|
35 | <tr>
|
---|
36 | <td width="25%" height="610"></td>
|
---|
37 | <td valign="top" width="50%" height="610">
|
---|
38 | <p align="center">
|
---|
39 | <img border="2" src="elizsister.jpg" alt="portrait of Queen Mary I, by a follower of Anthonis Mor, c.1555-58" width="350" height="522"></p>
|
---|
40 | <blockquote>
|
---|
41 | <p> </p>
|
---|
42 | <p><A
|
---|
43 | href="mary1.html#Biography">
|
---|
44 | <font size="4">Read the biography of Queen Mary I</font></A><font size="4">.</font></p>
|
---|
45 | <p><A
|
---|
46 | href="marygovt.html">Marian
|
---|
47 | government policies and religious legislation</A>. </p>
|
---|
48 | <P><B><br>Primary Sources</B> <BR>Read
|
---|
49 | <a href="../primary1.html">the letter Mary
|
---|
50 | wrote to Henry VIII, acknowledging her illegitimacy,</a> <A
|
---|
51 | href="../maryspee.html">her speech at the
|
---|
52 | Guildhall</A>, and <A
|
---|
53 | href="../marydesc.html">a contemporary
|
---|
54 | description of the queen</A>. <BR>Read <A
|
---|
55 | href="../letters.html">a letter from
|
---|
56 | Katharine of Aragon to her daughter</A>.</P>
|
---|
57 | <p>Visit <a href="http://www.marileecody.com/mary1images.html">Tudor
|
---|
58 | England: Images</a> to view portraits of Mary, with commentary. <BR><br>Visit
|
---|
59 | the <A
|
---|
60 | href="aragon.html">Katharine of
|
---|
61 | Aragon site</A> to learn more about Mary's mother. <BR>Visit the <A
|
---|
62 | href="../relative/janegrey.html">Lady Jane
|
---|
63 | Grey</A> site to learn more about Mary's cousin.<br>Visit the
|
---|
64 | <a href="eliz.html">Queen
|
---|
65 | Elizabeth I</a> site to learn more about Mary's half-sister.</p>
|
---|
66 | <p></p>
|
---|
67 | <P>Test your knowledge of Queen Mary's life at <A
|
---|
68 | href="../tudor1.html">Tudor Quizzes</A>.</P>
|
---|
69 | <P><br><font size="2"><b>Links <br></b>
|
---|
70 | <a href="http://home.earthlink.net/~elisale/index.html">Mary Tudor</a>
|
---|
71 | A comprehensive exploration of Mary's life, featuring a lengthy
|
---|
72 | biography and numerous portraits. It also has ancillary studies of
|
---|
73 | music, portraiture, genealogy, etc</font></P>
|
---|
74 | <p align="left"> </p>
|
---|
75 | </blockquote>
|
---|
76 | </td>
|
---|
77 | <td width="25%" height="610"></td>
|
---|
78 | </tr>
|
---|
79 | </table>
|
---|
80 |
|
---|
81 | <blockquote>
|
---|
82 | <blockquote>
|
---|
83 | <blockquote>
|
---|
84 | <p><A name=Biography></A></p>
|
---|
85 | <hr>
|
---|
86 | <p><font size="4">'You have four certain and open enemies: the heretics
|
---|
87 | and schismatics, the rebels and adherents of the duke of Northumberland,
|
---|
88 | the king of France and Scotland, and the Lady Elizabeth.' </font><i>
|
---|
89 | <font size="2">the Imperial ambassador Renard to Queen Mary, 1553</font></i></p>
|
---|
90 | </blockquote>
|
---|
91 | </blockquote>
|
---|
92 | </blockquote>
|
---|
93 | <blockquote>
|
---|
94 | <blockquote>
|
---|
95 | <blockquote>
|
---|
96 | <hr>
|
---|
97 | <p><B>Biography</B> <BR><FONT
|
---|
98 | face="Times New Roman,Times">The sad life of England's first female
|
---|
99 | ruler is rendered even more tragic in comparison with her half-sister
|
---|
100 | and successor's reign. Poor Mary Tudor, destined - like her
|
---|
101 | half-brother and predecessor - to languish between those two giants of
|
---|
102 | English history, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. Yet there is much to
|
---|
103 | warrant even a brief examination of her life and reign. Though her
|
---|
104 | hated half-sister would outshine her in virtually every sphere -
|
---|
105 | physical, political, intellectual, artistic - Mary also had a formidable
|
---|
106 | impact upon English history. Throughout the first thirty-seven
|
---|
107 | years of her life, she was tossed about by the whims of her father and,
|
---|
108 | later and perhaps more galling, her Protestant brother and his
|
---|
109 | council. It was perhaps inevitable that when she first tasted real
|
---|
110 | power, the experience would be both intoxicating and unfortunate.</FONT>
|
---|
111 | </p>
|
---|
112 |
|
---|
113 | <P><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">When Mary came to the throne, she
|
---|
114 | was thirty-seven years old. She had never been married though, in
|
---|
115 | her youth, several matches had been suggested and abandoned.
