19

Bloody Mary

Mary I

Mary I was the first effective queen regnant of England and she swept to power on a wave of popular support. She died just five years later universally hated, with bonfires lit in the street to celebrate her death. Today she is remembered as ‘Bloody Mary’, a bigoted Catholic so secure in her convictions that she burnt her own subjects in an attempt to purge England of Protestantism. Mary Tudor had a difficult life and although personally kind and likeable, she was used as a model of an evil queen by her half-sister, Elizabeth I. Mary’s ideas were still essentially medieval and it is appropriate that her medieval attitude caused much of her unpopularity. Mary Tudor was never able to see that England had changed dramatically from the time of her childhood. In her essential attitude she was the last medieval Queen of England.

Mary Tudor was the only surviving child of Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, being born on 18 February 1516.¹ As their only child, Mary was adored by both her parents during her childhood and her father loved to display her to visitors to his court.² Mary was a pretty child and grew up to resemble her father. According to a description of her given by the French ambassador in 1541, Mary was ‘of middle stature, and is in face like her father, especially about the mouth, but has a voice more manlike, for a woman, than he has for a man’.³ For Henry, Mary was a useful diplomatic tool and her earliest childhood was dominated by various betrothals to European royalty. Henry also saw Mary’s birth as a promise that he and Catherine would soon have living sons. Although Mary’s sex was, of course, a disappointment to her father, the fact that here at last was a healthy child, outweighed any other disadvantage.

Mary would have known from her earliest childhood that her destiny was to marry a foreign prince. However, as she grew older she must have become increasingly aware of her position as her father’s heiress. Catherine of Aragon’s last pregnancy occurred in 1518 and by the early 1520s it must have been clear to both Henry and Catherine that they would have no further children together. Catherine of Aragon, herself the daughter of a female monarch, accepted this early and arranged for Mary to have an education suitable for a future ruler. In her adulthood, Mary could read and write in English and Latin, speak French and understand Spanish.⁴ She was also musical, being able to sing, dance and ride. Henry considered Mary his heir. In 1525 she was sent to Ludlow to govern as Princess of Wales, the only female ever to hold this title in her own right.⁵ Mary stayed in Ludlow for eighteen months, returning to London in 1527.⁶

Mary returned to a court very different to the one she had left in 1525. By 1527, Henry had met Anne Boleyn and had instigated his divorce proceedings against Catherine of Aragon. Mary probably first heard of her parents’ divorce from gossip in her household. She must have been shocked and probably did not believe it at first. Mary always supported Catherine and remained loyal to her mother until her own death. She was with her mother at Windsor when Henry rode away from Catherine for the final time, to never see her again.⁷ The close relationship between Mary and Catherine frightened Henry. In May 1533 he forbade them to communicate with each other. Their correspondence continued secretly, but they were never to see each other again and Mary felt the separation from her mother keenly. In April 1533 Mary was informed of Henry’s second marriage and her own illegitimacy. The loss of her status and title hit Mary hard and worse was to follow when she was sent to serve her infant half-sister, Elizabeth, in December 1533.

Mary had been stripped of her status as Henry’s heiress when he divorced her mother. The birth of Elizabeth in September 1533 gave Henry a new heiress. Elizabeth was given her own household at Hatfield House and Mary was forced to join her. Mary did not prove as malleable as Henry and Anne Boleyn hoped and she refused to cooperate once in Elizabeth’s household. In March 1534 Mary had to be carried struggling into her litter when she refused to move with Elizabeth’s household from Hatfield.⁸ That proved to be a humiliating experience for Mary and the next time the household moved, she entered her litter without force. However once inside, Mary had her litter bearers run so that she arrived at her destination an hour before Elizabeth and therefore occupied the chief place on arrival. This must have given Mary a measure of personal satisfaction but in reality she was powerless to alter her situation. In spring 1534, Mary was locked in her room with a guard at the door when she refused to take the oath of succession that bastardised her and denied her parents’ marriage.⁹ Mary apparently felt desperate and secretly petitioned her cousin Emperor Charles V to smuggle her out of England.¹⁰ Nonetheless she was closely guarded and any chance of escape was missed.

