Mary I of England

Early Life

Mary was born to Catherine of Aragon and King Henry VIII on the 18th of February in 1516. She was the only child of the royal couple to survive past infancy (including three miscarriages and one short-lived boy named Henry, Duke of Cornwall). She was beloved by her father in her early childhood due to her intelligence, proficiency in languages and her mild temper (Henry famously boasted that she never cried). She was raised as a devout Roman Catholic by her similarly devout mother, who had moved to England from a catholic Spain to marry Henry’s brother (Arthur, Prince of Wales, died before the marriage was consummated). When Mary was 9, she was sent to preside over Wales. She took over duties usually reserved for the Prince of Wales, which lead to her nickname the “Princess of Wales” although she was never formally given the title. Her childhood was filled with engagements and marriage proposals that were observed and chosen by her father and his advisors. By 1528, Mary had been officially engaged to two men and unofficially engaged to two more (none of these early engagements were to come to fruition).

Young Adulthood

Although seemingly beloved by her father, her birth as a girl meant Henry was not satisfied with his line of succession. Thus, he began to search for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon when he was refused a son. The residing pope, Pope Clement VII, refused to annul the marriage on the ground Henry proposed (Henry declared the marriage was unclean due to her previous marriage to his brother, Arthur). In 1531, Mary was banned from visiting her mother. Catherine had been effectively banished when Henry sent her to live away from court. Catherine’s humiliation would only be exacerbated by Henry. In 1533, when Mary was 17, her father married Anne Boleyn. Soon afterwards, the Archbishop of Canterbury declared Henry’s marriage to Catherine void. Henry declared himself the head of the Church of England, dissolving the Pope’s authority over England. This marked the end of Mary’s childhood time in court as she was quickly deemed illegitimate which placed her outside of the royal line of succession. Her household in Wales was dissolved, and in December of 1533 she joined her newborn half-sister Elizabeth’s household in Hertfordshire. Mary despised her new sister and stepmother, refusing to acknowledge either as the queen or princess. This did not help her favor with the king, and they did not speak a single word to each other for three years.

Adulthood

During her time at Hertfordshire, Mary was banned from visiting with her sick mother in her convent at Peterborough Cathedral. In 1536, Catherine died and Mary was left inconsolable. Mary was also banned from attending her funeral by Henry. That same year, Anne Boleyn was famously executed and Mary’s half-sister Elizabeth was similarly stripped of her titles. Soon after the beheading of Boleyn, Henry married Jane Seymour who proved instrumental in Mary’s reconciliation with the King. Seymour insisted Henry mend relations with Mary, leading to him demanding Mary acknowledge his authority as the head of the Church of England, her parent’s marriage’s unlawfulness, and her illegitimacy. Mary reluctantly agreed to the Kings demands, and her household was reinstated. Throughout the rest of Henry’s reign, he would deal with many plots and a rebellion (the Pilgrimage of Grace) to reinstate Catholicism and Mary’s legitimacy to England. Mary would see many former servants and acquaintances executed for their attempts to rebel. Once Henry married his sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr, he was convinced to bring the family closer together by reinstating Mary and Elizabeth’s places in the succession line behind Henry’s only son, Edward (although they were never legitimized and remain legally illegitimate) through the Act of Succession of 1544.

Post-Henry Adulthood

Henry VIII died in 1547, succeeded by his nine-year-old son Edward VI. During Edwards reign, a regency council ruled over England and instated many protestant laws, such as the Act of Uniformity of 1549. Even though catholicism was being stamped out in a now protestant England, Mary remained devout in her catholic beliefs. As Edward ruled, he would admonish his half sister for her refusal to submit to his laws. Notably moving her to tears during a 1550 Christmas reunion in front of the entire court. Edward was a sickly king, and by fifteen he was aware of his impending death. As a way to avoid the undoing of his protestant council, he met with advisors on ways to disinherit Mary. Ultimately, he could not disinherit only one of his half sisters and therefore in his official will, neither Elizabeth or Mary are included in the line of succession. Instead, his father’s younger sister’s granddaughter Lady Jane Grey was to be crowned upon his death.

Mary & the Crown

Following her brother’s death in 1553, Mary would see Lady Jane Grey crowned from East Anglia. Mary would send an order to her brother’s and now Lady Jane Grey’s Privy Council to proclaim her as Edward’s successor. Once the order arrived, Mary’s military force overtook LJG’s which lead to her imprisonment in the Tower of London and her subsequent execution. Mary rode in a procession to London with her half sister and hundreds of noblemen supporters on August 3rd, 1553, finally claiming the throne for herself. Mary was, excluding the complicated Lady Jane Grey situation and that of Empress Matilda, the first woman to successfully become Queen Regnant. In Mary’s coronation, her catholic beliefs reigned supreme as she demanded new holy water christened, a new coronation robe, and a new throne be made as her Protestant family had polluted the artifacts when they had used them. When crowned, she claimed she would not force the people to follow her religion. This sentiment may have been nice, but she did not follow it. Some of her first acts as queen were to release many two notable Roman Catholics from the Tower of London. Mary married Prince Philip II of Spain, the son of her first cousin King Charles V, in an alliance meant to strengthen relations with Phillip’s family the Habsburgs. The English people heavily disliked the marriage, as they feared England would become dependent on the Habsburgs. Despite this, the marriage persisted. With Phillip came the idea of the Spanish Inquisition, leading to the persecution of English protestants throughout Mary’s reign. In the proceeding years, 283 dissenting noble protestants were burned at the stake for heresy. Her acts were widely despised by even Phillip’s ecclesiastical staff. This lead to her infamous title of “Bloody Mary”. (Yes, the same Bloody Mary children are scared of summoning in a bathroom mirror). Mary would have multiple false alarm pregnancies during her marriage to Phillip, but by March of 1558 she had to accept she could not bear children and her successor would instead be her protestant sister Elizabeth.

Death and After

Mary died of possible ovarian cysts or ovarian cancer at the age of 42 on the 17th of November, 1558. Phillip, in writings, claimed to have “reasonable regret for her death.” Elizabeth ascended to the throne and became Queen Elizabeth I of England, outshining her sister forevermore and reversing all of Mary’s religious laws. Mary’s will stated that she should be buried next to her mother in Peterborough Cathedral.
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