|
---|
116 | Contrary to later beliefs, Henry VIII was pleased with her birth in
|
---|
117 | 1516, proudly displaying the infant Mary to visiting ambassadors and</FONT><IMG height=387 alt="Princess Mary, age 28, painted by Master John"
|
---|
118 | src="maryage28.jpg" width=300 border=2 align="right"><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">
|
---|
119 | noblemen. It was only years later, with Mary as his sole
|
---|
120 | legitimate offspring, that Henry began his desperate search for a
|
---|
121 | son. This search would forever brand him as a misogynist and cruel
|
---|
122 | tyrant who discarded, divorced, and beheaded the women who did not bear
|
---|
123 | him sons. But one must be fair to Henry and judge him by the
|
---|
124 | standards of his time, which certainly his contemporaries did. He
|
---|
125 | was only the second Tudor monarch and, as such, he understood the
|
---|
126 | necessity of stabilizing the English throne. Indeed, his father
|
---|
127 | had only won the crown in 1485, barely thirty years before Mary's
|
---|
128 | birth. And if Henry VII, born the unprepossessing earl of
|
---|
129 | Richmond, could steal the crown then his son's actions can be
|
---|
130 | understood. Above all else, Henry VIII was determined the crown
|
---|
131 | would remain in Tudor hands. Mary, like her half-sister Elizabeth,
|
---|
132 | was always recognized as his daughter. But England had never had a
|
---|
133 | woman ruler, one who ruled in her own right without a male consort or as
|
---|
134 | regent for an infant son. The only possible precedent was Matilda,
|
---|
135 | Henry I's heir, and the precedent was not good - Matilda was expelled by
|
---|
136 | the English barons and her cousin Stephen of Blois was made king.
|
---|
137 | Though this had happened four centuries before, its lesson was still
|
---|
138 | valid.</FONT>
|
---|
139 | <P><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">With this in mind, Henry's
|
---|
140 | treatment of Mary's mother becomes - if not palatable - at least
|
---|
141 | understandable. Certainly the petty cruelties and humiliations he
|
---|
142 | forced upon her were his own doing but the overall aim was to ensure the
|
---|
143 | Tudor succession. But all this happened years after Mary's
|
---|
144 | birth. From 1516 to about 1530, Mary led a happy, sheltered
|
---|
145 | life. She was considered one of the most important European
|
---|
146 | princesses and Henry used her as every king used his daughter - as a
|
---|
147 | pawn in political negotiations. She was also well-educated with a
|
---|
148 | fine contralto singing voice and great linguistic skill. Her
|
---|
149 | mother, Katharine of Aragon, was deeply devoted to Mary. This was
|
---|
150 | a reflection of Katharine's strongly domestic nature as well as the
|
---|
151 | numerous miscarriages she suffered. Any mother would naturally
|
---|
152 | love a child but Katharine had lost enough children to make her
|
---|
153 | especially devoted to the one who survived. When Henry proposed
|
---|
154 | the idea of divorce, Katharine fought it passionately, not least because
|
---|
155 | divorce would destroy her daughter's future. Katharine was the
|
---|
156 | youngest daughter of those great Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand of Aragon
|
---|
157 | and Isabella of Castile, the 'Catholic Kings' who united Spain
|
---|
158 | geographically and spiritually. Through her mother, she could
|
---|
159 | trace her lineage to John of Gaunt, that legendary figure in English
|
---|
160 | history. She grew up as an Infanta of Spain; and, unlike Henry,
|
---|
161 | her claim to royalty was not a mere few decades old. As such, she
|
---|
162 | was naturally proud and dignified. Mary inherited this pride as
|
---|
163 | well as her mother's enduring affection for Spain. When she became
|
---|
164 | queen, this affection was to have terrible consequences.</FONT>
|
---|
165 | <P><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">Educated by her mother and a ducal
|
---|
166 | governess, Mary was at last betrothed to her cousin, the Holy Roman
|
---|
167 | Emperor Charles V (Charles I of Spain.) Charles made the
|
---|
168 | unfortunate demand that she come to Spain immediately, accompanied by a
|
---|
169 | huge cash dowry. Henry ignored the request and Charles jilted
|
---|
170 | Mary, concluding a match with a more accommodating princess.
