A message about Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary - Queen of England

Mary Tudor, called Bloody Mary by her enemies, was the third woman to ascend the throne of England. She is known for opposing the religious reforms introduced by her father, King Henry VIII, and leading England back to papal rule. Queen Mary's life was full of torment, sorrow, wealth, passion and illness. Here we will talk about the last period of Bloody Mary's life - from coronation to death. /website/

Rapid loss of popularity due to religious reforms

After her coronation on October 1, 1553, one of the first steps Mary, Queen of England took was to restore the legality of the marriage between her parents: Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Initially, Mary was as popular as her mother, who was loved by the people (even after she divorced Henry VIII). However, Mary's popularity quickly declined once she abolished all laws favorable to Protestantism.

Soon after she took the throne, Queen Mary decided to get married. Her haste is explained, among other reasons, by her obsessive desire to give the desired crown to the Catholic heir and not to allow her sister, the Protestant Elizabeth, to the throne.

Her religious fervor was also quickly evident - on November 30, 1554, with the support of Cardinal Reginald Pole, Queen Mary restored Rome's ecclesiastical authority over England. Religious persecution lasted almost four years, and dozens of Protestant leaders were executed. Many were forced to emigrate, about 800 remained in the country.

Among those executed were the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, and the reformist Hugh Latimer. Despite controversy over the number of deaths, John Foxe, in his Book of Martyrs, writes that 284 people were executed for their “faith.” The executions were enough for this Protestant historian to call Queen Mary Bloodthirsty Mary or, as it became more popular, Bloody Mary.

A fragment of an illustration from John Foxe's Book of Martyrs depicting preparations for the burning at the stake of Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley. Photo: Public Domain

Marriage to Philip II, Prince of Spain

The story goes that Mary refused the proposal of Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon, because she apparently fell madly in love while looking at a portrait of the Spanish Prince Philip II, the son of her cousin, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

Seeing her infatuation with Philip, Lord Chancellor Gardiner and the House of Commons begged Mary to choose an Englishman, fearing that England would be forced to rely on Spain in the future. But Mary stood firm, and on July 25, 1554, just two days after they met, Mary and Philip were married. The ceremony took place at Winchester Cathedral. At that time, Philip was 26 and Mary was 37 years old. For him it was just a state marriage, but she really loved him.

Portrait of Mary, Queen of England and Ireland, by Hans Eworth. On the queen's chest is the famous pearl of La Peregrina, which Philip II gave to her in 1554, on the occasion of their marriage. Photo: Public Domain

The marriage contract made it clear that Philip's Spanish advisers could not interfere in the affairs of the English state, and England was not obliged to fight Spain's enemies. In addition, Philip will be called the King of England, and all official documents, including parliamentary ones, will be signed by the king and queen. Parliament can only be convened under their joint control. Coins with portraits of both were also issued. But marriage with Philip did not add to Mary’s popularity; the British did not trust their new foreign king.

Portrait of the young Philip II by Titian (1554) Photo: Public Domain

Three months after their wedding, Mary began to suspect that she was pregnant; her belly began to grow. However, doctors attributed it to inflammation due to fluid retention. She subsequently suffered another false pregnancy. The symptoms, which included secretion of breast milk and loss of vision, are suggestive of some kind of hormonal disorder (possibly a pituitary tumor).

Portrait of Mary, Queen of England, and her husband Philip II. The couple lived together for approximately 15 months. Artist Hans Eworth. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Kingdom of Ireland and the war with France

The creation of the Kingdom of Ireland in 1542 was not recognized by the rest of Catholic Europe, but in 1555 Mary received a papal bull establishing her and her husband as monarchs of Ireland.

In August of that year, Philip left the country to participate in the abdication proceedings of his father, Emperor Charles V. After a long wait, Mary urged her husband to return as soon as possible, but since he was busy with his new role as King of Spain, Philip refused return to March 1557.

Philip II returned mainly to try to persuade Mary to support Spain in the war against France, which was allied with the new Pope Paul IV against the Habsburgs. The Queen provided her husband with significant financial support and promised military assistance if the French attacked the Netherlands.

In June 1557, Mary declared war on France, and in July Philip left England forever, Mary never seeing him again. The English army landed at Calais, a strategic point overlooking the English Channel. But in January 1558, the French captured the city in a surprise attack.