The death of her mother in January 1536 was a further blow for Mary and she must have felt totally isolated. She still held out against Anne Boleyn’s efforts to befriend her and after Anne’s death Mary wrote to her father’s first minister, Thomas Cromwell, to ask for his help in reconciling her with her father.¹¹ Mary believed that Anne Boleyn was the sole cause of her mistreatment and she must have hoped that with Anne gone, Henry would welcome her again as his legitimate daughter. Mary’s illusions about her father were shattered when, following her approach to Cromwell, a commission was sent to her at Hunsdon to extract the oath of succession from her. Mary once again stood out against Henry’s agents but eventually without her mother’s influence she gave in, signing a document that acknowledged that her parents had never been married and her own illegitimacy.¹² Mary never forgave herself for betraying her mother and this single act contributed to much of the unhappiness she experienced in her later life. Her father’s harsh treatment of her in the summer of 1536 also shattered any illusions she had about him. In her later life, Mary spoke of Henry with respect, but never with any trace of admiration or affection.¹³ Rumours later accredited Mary with having Henry’s body exhumed and his heart burnt.¹⁴ It is unlikely that this ever occurred but, certainly, Mary saw Henry as the man who had destroyed both her happiness and that of her beloved mother.

Mary’s capitulation pleased Henry and she was invited back to court and given her own household again. However she was not legitimised and lost any status she had as heir apparent with the birth of her halfbrother Edward in October 1537. Mary remained in her father’s favour for the rest of his life and acted as his court hostess from the death of Catherine Howard until his marriage to Catherine Parr in 1543.¹⁵ In 1544, Mary was restored to the succession by an act of parliament but even this triumph must have rankled, as she remained illegitimate.¹⁶ Despite her illegitimacy, Mary remained of interest to the European powers and received several offers of marriage. It is probable that she wished to marry and have children, but her father would never allow her to leave the country. The report of a French ambassador relates how Mary greatly desired to have children.¹⁷ The death of Henry VIII in January 1547 left Mary as a wealthy independent landowner and heir presumptive to England but changed little in her personal situation.

Mary had always been a devout Catholic and this orthodoxy brought her into conflict with Edward VI’s council. Edward VI’s council was made up of religious reformers and England was quickly moved in a more Protestant direction. Mary always made it clear that she disapproved of this religious change and as the heir apparent, this was a major threat to the council. During 1549 Mary was visited by two members of Edward’s council who came to examine her over her adherence to the new religious laws. Mary must have presented a formidable figure to the councillors and replied that ‘she would have the old service until the king came of age, and would not obey the Protector’s laws because he was no king’.¹⁸ This attitude displeased Edward’s protector, the Duke of Somerset, and pressure was put on Mary to conform. As the cousin of the emperor, however, Mary had a powerful supporter and she appealed to Charles V for help. Charles V immediately sent his ambassadors to the Duke of Somerset. He demanded that Mary be given an assurance that she could use her own services regardless of what the law said in England.¹⁹ Faced with threats from the emperor, Somerset capitulated and gave Mary a verbal assurance that she could follow the Roman Catholic faith in her own household. Mary must have been glad of this victory and she made a point of allowing anyone who wished to hear her mass.

Whilst Mary had an assurance from Somerset, she soon found that this was worthless. In 1549, John Dudley, Earl of Warwick engineered a coup against Somerset, appointing himself Protector and creating himself Duke of Northumberland. Northumberland was not prepared to turn a blind eye to Mary’s Catholicism and sent commissioners to Mary at Kenninghall.²⁰ Mary was no longer a girl of seventeen and she stood up to the commissioners imperiously answering them that she was not subject to the council and so did not have to follow their religion. The pressure on her was not relieved, however, and members of Mary’s household were arrested for attending her church services. By May 1550 Mary had had enough of the council’s harassment and asked the Spanish ambassador for the emperor’s help in escaping to the continent.²¹ Edward VI was twelve years old and in good health; Mary must have foreseen years of pressure from the king and his council. In June 1550 two imperial ships landed at Harwich. They then moved on to Woodham Water near one of Mary’s manors, pretending to sell corn. When the captain of one of the ships landed and went to Mary, he found her still unpacked and refusing to leave. This was Mary’s last chance of escape to her family in Spain and it marked a turning point for her, finally committing herself to life in England. Soon after the ships had left, the council heard of the escape plan and Mary was forced to move inland.