|
---|
171 | Meanwhile, Henry invested his daughter as Princess of Wales in 1525 and
|
---|
172 | she held court at Ludlow Castle. With this decision, Henry meant
|
---|
173 | to soothe Katharine's fears that Mary's position as the only legitimate
|
---|
174 | Tudor heir was being undermined. Only a few weeks before the
|
---|
175 | investiture, Mary had attended a ceremony in which her father ennobled
|
---|
176 | his illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, as duke of Richmond (among various
|
---|
177 | other titles.) And though he sharply rebuked Katharine for
|
---|
178 | criticizing his open affection for Fitzroy, and the accompanying titles
|
---|
179 | and wealth he gave the boy, Henry did not neglect his daughter. In
|
---|
180 | fact, Mary was the first princess of Wales, and the first female royal
|
---|
181 | to hold court at Ludlow. But of course, sending Mary to Wales was
|
---|
182 | not the same as sending a son and heir; Henry never intended her to rule
|
---|
183 | England, at least not as its sole ruler. Her role in Wales would
|
---|
184 | be primarily symbolic, and she would be replaced as soon as he had a
|
---|
185 | legitimate male heir. This elusive son - Henry's most fervent wish
|
---|
186 | - occupied his mind even as he continued to scour Europe for a suitable
|
---|
187 | husband for Mary.</FONT>
|
---|
188 | <P><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">Yet even as new betrothal plans
|
---|
189 | were being made, the king's attention was increasingly elsewhere.
|
---|
190 | Henry had met Anne Boleyn, daughter of a simple knight and sister of a
|
---|
191 | former mistress. His passionate attraction to Anne, coupled with
|
---|
192 | the increased need for a male heir, made Henry restless. He looked
|
---|
193 | at Katharine, nine years his senior and as domestic as Anne was exotic,
|
---|
194 | with new eyes. At first he sought a quiet, amicable annulment of
|
---|
195 | their long
|
---|
196 | marriage. Certainly such a decision was not revolutionary; Henry
|
---|
197 | could cite numerous examples in European history where kings had
|
---|
198 | annulled marriages to barren queens. Since he and Katharine had a
|
---|
199 | mutual respect and affection for one another, Henry anticipated her
|
---|
200 | cooperation. Certainly he would tread with delicacy but - in the
|
---|
201 | end - his will would be done.</FONT>
|
---|
202 | <P><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">But Henry had not anticipated his
|
---|
203 | wife's immediate and intense anger. For he had based his argument
|
---|
204 | upon theology - in short, Henry argued that because Katharine had been
|
---|
205 | briefly married to his brother, Arthur, her marriage to Henry was
|
---|
206 | incestuous. Katharine responded that this matter was already
|
---|
207 | resolved. Before she wed Henry, the Pope had granted a
|
---|
208 | dispensation. He did so under political pressure from Henry VII
|
---|
209 | and Ferdinand - but also because Katharine swore she and Arthur had
|
---|
210 | never consummated their marriage. In short, she was a virgin when
|
---|
211 | she wed Henry, a fact Henry would be certain to know. Cynics could
|
---|
212 | not help but mock the King's sudden attack of conscience, occurring some
|
---|
213 | twenty years into the marriage and in the midst of his affair with Anne
|
---|
214 | Boleyn.</FONT>
|
---|
215 | <P><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">
|
---|
216 | <img border="0" src="aragonhorenbout1.jpg" alt="portrait of Katharine of Aragon by Lucas Horenbout" align="left" width="329" height="324">It would be impossible to argue
|
---|
217 | that Anne had no role in his decision. In his mid-thirties, Henry
|
---|
218 | had entered into the most passionate romantic attachment of his
|
---|
219 | life. Indeed, after her death, he would complain that Anne had
|
---|
220 | 'bewitched' him. It was true that Henry displayed an intensity of
|
---|
221 | feeling toward her which shocked their contemporaries. Today we
|
---|
222 | can read his love letters to her; across the span of four centuries,
|
---|
223 | they retain their power. Anne was not beautiful but she possessed
|
---|
224 | greater gifts - she was witty, graceful, and stylish. She had been
|
---|
225 | educated at the glittering French court so she sang and danced
|
---|
226 | beautifully, skills which Henry admired. She was also very
|
---|
227 | intelligent and confident. Unlike her older sister Mary, Anne
|
---|
228 | Boleyn had no desire to be the king's temporary mistress. In fact,
|
---|
229 | she had intended to wed Henry Percy, heir to the earl of Northumberland,
|
---|
230 | until the king - already enchanted - put a stop to the match. He
|
---|
231 | wrote to Percy's father, arguing against the unsuitable match. A
|
---|
232 | knight's daughter wed to one of the most important peers of the
|
---|
233 | realm? Percy's angry father immediately sent for his son, ending
|
---|
234 | the romance but not the attachment. Percy wrote poetry about Anne
|
---|
235 | and, at her trial, he had to be carried from the room. Unlike the
|
---|
236 | other peers, he could not bear to sit in judgment of her. For
|
---|
237 | Anne, the loss of Percy was undoubtedly galling. After all, had
|
---|
238 | the king ended the engagement simply to make her his mistress?