Then the Protestant faction, due to the fact that Mary violated the marriage contract (by starting a war with France at the request of Philip II), began a campaign against the queen. The streets were filled with pamphlets inciting anger against the Spaniards. The loss of Calais, famine caused by a failed harvest, and a new influenza epidemic in the country did not bode well for Mary.

The French occupied Calais, 1558. Painting by François-Edouard Picot, 1838. Photo: Public Domain

The last years of Queen Mary's life

Even though Mary was married to the Spanish King Philip II, England did not benefit from the lucrative trade with the New World: the Spaniards jealously guarded their profits. Because of her marriage to Philip, Mary could not approve of piracy against Spanish ships. In addition, constant rains and floods caused famine to hit the country.

Mary tried to create a modern form of government, with a corresponding increase in spending based on the medieval tax system. However, the absence of import duties deprived the state of its main source of income. To solve this problem, the queen drew up a plan for monetary reform, but it was not put into practice until after her death.

Mary's health gradually deteriorated; it was necessary to think about the heir to the throne. Knowing that her husband would never agree to take the reins of power in England, she chose her sister Elizabeth. Despite her sister's notorious Protestantism and her popularity, which threatened Mary, she respected Elizabeth, but limited her life to the palace rather than take more radical measures.

In early November 1558, Queen Mary made her will. In it, she appointed her sister Elizabeth as her successor, sincerely hoping that she would abandon Protestantism. In addition, in her will, she expressed her desire to be buried next to her mother, Catherine of Aragon.

Princess Elizabeth Tudor, future Elizabeth I. Painting by William Scrots (1546). Photo: Public Domain

Queen Mary died on 17 November 1558 at St James's Palace, said to be of fever, aged 42. Against her last wishes, she was buried in Westminster Abbey, far from her mother's grave in Peterborough Cathedral. Years later, her sister Elizabeth, who restored Protestantism in England upon her accession to the throne, was buried next to her.

Some argue that the Protestant Elizabeth I became queen only because of her older sister, the Catholic Mary, who, despite significant ideological differences between them, defended her sister's rights to inherit the throne of England.

Portrait of Mary, Queen of England. Painting by Hans Eworth, 1554. Photo: Public Domain

Mary Tudor, portrait by Anthony More.

Mary I Tudor (February 18, 1516, Greenwich - November 17, 1558, London), Queen of England since 1553, daughter of Henry VIII Tudor and Catherine of Aragon. Mary Tudor's accession to the throne was accompanied by the restoration of Catholicism (1554) and brutal repressions against supporters of the Reformation (hence her nicknames - Mary the Catholic, Mary the Bloody). In 1554, she married the heir to the Spanish throne, Philip of Habsburg (from 1556 King Philip II), which led to a rapprochement between England and Catholic Spain and the papacy. During the war against France (1557-1559), which the queen began in alliance with Spain, England at the beginning of 1558 lost Calais, the last possession of the English kings in France. Mary Tudor's policies, which ran counter to the national interests of England, aroused discontent among the new nobility and the emerging bourgeoisie.

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Maria I
Mary Tudor
Mary Tudor
Years of life: February 18, 1516 - November 17, 1558
Years of reign: July 6 (de jure) or July 19 (de facto) 1553 - November 17, 1558
Father: Henry VIII
Mother: Catherine of Aragon
Husband: Philip II of Spain

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Maria had a difficult childhood. Like all of Henry's children, she was not in good health (perhaps this was a consequence of congenital syphilis received from her father). After her parents' divorce, she was deprived of her rights to the throne, removed from her mother and sent to the Hatfield estate, where she served Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. In addition, Mary remained a devout Catholic. Only after the death of her stepmother and agreement to recognize her father as the “Supreme Head of the Church of England” was she able to return to court.

When Mary learned that her brother Edward VI had bequeathed the crown to Jane Gray before his death, she immediately moved to London. The army and navy went over to her side. A privy council was assembled, which proclaimed her queen. On July 19, 1553, Jane was deposed and subsequently executed.

Mary was crowned on October 1, 1553 by the priest Stephen Gardiner, who later became Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor. The higher ranking bishops were Protestants and supported Lady Jane, and Mary did not trust them.

