(#8) Mary Executed 300 People But Edward VI Killed Over 5,000
What might be most shocking about the damage these executions did to Mary's reputation, the almost 300 people Mary killed in her efforts to stamp out Protestantism pale in comparison to the deaths that occurred during her brother's reign. During the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549, for example, more than 5,500 people died after they were told to change their religious practice.
The Prayer Book Rebellion resulted from Thomas Cranmer's issuance of The Book of Common Prayer, which included aspects of Catholic tradition and Protestant practice and was supposed to unify religious practice in England. It made both sides unhappy and served as a symbol of religious discontent in the country. There was discontent over taxation that added to the unrest and, in the end, over 8,000 royal troops were sent to Devon to suppress the rebellion. In the ensuing chaos thousands died, either in skirmishes or by execution.
(#7) Mary's Laws Against Protestantism Led To Hundreds Of Executions
Mary's religious policies reflected her desire to drive Protestantism out of England. Heretics were to be punished although, she pronounced that it should be done "without rashness, not leaving in the meantime to do justice such as by learning it would seem to deceive the simple, and the rest so to be used that the people might well perceive them not to be condemned without just occasion." She was advocating for education and re-teaching Catholicism, in theory, but there were hundreds of "just occasions" as well.
According to sources, 284 Protestants were burned at the stake during her reign, which created fear, outrage, and would ultimately earn her the nickname "Bloody Mary." The Protestants themselves, men like John Rogers, the first person to be burned at the stake during Mary's reign, became martyrs.
(#11) She Already Had The Nickname "Bloody Mary" By The 17th Century
Mary was vilified by her contemporaries, notably John Knox in The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstruous Regiment of Women, which attacked female monarchs. According to Knox, "It is a thing most repugnant to nature that women rule and govern over men." Knox, a Protestant, had even more reason to dislike Mary, given her fervent support of Catholicism. He went further with Mary though, calling her "unworthy by reason of her bloody tyranny of the name of a woman."
Overall, Queen Mary was portrayed as a bad queen, a failure in domestic and foreign policy, and, ultimately, unsuccessful in restoring Catholicism. Her efforts - resulting in the deaths of almost 300 people - were for naught. She's overshadowed by the reign of her sister, who came to the throne when Mary died in 1558, and is remembered for ushering in a Golden Age for England.
(#3) Mary Became Queen After Her Brother's Death And The Reign Of A Nine-Day Interloper
Mary Tudor became queen after her brother, Edward VI, died in 1553. Edward VI became king when his father died in 1547 but he was only 10 years old. Regents ruled in his stead, and when he died, a religious power struggle broke out. Catholic factions favored Mary while Protestants called for Elizabeth to be queen. There was a brief interlude during which their royal cousin, Lady Jane Grey, was made queen by Edward VI's former regents, but after nine days, she was arrested - and later executed - and Mary took the throne.
(#5) Mary Took Her Popularity To Mean All Her Subjects Wanted To Be Catholic Like Her
Despite everything that had happened to her, Mary was a staunch Catholic. During her father's and brother's reigns, Catholicism had been forced underground but Mary never stopped attending Mass and feeling as though she had committed religious treason by acknowledging them as the head of the Church of England. The enthusiasm that surrounded her accession to the throne was, to Mary, an endorsement of her desire to restore England to a Catholic country.
Mary set out to do just that. She married the Catholic King of Spain, Philip II, in 1554, to strengthen her cause. This would also, hopefully, produce an heir, which would prevent her sister, the Protestant Elizabeth, from taking the throne. She repealed Henry VIII's and Edward VI's religious laws, passing her own, and in 1555, she passed heresy laws that forbade the practice of Protestantism in England.
(#2) Mary Had To Compromise Her Beliefs To Be An Heir To The English Throne
When Henry VIII declared his marriage to Catherine of Aragon null and void, Mary was officially deemed a bastard. After Anne Boleyn gave birth to her own daughter, Elizabeth, she had Mary declared illegitimate, knocking her out of the line of succession. This was just one of the many grievances Mary would bear towards her step-mother, reviling her long after she was executed by Henry. Once Anne was dramatically and violently removed from court and her father married Jane Seymour, he reinstated Mary but only after she acknowledged him as head of the Church of England. For Mary, as a devout Catholic, this was a bitter pill to swallow.
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People who are very interested in history must also know the history of Elizabeth I, who was one of the greatest queens in British history. However, few people know that Bloody Mary is actually Elizabeth. I's sister, who is the 5th ruler of the Tudor dynasty and the first queen with actual power in British history. You may never hear of her stories, but you must know that Bloody Mary is a delicious cocktail.
Queen Mary was called "Bloody Mary" because of her cruel and merciless persecution of Protestants when she was in power. In European folk tales, "Bloody Mary" is a frightening witch, representing cruelty and bloodthirsty. The random tool will tell 12 facts about Bloody Mary and her family.
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