|
---|
239 | Henry's disregard for her personal feelings, his interference in her
|
---|
240 | personal life, was not endearing. But it convinced Anne of the
|
---|
241 | king's attraction and she resolved to be his wife or nothing.</FONT>
|
---|
242 | <P><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">For Mary, the sudden ascent of
|
---|
243 | Anne Boleyn signaled the end of her world. Her beloved mother,
|
---|
244 | equally loved by the English people, was being forced aside by a former
|
---|
245 | lady-in-waiting. Her father was determined to declare her a
|
---|
246 | bastard; in effect, Henry's charge of incest dissolved his marriage and
|
---|
247 | illegitimized his daughter. In the midst of this, Mary developed a
|
---|
248 | lasting hatred of Anne Boleyn which extended to Anne's daughter,
|
---|
249 | Elizabeth. She never openly blamed her father for his actions,
|
---|
250 | though she considered them unlawful and impious. Instead, she
|
---|
251 | persuaded herself that he had been Anne Boleyn's pawn. Such a
|
---|
252 | reaction was perhaps inevitable. However, it was to have an
|
---|
253 | unfortunate impact upon Elizabeth's life.</FONT>
|
---|
254 | <P><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">The Pope refused to recognize
|
---|
255 | Henry's argument for an annulment or divorce and thus began a power
|
---|
256 | struggle between the Vatican, Spain, and England. Katharine's
|
---|
257 | nephew, Charles V, naturally agreed with his aunt for personal and
|
---|
258 | political reasons. He exerted considerable military and political
|
---|
259 | pressure against the Pope. Henry's numerous petitions were
|
---|
260 | disregarded. Eventually he simply gave up and decided the matter
|
---|
261 | himself. In 1534 Henry took the unprecedented step of breaking
|
---|
262 | with Rome, establishing the Church of England with himself as Supreme
|
---|
263 | Head. The annulment was granted and Katharine and Mary were
|
---|
264 | officially outcasts.</FONT>
|
---|
265 | <P><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">In the meantime, Mary continued
|
---|
266 | her somewhat restricted life. Despite her declared illegitimacy,
|
---|
267 | Henry continued to propose various husbands for her. The searches
|
---|
268 | were not particularly thorough or serious, however, and Mary remained a
|
---|
269 | spinster. She was now in her late twenties, leaving behind her
|
---|
270 | youth and - most importantly for a woman - her safest reproductive
|
---|
271 | years.</FONT>
|
---|
272 | <P><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">Even before the official decree,
|
---|
273 | Henry had stopped living with Katharine and recognizing her as
|
---|
274 | Queen. He took Anne Boleyn with him to France to meet his rival
|
---|
275 | Francis I; this was an important state visit and her appearance was
|
---|
276 | commented upon. Henry, however, had already ordered Katharine to
|
---|
277 | surrender her jewelry; Anne now wore it. He also sent Katharine to
|
---|
278 | one decaying residence after another, dismissing several of her devoted
|
---|
279 | servants. Though deprived of her title, home, jewels, and
|
---|
280 | companionship, Katharine never recognized the divorce. She refused
|
---|
281 | the title of Princess Dowager, offered by Henry as recognition of her
|
---|
282 | marriage to Arthur, Prince of Wales. She continued to assert that
|
---|
283 | she and Arthur had never consummated their marriage. And, above
|
---|
284 | all else, she professed faith in the judgment of the Pope. A
|
---|
285 | devout Catholic, daughter of the monarchs who introduced the Inquisition
|
---|
286 | to Spain, Katharine never acknowledged the Church of England.