Mary ruled independently, but her reign became unhappy for England. With her first decree, she restored the legality of the marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. She tried to once again make Catholicism the dominant religion in the country. The decrees of her predecessors directed against heretics were extracted from the archives. Many Church of England hierarchs, including Archbishop Cranmer, were sent to the stake. In total, about 300 people were burned during Mary’s reign, for which she received the nickname “Bloody Mary.”

To secure the throne for her line, Mary had to get married. The heir to the Spanish crown, Philip, who was 12 years younger than Mary and extremely unpopular in England, was chosen as the groom. He himself admitted that this marriage was political; he spent most of his time in Spain and practically did not live with his wife.

Mary and Philip had no children. One day, Mary announced to the courtiers that she was pregnant, but what was mistaken for a fetus turned out to be a tumor. Soon the queen developed dropsy. Weakened by illness, she died of the flu while still not an old woman. She was succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth.

Material used from the site http://monarchy.nm.ru/

Mary I - Queen of England from the Tudor family, who reigned from 1553 to 1558. Daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.

Married since 1554 to King Philip II of Spain (b. 1527 + 1598).

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Mary's life was sad from birth to death, although nothing at first foreshadowed such a fate. For children her age, she was serious, self-possessed, rarely cried, and played the harpsichord beautifully. When she was nine years old, merchants from Flanders who spoke to her in Latin were surprised by her answers in their native language. At first, the father loved his eldest daughter very much and was delighted with many of her character traits. But everything changed after Henry entered into a second marriage with Anne Boleyn. Mary was removed from the palace, torn away from her mother, and finally demanded that she renounce the Catholic faith. However, despite her young age, Maria flatly refused. Then she was subjected to many humiliations: the retinue assigned to the princess was disbanded, she herself, banished to the Hatfield estate, became a servant to Anne Boleyn’s daughter, little Elizabeth. Her stepmother pulled her ears. I had to fear for her very life. Maria's condition worsened, but her mother was forbidden to see her. Only the execution of Anne Boleyn brought Mary some relief, especially after she, having made an effort, recognized her father as the “Supreme Head of the Church of England.” Her retinue was returned to her, and she again gained access to the royal court.

The persecution resumed when Mary's younger brother, Edward VI, who fanatically adhered to the Protestant faith, ascended the throne. At one time she seriously thought about fleeing England, especially when they began to put obstacles in her way and were not allowed to celebrate mass. Edward eventually dethroned his sister and bequeathed the English crown to Henry VII's great-granddaughter Jane Gray. Maria did not recognize this will. Upon learning of her brother's death, she immediately moved to London. The army and navy went over to her side. The Privy Council declared Mary queen. Nine days after her accession to the throne, Lady Gray was deposed and ended her life on the scaffold. But in order to secure the throne for her offspring and not allow the Protestant Elizabeth to take it, Mary had to marry. In July 1554, she married the heir to the Spanish throne, Philip, although she knew that the British did not like him very much. She married him at the age of 38, already middle-aged and ugly. The groom was twelve years younger than her and agreed to the marriage only for political reasons. After the wedding night, Philip remarked: “You have to be God to drink this cup!” He, however, did not live long in England, visiting his wife only occasionally. Meanwhile, Maria loved her husband very much, missed him and wrote him long letters, staying up late at night.

She ruled herself, and her reign in many respects turned out to be extremely unhappy for England. The queen, with feminine stubbornness, wanted to return the country to the shadow of the Roman Church. She herself did not find pleasure in tormenting and tormenting people who disagreed with her in the faith; but she unleashed upon them the lawyers and theologians who had suffered during the previous reign. The terrible statutes issued against heretics by Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V were directed against Protestants. From February 1555, bonfires burned throughout England, where “heretics” perished. In total, about three hundred people were burned, among them church hierarchs - Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer and others. It was ordered not to spare even those who, finding themselves in front of the fire, agreed to convert to Catholicism. All these cruelties earned the queen the nickname “Bloody.”

Who knows - if Mary had a child, she might not have been so cruel. She passionately wanted to give birth to an heir. But this happiness was denied to her. A few months after the wedding, it seemed to the queen that she was showing signs of pregnancy, which she did not fail to notify her subjects about. But what was initially mistaken for a fetus turned out to be a tumor. Soon the queen developed dropsy. Weakened by illness, she died of a cold while still not an old woman.

