Nicknamed Bloody Mary for the religious persecutions unleashed during her reign, Queen Mary I (1516–1558) was the first woman to be crowned ruler of England. She attempted to reintroduce Roman Catholicism two decades after it had been banned by her father, Henry VIII (1491–1547)—and enforced the reversal by burning hundreds of religious dissidents at the stake.
Mary’s campaign was unsuccessful, however, and it provoked bitter opposition. After Mary’s death, her half-sister, Queen Elizabeth I (1533–1603), ended the religious wars of the sixteenth century by permanently restoring Protestantism as England’s official religion.
The only child of Henry and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536), Mary was considered an unsuitable heir to the throne because of her gender. Desperate for a male heir, Henry divorced Catherine in 1533 to marry the first of five younger women. In addition to removing Mary from the line of succession, the divorce precipitated Henry’s break with Rome. He eventually managed to father a male heir, the future Edward VI (1537–1553), with his third wife.
Edward continued his father’s religious policies after succeeding to the throne at age nine, but his death six years later provided an opening for Mary. Edward’s officially designated successor, the fifteen-year-old Protestant Lady Jane Grey (1537–1554), lasted only nine days and enjoyed little popular support. At age thirty-seven, Mary seized the crown and later had Jane beheaded.
After taking the throne, Mary alienated many in England by marrying Philip II (1527–1598), a Spanish prince and a Catholic, in 1554. The marriage provoked a rebellion led by Sir Thomas Wyatt (1521–1554). In the same year, Mary restored the heresy laws and launched a wave of persecutions against Protestants. In the context of England’s religious strife in the sixteenth century, Bloody Mary’s persecutions were not especially bloody. Indeed, her father had killed far more people in introducing Protestantism than Mary did in trying to prohibit it. But the gruesome nature of the killings—and the fact that they were committed by what was ultimately the losing side—have contributed to Mary’s dark historical reputation.
Unable to give birth to a Catholic heir, Mary died in London at age forty-two, leaving the kingdom to the Protestant Elizabeth.
ADDITIONAL FACTS
- Midway through Mary’s reign, her husband became King Philip II of Spain. In 1588, he sent the Spanish armada to attempt to wrest control of England from Queen Elizabeth I—his half-sister-in-law—but was defeated.
- During Mary’s reign, England lost control of Calais, a port on the French coast that was the last vestige of the nation’s once-extensive territory in France.
- A Bloody Mary cocktail contains vodka, tomato juice, and spices. Bloody Mary is also the name of a DC Comics supervillain affiliated with the Female Furies.