|
---|
287 | Since she had raised her daughter to be equally devout, Mary also
|
---|
288 | refused to acknowledge both the Church and her father's position as
|
---|
289 | Supreme Head.</FONT>
|
---|
290 | <P><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">It should be noted that Henry
|
---|
291 | VIII, though ostensibly head of a new church which overthrew the
|
---|
292 | Catholic supremacy, remained a devout Catholic</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times"> throughout his
|
---|
293 | life. He continued to attend Mass and heartily despised 'heretics'
|
---|
294 | like Martin Luther. But Henry possessed the ability to separate
|
---|
295 | the secular from the spiritual, a quality which Mary completely lacked
|
---|
296 | and Elizabeth honed to fine perfection. Though his son would
|
---|
297 | become a bigoted Protestant determined to stamp out Catholicism and his
|
---|
298 | eldest daughter a bigoted Catholic determined to stamp out
|
---|
299 | Protestantism, Henry was a Catholic who lapsed when it suited him.
|
---|
300 | Of course, he always asserted theological justification for the lapses.
|
---|
301 | However, he would not allow Katharine or Mary to deny his authority.
|
---|
302 | Both paid a stiff penalty for their refusal to submit. Katharine,
|
---|
303 | as noted, was sent from court and deprived of all accustomed luxuries.
|
---|
304 | Mary was equally disgraced. Now a bastard, declared such by
|
---|
305 | Parliament, she was denied any communication with her mother and made
|
---|
306 | lady-in-waiting to Anne and Henry's daughter, Elizabeth. Unlike
|
---|
307 | Mary, Elizabeth was recognized as a Princess of the realm. For the
|
---|
308 | seventeen-year-old Mary, the complete reversal of her fortune was
|
---|
309 | devastating. She began to suffer from a variety of illnesses,
|
---|
310 | undoubtedly stress-related. These plagued her until her death,
|
---|
311 | causing such symptoms as severe headaches, nausea, insomnia, and
|
---|
312 | infrequent menstruation.</FONT>
|
---|
313 | <P><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">Anne took an equal dislike of
|
---|
314 | Mary. It was a simple fact that if Anne and Elizabeth's fortunes
|
---|
315 | rose, Mary's would fall. After all, Elizabeth was legitimate only
|
---|
316 | if Mary was not, and vice versa. Anne would have been foolish to
|
---|
317 | encourage any reconciliation between Henry and Mary, quite possibly she
|
---|
318 | did the opposite. But after her fall from grace, Henry offered to
|
---|
319 | pardon Mary and restore her to favor - but only if Mary acknowledged him
|
---|
320 | as head of the Church of England and admitted the 'incestuous
|
---|
321 | illegality' of his marriage to Katharine. To Mary's credit, she
|
---|
322 | refused to do so until her cousin, Charles V, persuaded her
|
---|
323 | otherwise. <A
|
---|
324 | href="../primary.html">She gave in to
|
---|
325 | Henry's demands</A>, an action she was to always regret.
|
---|
326 | Meanwhile, Katharine of Aragon had died at Kimbolton Castle, loving -
|
---|
327 | and defying - Henry to the last; <A
|
---|
328 | href="../letters.html">her final letter</A>
|
---|
329 | to him was signed 'Katharine the Queen.' Katharine and Mary had
|
---|
330 | not seen one another for years though they had written one another,
|
---|
331 | against Henry's orders, in great secrecy. Katharine's last
|
---|
332 | thoughts were undoubtedly of her daughter.</FONT>
|
---|
333 | <P><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">Henry, however, was soon
|
---|
334 | reconciled to Mary. Flush with marriage to the meek Jane Seymour
|
---|
335 | and her quick pregnancy, he welcomed Mary home. She was given a
|
---|
336 | household befitting her position as his daughter and included in court
|
---|
337 | festivities; there were even rumors of a possible marriage in her
|
---|
338 | future. Jane Seymour encouraged Henry's reconciliation with both
|
---|
339 | of his daughters. Mary, in turn, respected and liked the new
|
---|
340 | queen. She was named godmother to Henry and Jane's son, Prince
|
---|
341 | Edward, born in October 1537; and when Jane died shortly after her son's
|
---|
342 | birth, Mary was the chief mourner. Their friendship was not so
|
---|
343 | unlikely. They were relatively close in age and Mary, having lost
|
---|
344 | her mother and longing for her father's affection, was grateful for any
|
---|
345 | kindness. Furthermore, she had the satisfaction of knowing
|
---|
346 | Elizabeth, too, was bastardized; Anne Boleyn's execution on charges of