All the monarchs of the world. Western Europe. Konstantin Ryzhov. Moscow, 1999

Mary I Tudor (1516-1558) - Queen of England from 1553, eldest daughter of Henry VIII from his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Also known as Bloody Mary, Mary the Catholic. Not a single monument was erected to this queen in her homeland (there is a monument in her husband’s homeland - in Spain), her name is associated with bloody massacres, the day of her death (and the day of Elizabeth I’s accession to the throne) was celebrated in the country as a national holiday.

Biography
Queen of England since 1553, daughter of Henry VIII Tudor and Catherine of Aragon. Mary Tudor's accession to the throne was accompanied by the restoration of Catholicism and repressions against supporters of the Reformation (hence her nicknames - Mary the Catholic, Mary the Bloody). In 1554, she married the heir to the Spanish throne, Philip of Habsburg, which led to England's rapprochement with Catholic Spain and the papacy. During the war against France, which the queen began in alliance with Spain, England at the beginning of 1558 lost Calais, the last possession of the English kings in France. Mary Tudor's policies, which ran counter to the national interests of England, aroused discontent among the new nobility and the emerging bourgeoisie. Mary's life was sad from birth to death. For children her age, she was serious, self-possessed, rarely cried, and played the harpsichord beautifully. When she was nine years old, merchants from Flanders who spoke to her in Latin were surprised by her answers in their native language. At first, the father loved his eldest daughter very much and was delighted with many of her character traits.
But everything changed after Henry entered into a second marriage with Anne Boleyn. Mary was removed from the palace, torn away from her mother and demanded that she renounce the Catholic faith. But despite her young age, Maria flatly refused. Then she was subjected to many humiliations: the retinue due to the princess was disbanded, she herself, banished to the Hatfield estate, became a servant to Anne Boleyn’s daughter, Elizabeth. Her stepmother pulled her ears. I had to fear for my life. Maria's condition worsened, but her mother was forbidden to see her. Only the execution of Anne Boleyn brought some relief to Mary, especially after she recognized her father as the “Supreme Head of the Church of England.” Her retinue was returned to her, and she again gained access to the royal court. When Mary's younger brother, Edward VI, who fanatically adhered to the Protestant faith, ascended the throne. She thought about fleeing England, especially when they began to put obstacles in her way and not allow her to say mass. Edward eventually dethroned his sister and bequeathed the English crown to Henry VII's great-granddaughter Jane Gray. Maria did not recognize this will. Upon learning of her brother's death, she immediately returned to London. The army and navy went over to her side. The Privy Council declared Mary queen. Nine days after her accession to the throne, Lady Gray was deposed and ended her life on the scaffold. But in order to secure the throne for her offspring and not allow the Protestant Elizabeth to take it, Mary had to marry. In July 1554, she married the heir to the Spanish throne, Philip, although she knew that the British did not like him very much. She married him at the age of 38, already middle-aged and ugly. The groom was twelve years younger than her and agreed to the marriage only for political reasons. After the wedding night, Philip remarked: “You have to be God to drink this cup!” He, however, did not live long in England, visiting his wife only occasionally. Meanwhile, Maria loved her husband very much, missed him and wrote him long letters, staying up late at night. She ruled herself, and her reign in many respects turned out to be extremely unhappy for England. The queen, with feminine stubbornness, wanted to return the country to the shadow of the Roman Church. She herself did not find pleasure in tormenting and tormenting people who disagreed with her in the faith; but she unleashed upon them the lawyers and theologians who had suffered during the previous reign. The terrible statutes issued against heretics by Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V were turned against Protestants. From February 1555, bonfires burned throughout England, where “heretics” perished. In total, about three hundred people were burned, among them church hierarchs - Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer and others. It was ordered not to spare even those who, finding themselves in front of the fire, agreed to convert to Catholicism. All these cruelties earned the queen the nickname “Bloody.”