In spite of her decision to remain in England, Mary’s troubles were not over. Late in 1550, Mary was summoned before the council to account for her religion.²² Mary, perhaps with new resolution following her decision to remain in England, remained stubborn in her religion in spite of being berated by Northumberland. She must have been relieved during her stay at court when a message arrived from Charles V threatening war if Mary was not permitted to hear mass. The council were forced to relent in the face of threats of war and Mary was allowed to return to her house at Newhall. Northumberland and the council were still concerned with Mary’s status as heir to the throne, however, and it is likely that, in spite of her victory, Mary knew that they were working against her. In late 1552 she must have heard reports that Edward VI was ill and probably followed them closely. On 4 July 1553, both Mary and Elizabeth received summonses to visit Edward at court at Greenwich. Mary was unsure of what action to take and began to move hesitantly towards London. She was at Hoddesdon on 6 July 1553 when she received word that Edward had already died and that her summons was a trap. Mary acted decisively and she and eight followers fled during the night to her house at Kenninghall.²³

Mary had always been very popular in England and rumours of her rebellion against Northumberland spread through East Anglia.²⁴ In Mary’s absence, Northumberland proclaimed Lady Jane Grey as queen and Mary immediately wrote to the council in London claiming the throne for herself. By taking this action, Mary realised that Northumberland would send an army against her. Recognising that Kenninghall could not withstand an attack, she moved her forces to her castle at Framlingham, the strongest fortification in Suffolk. Without even having to muster troops, people flocked to Mary to fight for her and she must have been glad of this show of loyalty towards her. It is likely that Mary gradually grew in confidence as she received reports that towns across England were declaring for her rather than Jane. On 20 July, Mary was finally ready to meet Northumberland and she mustered and inspected her army at Framlingham. Mary was completely unaccustomed to war and rode her usual horse to review her troops:

While her majesty was approaching, the white horse which she was riding became rather more frisky at the unaccustomed sight of such an army drawn up in formation than her womanly hesitancy was prepared to risk, so she ordered her foot-soldiers, active and dutiful men, to lift up their hands and help their sovereign until she was ready to get down.²⁵

Mary’s review of the troops shows just how unusual a situation this unmarried woman of 37 found herself in. She acquitted herself well, however, surveying the troops on foot, speaking and approaching her men, gaining her soldiers’ love. Mary must have been pleased at what she saw of her troops although she was probably apprehensive at her coming military campaign against Northumberland. When Mary returned to the castle later that day she was informed that Northumberland’s army had deserted and that she had been proclaimed queen throughout England.²⁶ Mary was jubilant and always considered her victory over Northumberland to be a miracle from God.

Mary spent the next few days discharging her army before setting out in triumph to London where she was met by celebrations.²⁷ One of Mary’s first acts as queen was to repeal her parent’s divorce and to declare herself legitimate, something which probably gave her a great deal of personal satisfaction.²⁸ She then turned her attention towards religion. Mary, who was so staunch in her own beliefs, never realised the extent to which Protestantism had been adopted in England and she never understood that Protestants could be as convinced of their own justification as she was of hers. Before the end of July 1553, Mary had written to the Pope to request that England return to his authority.²⁹ Mary did not envisage too many problems with the implementation of this policy but as her reign progressed, she became increasingly vicious in her attempts to stamp out Protestantism in England.