|
---|
347 | incest and treason had illegitimized her daughter. It is revealing
|
---|
348 | to note that, upon her ascension, Mary revoked the Act of Parliament
|
---|
349 | which made her a bastard. Elizabeth, upon ascension, didn't bother
|
---|
350 | to do so.</FONT>
|
---|
351 | <P><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">However, Mary and Elizabeth were
|
---|
352 | not forgotten. After Jane's death, Henry determined the line of
|
---|
353 | succession as follows: first, Edward or Edward's heirs; if Edward
|
---|
354 | died without issue, the throne passed to Mary; after Mary, to
|
---|
355 | Elizabeth. Henry recognized the fragility of his succession,
|
---|
356 | resting as it did upon just one son. He, after all, was a second
|
---|
357 | son. But there was little he could do. His fourth marriage,
|
---|
358 | to Anne of Cleves, had ended disastrously. She was too
|
---|
359 | unnattractive for the king so she was titled 'the king's sister' and
|
---|
360 | given a generous pension. Anne preferred this solution to
|
---|
361 | returning home.</FONT><IMG height=352
|
---|
362 | alt="portrait of Queen Mary I" src="mary1-cr.jpg" width=270
|
---|
363 | align=right border=2><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times"> Soon
|
---|
364 | enough, Henry's attentions were captured elsewhere. He wed
|
---|
365 | Catherine Howard, cousin to the infamous Anne Boleyn. It was a
|
---|
366 | pathetic match. Henry was old enough to be her grandfather,
|
---|
367 | plainly in lust with a young woman who exuded sex appeal. Mary's
|
---|
368 | opinion on the match is not known but it would be safe to assume that
|
---|
369 | even if she disapproved, she would never say so. Mary recognized
|
---|
370 | her father's secular authority as king even as she disapproved of his
|
---|
371 | spiritual authority as head of the English Church. In any case,
|
---|
372 | there was barely time to know Catherine before she, too, was executed on
|
---|
373 | charges of adultery. Whether she was guilty is a matter of
|
---|
374 | conjecture; if she was, one can hardly blame her and, if she wasn't, she
|
---|
375 | was yet another blot upon Henry's conscience. In her defense, she
|
---|
376 | refused the easy path of divorce. Henry offered to recognize a
|
---|
377 | pre-contract with another nobleman. If she, too, recognized it,
|
---|
378 | their marriage would be invalid. Catherine would be divorced but
|
---|
379 | still alive. She refused to admit such an arrangement, however,
|
---|
380 | and met her end at the Tower of London.</FONT>
|
---|
381 | <P><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">Henry's last queen was the
|
---|
382 | Protestant Katharine Parr, twice-widowed and chosen for her excellent
|
---|
383 | character and nursing abilities. Like Jane Seymour, Katharine Parr
|
---|
384 | was determined to bring the royal family closer together. To that
|
---|
385 | end, she provided the only true home and maternal guidance Edward and
|
---|
386 | Elizabeth would ever know. She also befriended Mary, a difficult
|
---|
387 | task because of their opposing religious beliefs. Mary, however,
|
---|
388 | did respect Katharine's intellectual accomplishments.</FONT>
|
---|
389 | <P><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">Katharine Parr was the product of
|
---|
390 | the changing climate in Tudor England. When he ended Catholic
|
---|
391 | supremacy in England, dissolving the monasteries and granting their
|
---|
392 | lands to various nobles and the crown, Henry had begun a process whose
|
---|
393 | end he never foresaw. As mentioned, Henry never became a
|
---|
394 | Protestant. But his decision to use Protestantism for his own ends
|
---|
395 | allowed Protestantism to flourish. Toward the end of his reign,
|
---|
396 | there were few councilors who could remember the Catholic
|
---|
397 | supremacy. They had benefited from the break with Rome, both
|
---|
398 | spiritually and materially; Henry, meanwhile, never understood the force
|
---|
399 | he had unleashed. When Katharine made the mistake of arguing about
|
---|
400 | theology with him, she came very close to losing her head. Only a
|
---|
401 | timely intervention and her own impassioned apology saved her. But
|
---|
402 | upon Henry's death and Edward's ascension, the Protestant faction was in
|
---|
403 | control. The new king, just nine years old, had Protestant tutors
|
---|
404 | and a Protestant step-mother. Indeed, Edward VI is revealed in his
|
---|