Family and marriage
Her parents were King Henry VIII Tudor of England and the youngest Spanish princess, Catherine of Aragon. The Tudor dynasty was young, Henry the Eighth was only its second representative on the throne. In the Thirty Years' War of 1455-1487 of the Scarlet and White Roses, the legitimate heirs of the crown were exterminated and Parliament had no choice but to proclaim the illegitimate son of the youngest of the Lancastrian princes King Henry the Seventh Tudor. The parents of Catherine of Aragon were the most powerful couple of rulers - Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, who, in addition to Spain united by their marriage, owned southern Italy, Sicily, Sardinia and other islands of the Mediterranean Sea. During their reign, major historical events took place: the completion of the Reconquista, the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus, the expulsion of Jews and Moors from the country. And also the revival of the Inquisition. The Queen's confessor and Inquisitor General Tomaso Torquemada carefully developed and implemented an uninterrupted, perfectly executed conveyor belt for the destruction of heretics and suspected heretics.
Early years. After several unsuccessful births, in 1516 and in the eighth year of her marriage, Queen Catherine gave birth to her only viable child, a daughter, Mary. The father was disappointed, but still hoped for the birth of heirs. He loved his daughter, called her the best pearl in his crown and admired her serious and firm character; the girl cried very rarely. Maria was a diligent student, she was taught English, Latin, Greek, music, dancing and playing the harpsichord. She studied Christian literature, and especially loved stories about women martyrs and ancient warrior maidens. The princess was surrounded by a large retinue corresponding to her high position: a chaplain, court staff, a lady mentor, nannies and maids. Growing up, she practiced horse riding and falconry. As is customary among kings, worries about marriage began from her infancy. She was two years old when an engagement agreement was concluded with the French Dauphin, son of Francis the First. The agreement was terminated and the next candidate for six-year-old Maria was the Holy Roman Empire Emperor Charles V of Habsburg, who was 16 years older than her. But the princess did not have time to mature for marriage. In the sixteenth year of marriage and in the middle of his forties, Henry the Eighth, having the only female heir in his arms, after much thought about the fate of the dynasty, came to the conclusion that his marriage was not pleasing to the Almighty. The birth of an illegitimate son testified that it was not he, Henry, who was to blame. The king named the bastard Henry Fitzroy, gave him castles, estates and a ducal title, but could not make him heir, especially given the dubious legitimacy of the founding of the Tudor dynasty.
Catherine's first husband was the eldest son of the founder of the dynasty, Arthur, Prince of Wales. Five months after the wedding, he died of tuberculosis and, at the insistent proposal of Spanish matchmakers, Henry the Seventh entered into an agreement on the engagement of Catherine and his 11-year-old second son, Henry, the marriage was to take place when he reached adulthood. At the age of 18, fulfilling his father's dying will, Henry the Eighth married his brother's widow. The Church prohibited such marriages as closely related ones, but powerful individuals, as an exception, were given permission by the Pope. And now, in 1525, Henry asked the pontiff for permission to divorce. Pope Clement the Seventh did not refuse, but did not give permission either, but ordered to delay the “Great King’s Cause” as much as possible. Henry himself expressed to Catherine his thoughts about the sinfulness and futility of their marriage and asked her to agree to a divorce and retire to a monastery as the widow of Prince Arthur. Catherine responded with a categorical refusal and stood by it until her last breath, thereby dooming herself to a sad existence - supervised vegetation in provincial castles and separation from her daughter. Her apartments, crown and jewels were given to the next queen. The “great work of the king” dragged on for several years. And in parallel with him, the king took his own steps: parliament approved a number of bills limiting the power of the pope in England. T. Cranber, Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of the Church, appointed by the king, declared the marriage of Henry and Catherine invalid and married the king to his favorite Anne Boleyn.
Pope Clement the Seventh excommunicated the king and declared Elizabeth, Henry's daughter by Anne Boleyn, illegitimate. In response, T. Cranber, by order of the king, declared Catherine’s daughter Maria illegitimate and she was deprived of all the privileges due to the heiress. In 1534, Parliament approved the “Act of Supremacy”, which proclaimed the king the head of the English Church. Some religious dogmas were abolished and revised, rituals remained and still remain mainly Catholic. This is how a new Anglican Church emerged, occupying an intermediate position between Catholicism and Protestantism, but due to non-recognition of the supremacy of the Pope, it is classified among the Protestant denominations. Those who refused to accept it were declared state traitors and subject to severe punishment. The property of the Catholic Church was expropriated, all church taxes for the Holy See now went to the royal treasury. Temples, monasteries and even the tombs of saints were desecrated, destroyed and ransacked. Particularly cruel measures were required - imprisonment, scaffolding and gallows to suppress the resistance of the English clergy, monastic orders and ordinary Catholics.