Mary was the first queen regnant of England to be crowned and she arranged a magnificent ceremony. On 30 September 1553, Mary rode in an open carriage magnificently dressed.³⁰ Mary’s headdress alone was so decked in precious stones that the weight required Mary to hold her head up with her hands.³¹ Mary must have felt triumphant and probably still believed that her triumph was God’s work and that he favoured her and her work. On 1 October, Mary, dressed in a long scarlet robe, was escorted by the same company to Westminster Abbey. In the Abbey she was crowned and anointed as England’s first queen regnant to assert a lasting authority over England. At that moment, Mary must have felt that the unhappiness of her earlier life was washed away and she was even content to give a prominent position to her much younger sister, Elizabeth, the daughter of her greatest enemy, Anne Boleyn. Mary probably felt secure in her position and did not yet see Elizabeth as a rival. Mary also probably saw her coronation as a single female as an oddity and it was expected by all, including Mary, that she would quickly marry and provide England with a king.

Mary had always relied on her cousin Charles V for advice and, soon after her accession, she declared to Simon Renard, the Imperial ambassador that she would follow Charles’s advice over her choice of a husband.³² This was an opportunity Charles had been waiting for and he offered his son and heir, Philip of Spain. Philip was twenty-six and already a widower with a son.³³ He was also renowned across Europe for being sombre, dull and dedicated to his work. Mary first protested at this offer, arguing that, at thirty-seven, she was too old for Philip. There is no doubt, however, that Philip was the bridegroom that Mary wanted. Despite her protestations she quickly consented. Mary had always felt a closeness with her mother’s Spanish family and it probably pleased her to strengthen her ties with Charles V. Despite Mary’s happiness with her choice it was widely disapproved of in England. News of the proposed Spanish marriage spread fear amongst the xenophobic English and there was widespread opposition to Mary’s choice.

Soon after Mary’s marriage treaty was concluded in early 1554, she received word that a rebellion had broken out in Kent, led by Sir Thomas Wyatt.³⁴ Mary was in London when she heard the news and immediately showed the same spirit that had won her the throne of England. According to the Vita Mariae Angliae Reginae:

The Queen left the palace and came to the City Guildhall, riding through the streets preceded by her council and followed by a company of ladies, addressing the people as she went with wonderful good nature and uncommon courtesy, and all the time exhibiting a cheerful countenance, worthy of such a princess. Dismounting, she entered the Guildhall and delivered a splendid speech to her citizens; the good princess, an incomparable oratrix, could command such eloquence that with her gentle and pleasant speech she completely calmed the Londoners, who were in such tumult over the Spanish marriage.³⁵

Mary’s speech saved the situation. The following day on 5 February, when Wyatt and his rebels arrived at Southwark, they found the Bridge closed and the Londoners refused to open it for them. On 6 February, Wyatt attempted to seize Kingston Bridge but again found it defended and was forced to camp at Brentford whilst he formulated a new plan. The next day he managed to cross the Thames into London but was quickly arrested whilst his men either fled or were killed. Mary must have been relieved that the rebellion was over, but she had been badly frightened and her reaction, which would have been considered normal in a king, was considered savage in a queen.

Wyatt was tried for treason on 15 March 1554 and implicated Mary’s half-sister, Elizabeth, claiming that he wrote to her declaring his plans to rebel.³⁶ Mary had already begun to suspect that her sister was involved and on 18 March Elizabeth was taken as a prisoner to the Tower. Wyatt was executed on 11 April and died proclaiming that Elizabeth was innocent of complicity in his rebellion. Mary remained unconvinced. Although Elizabeth was released from the Tower, she was placed under house arrest at Woodstock where she remained for several months.³⁷ Mary was unable to prove that Elizabeth had been involved in the rebellion but she never trusted her sister again. Mary had been fond of Elizabeth whilst she was a child but as Elizabeth grew older, Mary came to see in her an unnerving resemblance to Anne Boleyn. Mary was fond of declaring that Elizabeth was not her sister at all and looked like Mark Smeaton, one of Anne Boleyn’s supposed lovers.³⁸ The thought of Elizabeth succeeding her filled Mary with dread and she was desperate to marry quickly and bear a child.