405 | journal as a priggish, unfeeling boy who noted the executions of his
|
---|
406 | uncles with no trace of compassion. His letters to Katharine Parr,
|
---|
407 | however, are the only examples of feeling and affection which he left
|
---|
408 | behind. To her, he confided his insecurity and
|
---|
409 | vulnerability.</FONT>
|
---|
410 | <P><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">Katharine Parr's influence on
|
---|
411 | Edward VI was to simply strengthen the Protestantism which his tutors
|
---|
412 | and the English court encouraged. For Mary, the situation was
|
---|
413 | disastrous. Edward, swayed by religious fervor and his advisors,
|
---|
414 | made English compulsory for church services. Mary continued to
|
---|
415 | celebrate Mass in the old form and in Latin. During the six years
|
---|
416 | of her brother's reign, she tread the fine line between piety and
|
---|
417 | treason. Edward attempted to reason with her at court yet she
|
---|
418 | refused his advice. Indeed, she was a woman in her thirties and he
|
---|
419 | was still a child. Edward was also under the control of the Duke
|
---|
420 | of Somerset, Jane Seymour's staunchly Protestant brother. Though
|
---|
421 | Henry VIII's will had specified a specific group of councilors to guide
|
---|
422 | his son's regency, his wishes were disregarded. His fellow
|
---|
423 | councilors, most of whom had profited from the Catholic expulsion,
|
---|
424 | titled Somerset Lord Protector. The nine-year-old king had no deep
|
---|
425 | affection for his uncle; Somerset kept Edward short of pocket money and
|
---|
426 | hired harsh tutors who regularly beat the boy. But their religious
|
---|
427 | sympathies were similar. Mary managed to disregard the combined
|
---|
428 | pressure of Somerset and Edward, largely because she stayed away from
|
---|
429 | court. Her brother was firm with her. He told her she was
|
---|
430 | misguided and occasionally threatened her. Mary was intelligent
|
---|
431 | enough to not risk open disobedience, preferring the quiet celebration
|
---|
432 | of Mass in her country home. Meanwhile, in 1549, Somerset had
|
---|
433 | overstepped his authority and was executed. His fall was largely
|
---|
434 | engineered by John Dudley, Earl of Warwick and soon-to-be Duke of
|
---|
435 | Northumberland. From then on, Edward was under Dudley's
|
---|
436 | control.</FONT>
|
---|
437 | <P><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">Edward VI ruled for just seven
|
---|
438 | years. The last year of his life was one of near-constant pain and
|
---|
439 | suffering. Various illnesses have been suggested, </FONT>
|
---|
440 | <FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">consumption
|
---|
441 | being the most likely. He had never been of robust health, unlike
|
---|
442 | his father, and the Protestant councilors did all they could to prolong
|
---|
443 | his life. To that end, Edward was given arsenic and various other
|
---|
444 | poisons which were believed to prolong life even as they increased
|
---|
445 | suffering. For Dudley and his supporters, Edward's death was
|
---|
446 | inevitable but they needed every available moment to prevent Mary from
|
---|
447 | ascending the throne. They were not fools and knew their fate with
|
---|
448 | a Catholic queen. Dudley hurriedly married his son Guildford to <A
|
---|
449 | href="../relative/janegrey.html">Lady Jane
|
---|
450 | Grey</A>, Edward VI's Protestant, scholarly cousin. Like Edward,
|
---|
451 | Jane was a pawn in Dudley's schemes. She was the granddaughter of
|
---|
452 | Henry VIII's younger sister Mary Tudor and, thus, a remote claimant to
|
---|
453 | the English throne. Working together, Edward and Dudley
|
---|
454 | disregarded Henry VIII's will yet again and barred both Mary and
|
---|
455 | Elizabeth from the succession. In turn, Edward willed the throne
|
---|
456 | to Jane and her heirs. When he finally died, Jane was declared
|
---|
457 | Queen by Dudley and the Protestant lords.</FONT>
|
---|
458 | <P><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">Jane Grey's ascension to the
|
---|
459 | throne lasted but nine days. Though the Protestant councilors were
|
---|
460 | not fond of Mary's religious views, many still regarded her as the
|
---|
461 | rightful heir. She was, after all, Bluff King Hal's daughter.
|
---|
462 | Like her mother, Mary had enormous sympathy from the English people, a
|
---|
463 | gift she was to squander recklessly. Many viewed her as the poor
|
---|
464 | victim of Anne Boleyn's scheming, a quiet, kindly, and pious woman.
|
---|
465 | It should be noted that </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">the
|
---|
466 | English people cared not so much for her religious views as they did her
|
---|
467 | parentage. She was the old king's child and therefore, she should
|
---|
468 | follow Edward to the throne. This loyalty to Mary's dynastic
|
---|
469 | claims was something she never fully understood. As queen, Mary
|
---|
470 | was capable of both extreme affection and disdain for her English
|
---|
471 | subjects.</FONT>
|
---|
472 | <P><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times">With Jane declared queen, Mary
|
---|
473 | fled to Norfolk. Though her closest friends advised against it,
|
---|
474 | she soon decided to ride to London and stake her own claim to the
|
---|
475 | throne. The people of London welcomed her ecstatically. Mary
|
---|
476 | arrested Jane Grey and Guildford Dudley, though she displayed her
|
---|
477 | typical leniency by not immediately executing them. When Jane's
|
---|
478 | fugitive father attempted to lead an uprising for her, Mary had him
|
---|
479 | executed along with John Dudley. Jane and Guildford, however,
|
---|
480 | remained in the Tower of London.</FONT>
|
---|
481 | <P> <P>
|
---|
482 | <HR width="100%">
|
---|
483 |
|
---|
484 | <blockquote>
|
---|
485 |
|
---|
486 | <P align="left"><b>
|
---|
487 | <font face="Times New Roman,Times">
|
---|
488 | <a href="../primary.html">The PRIMARY
|
---|
489 | SOURCES section contains many documents related to Queen Mary:</a></font></b> <BR>
|
---|
490 | <FONT
|
---|
491 | size=-1 face="Times New Roman,Times"><B>-</B>read a letter to Mary from her mother, Katharine of
|
---|
492 | Aragon</FONT> <BR><FONT
|
---|
493 | size=-1 face="Times New Roman,Times">-read the entire text of Mary's letter to her father, in which
|
---|
494 | she acknowledged Henry as head of the church of England, the dissolution
|
---|
495 | of his marriage to Katharine of Aragon & her own illegitimacy (a
|
---|
496 | letter she later disavowed)</FONT> <BR>
|
---|
497 | <FONT size=-1 face="Times New Roman,Times">-read a journal entry of
|
---|
498 | Edward VI, in which he recorded a religious dispute with
|
---|
499 | Mary</FONT> <BR><FONT
|
---|
500 | size=-1 face="Times New Roman,Times">- read a letter from Catherine Parr to Mary</FONT>
|
---|
501 | <BR><FONT size=-1 face="Times New Roman,Times">-read Mary's speech
|
---|
502 | at the Guildhall, in which she asked for loyalty in the face of Wyatt's
|
---|
503 | uprising</FONT> <BR>
|
---|
504 | <FONT
|
---|
505 | size=-1 face="Times New Roman,Times">-read a letter from Lady Jane Grey to Mary, in which Jane
|
---|
506 | explains the circumstances which led to her becoming queen for nine
|
---|
507 | days</FONT> <BR><FONT
|
---|
508 | size=-1 face="Times New Roman,Times">-read about the executions of Lady Jane Grey and Lord Guildford
|
---|
509 | Dudley</FONT> <BR><FONT
|
---|
510 | size=-1 face="Times New Roman,Times">-read about the execution of Archbishop Thomas
|
---|
511 | Cranmer</FONT> <BR><FONT
|
---|
512 | size=-1 face="Times New Roman,Times">-read a contemporary description of Mary I</FONT>
|
---|
513 | <BR><FONT size=-1 face="Times New Roman,Times">etc.</FONT>
|
---|
514 |
|
---|
515 | </blockquote>
|
---|
516 |
|
---|
517 | <P align="center"><font size="2">Visit <a href="http://www.marileecody.com/mary1images.html">Tudor
|
---|
518 | England: Images</a> to view portraits of Mary, with commentary. </font>
|
---|
519 | <CENTER>
|
---|
520 | <P><FONT size=-1><A
|
---|
521 | href="../monarchs.html">to Tudor
|
---|
522 | Monarchs</A></FONT> <BR><FONT size=-1><A
|
---|
523 | href="http://englishhistory.net/tudor.html">to Tudor
|
---|
524 | England</A></FONT></CENTER>
|
---|
525 | </blockquote>
|
---|
526 | </blockquote>
|
---|
527 | </blockquote>
|
---|
528 |
|
---|
529 | </body>
|
---|
530 |
|
---|
531 | </html><!-- text below generated by server. PLEASE REMOVE --><!-- Counter/Statistics data collection code --><script language="JavaScript" src="http://hostingprod.com/js_source/geov2.js"></script><script language="javascript">geovisit();</script><noscript><img src="http://visit.webhosting.yahoo.com/visit.gif?us1108082562" alt="setstats" border="0" width="1" height="1"></noscript>
|
---|
532 | <IMG SRC="http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=76001524&t=1108082562" ALT=1 WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=1>
|
---|