Despite Wyatt’s rebellion, plans for Mary’s wedding continued unaffected. On 19 July 1554 Philip landed at Southampton.³⁹ Mary travelled to Winchester to meet him and she and Philip talked privately for over an hour on their first meeting.⁴⁰ Mary, who had already fallen half in love with Philip’s portrait, was very impressed with her bridegroom. Philip was less impressed and the Spaniards in his train declared privately that Mary looked older than had been expected and was badly dressed. Philip knew where his duty lay, however, and was nothing but courteous to Mary during their early meetings. On 25 July 1554, Mary and Philip were married in Winchester Cathedral by the Bishop of Winchester. Before the service, the Bishop declared that Charles V had abdicated the thrones of Naples and Jerusalem to his son so that Mary would not have to marry a mere prince.⁴¹ This probably appealed to the romantic in Mary who had been waiting for a husband to come for her all her adult life. Mary clearly had a romanticised idea of marriage and wanted the ceremony to fit with her own romantic ideas. According to one report, ‘the queens marriage ring was a plain hoope of gold without any stone in it: for that was as it is said her pleasure, because maydens were so married in olde tymes’.⁴²Mary always expected Philip to become King of England and on 5 May 1554 he was granted the crown matrimonial for the duration of her lifetime.⁴³

Mary believed that her accession to the crown was a miracle and that God would also give her a child to continue her work when she was gone.⁴⁴ She was therefore pleased to be told by her doctors in September 1554 that she was expecting a child.⁴⁵ Mary confidently expected that she would give birth to a healthy prince and she showed all the signs of pregnancy. At Easter 1555, Mary went into confinement at Hampton Court for a child that was expected in May. On 30 April 1555, the news broke throughout England that Mary had given birth to a healthy prince and bonfires were lit and church bells rung.⁴⁶ By 2 May, this news had also reached the imperial court at Antwerp and Charles V ordered immediate rejoicing for the birth of his grandson.⁴⁷ Mary must have been embarrassed by this celebration since it quickly became clear to everyone that the news was nothing but an unfounded rumour and no child had yet been born.

Mary waited through the whole of May for a birth that did not occur and her doctors hurriedly began to recalculate, first saying June and then July. By late May, however, Mary’s stomach had begun to decrease in size and it began to dawn on those around her that there would be no child.⁴⁸ Only Mary refused to believe that she had been mistaken and she spent her time weeping and praying whilst she continued to wait. Philip was impatient to leave for the continent, having stayed in England only to await the birth of his child. Finally in early August, the court abruptly moved to Oatlands, signalling to the world that Mary’s confinement had ended.⁴⁹ Mary must have been devastated by the failure of her ‘pregnancy’ and her grief was confounded on 29 August when Philip sailed to Flanders. Mary wrote to him fondly every day but Philip’s replies quickly became fewer and fewer and Mary realised that he had deserted her.

With the failure of her marriage and dashed hopes of a child, Mary threw herself into her religion. She came to believe that she had earned God’s displeasure with her failure to punish Protestants enough and that this was why He had not given her a child. Mary had begun to burn Protestants in February 1555 but these dramatically increased following Philip’s departure, in Mary’s bid to please God and so earn His favour again. Thousands of Protestants were burned during Mary’s reign and she earned the nickname, ‘Bloody Mary’ for this policy. Mary burned a number of high profile Protestants as well as many ordinary men and women. Bishops Ridley and Latimer were burned at Oxford on 16 October 1555.⁵⁰ Mary probably also gained some personal satisfaction from the burning of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. Mary refused to pardon Cranmer even after he recanted of his heresy and returned to the Roman Catholic Church and it is likely that this was at least in part due to the old grudge she bore against him for the divorce of her mother.⁵¹ It was Cranmer who had pronounced Henry VIII’s headship of the Church of England and the divorce of Catherine of Aragon and Mary probably always held him to be one of the men to blame for her mother’s unhappiness. Heretics were burnt during the reigns of Mary’s brother and her father but it is Mary who is remembered as the most cruel. This is to a large extent due to the fact that Protestantism ultimately triumphed. It is John Foxe’s view of Mary that endures to this day:

Before her was never read in history of any king or queen of England since the beginning of the kingdom, under whom, in time of peace, by hanging, heading, burning, and prisoning, so many Englishmen’s lives, were spilled within this realm, as Queen Mary, for the space of four years.⁵²

Mary’s burnings damaged both her reputation and what remained of her popularity within England.

Charles V abdicated in early 1556 and Philip wrote to Mary informing her that she was now Queen of Spain.⁵³ As King of Spain, Philip found himself quickly embroiled in a war with France and he wanted English support. Mary refused to cooperate without seeing Philip in person and so Philip, realising reconciliation was necessary, sailed to England, landing at Dover on 18 March 1557.⁵⁴ Mary was overjoyed that her husband had returned to her and quickly forgave him his neglect of her. She agreed to Philip’s demands that England declare war on France and was devastated when he left to fight his wars on 6 July 1557. Mary travelled with him to Dover and saw him onto his ship. She never saw him again. The war proved a disaster to England and, once again, Mary’s Spanish marriage was blamed for English troubles. On 7 January 1558 Calais, the last English possession in France fell to the French. Mary is remembered as the monarch who lost the last vestige of the great Angevin empire. Mary fully understood the significance of this loss, reportedly saying ‘when I am dead and opened, you shall find Calais lying in my heart’.⁵⁵ It was almost the last failure of her reign.

Soon after Philip left England for the last time, Mary came to believe that she was pregnant once again.⁵⁶ Mary, remembering her previous humiliation, delayed announcing her pregnancy until she was certain, although Philip and most of the people of England remained sceptical. Mary was as convinced by this pregnancy as she was by the last. In March 1558 she made a will leaving everything to the child she would bear. Once again, she was disappointed and by late May, well over nine months since Philip’s departure, even Mary had to admit that she was mistaken. It is probable that Mary’s second ‘pregnancy’ was in fact a symptom of cancer. After the failure of her second ‘pregnancy’, Mary retreated into her ill health and disappointment. In November 1558 Philip’s ambassador, the Count of Feria found Mary dying when he arrived in England. According to his dispatch to Philip, ‘she was happy to see me, since I brought her news of your majesty, and to receive the letter, although she was unable to read it’.⁵⁷ Even to the last, Mary deluded herself that her husband loved her and Feria reported to Philip that she had kept all the letters that Philip had sent her.⁵⁸ Mary had been reluctant to name her hated sister Elizabeth as her successor but under pressure from both Philip and her council she relented, agreeing to accept her as her heir.⁵⁹ As she lay dying, members of Mary’s court flocked to her successor at Hatfield. Mary died on 17 November 1558 aged forty-two. She died a disappointed and unhappy woman and bonfires were lit and church bells rung in London to celebrate her death and the accession of Elizabeth.⁶⁰

Mary Tudor’s reign is remembered as an dark time for England and her reign is overshadowed by the glory of Elizabeth’s. Although a good woman, Mary was a failure as a queen and she lost her reputation and popularity in her misguided policies and marriage. As the first effective queen regnant of England, Mary Tudor was a novelty and she did not have the imagination to invent a new role for herself, instead relying on medieval ideas of what a queen should be. It was only with the reign of Elizabeth that queenship was able to move in a different direction, something which Mary had failed to achieve. Mary Tudor will always be remembered as Bloody Mary. Although personally she appears to have been kindly and humane, she was also fanatical in her beliefs and she allowed great cruelty to be carried out in order to further these policies. There is no doubt that Mary thought she was fulfilling God’s will and that the burnings were for the country’s own good, but this viewpoint was not shared with most of her contemporaries or posterity. Mary’s accession to the throne was one of the most popular in English history and the English wanted to love her. Nevertheless by the end she was universally despised. Even Mary’s beloved husband, Philip, professed himself only mildly regretful at his wife’s death and Mary Tudor died as she had lived, unloved and ultimately a failure.