Stepmothers
With the death of her mother, Maria became orphaned. Now she was entirely dependent on her father's wives. Anne Boleyn hated Mary, mocked her and did not disdain assault. The very fact that her stepmother lived in her mother’s apartment and wore Catherine’s crown and jewels caused Mary daily suffering. The Spanish grandparents could have stood up for her, but by this time they had long been buried in the joint tomb of the Royal Chapel in Grenada, and their heir had no time for Mary - there were enough problems in Spain. The happiness of the new Queen Anne Boleyn was short-lived - only until the birth of a daughter instead of the son she had promised and expected by the king. She remained queen for three years and outlived Catherine by only five months. Henry could divorce as much as he wanted. Anne Boleyn was accused of marital and high treason, in May 1536 she ascended the scaffold, and her daughter Elizabeth, like Mary before, was declared illegitimate by the primate of the Anglican Church. And only then, reluctantly, Mary agreed to recognize her father as the head of the English Church, remaining a Catholic at heart. She was given back her retinue and given access to the royal palace. She didn't get married. A few days after the execution of Anne Boleyn, Henry married a modest maid of honor, the beautiful Jane Seymour, who felt sorry for Mary, and it was she who persuaded her husband to return her daughter to the palace. Jane gave birth to the forty-six-year-old king's long-awaited son and heir, Edward the Sixth, and she herself died of puerperal fever. Henry loved or valued his third wife more than anyone else and bequeathed to be buried next to her. Fourth marriage. Seeing Anne of Cleves in person, the king suffocated with rage, threw her into the Tower and, after the divorce, executed the organizer of the matchmaking, First Minister T. Cromwell. In accordance with the marriage contract, six months later, without entering into carnal relations with Anna, Henry divorced and gave the ex-queen the title of foster sister and possession of two castles. Their relationship was almost family, like Anna's relationship with the king's children. The next stepmother, Catholic Catherine Gotward, after a year and a half of marriage, was beheaded in the Tower for proven adultery, and her co-religionists were persecuted and executed. Two years before his death, the king's sixth marriage took place without ardent love on the one hand and a promise to give birth to a son on the other. Catherine Parr looked after her sick husband, took care of the children, and successfully fulfilled the role of mistress of the courtyard. She convinced Henry to be more kind to his daughters Mary and Elizabeth. She escaped execution and survived the king only by luck and her own resourcefulness. In January 1547, at the age of 56, Henry the Eighth died, bequeathing the crown to his young son Edward, and in the event of his death without issue, to his daughters Mary and Elizabeth. The princesses were recognized as legitimate and could count on a worthy marriage and a crown. Mary, Edward's half-sister, suffered persecution for her adherence to the Catholic faith and even considered leaving England. The thought that she would take the throne after him was unbearable for the king. Under pressure from the all-powerful Lord Protector, he rewrote his father's wills, declaring his second cousin, the granddaughter of Henry the Seventh, sixteen-year-old Jane Gray, a Protestant and daughter-in-law of Northumberland, as the heir. Three days after the will was approved in the summer of 1553, Edward the Sixth suddenly fell ill and soon died. According to one version, from tuberculosis, since he was in poor health since childhood. According to another, under suspicious circumstances: the Duke of Northumberland removed all the attending physicians, a healer appeared at the patient’s bedside and gave him a dose of arsenic. After some relief, Edward felt worse, his body became covered with ulcers and the fifteen-year-old king gave up the ghost.

Queen of England
After Edward's death, sixteen-year-old Jane Gray becomes queen. However, the people, not recognizing the new queen, rebelled. And a month later Mary ascended the throne. She was thirty-seven. After the reign of Henry VIII, who declared himself the head of the Church and was excommunicated by the Pope, more than half of the churches and monasteries in the country were destroyed. After Edward, Mary had a difficult task. She inherited a poor country that needed to be revived from poverty. During her first six months on the throne, Mary executed 16-year-old Jane Gray, her husband Guilford Dudley and father-in-law John Dudley. Being by nature not inclined to cruelty, Maria for a long time could not decide to send her relative to the chopping block. Maria understood that Jane was only a pawn in the hands of others and did not at all aspire to become queen. At first, the trial of Jane Gray and her husband was planned as an empty formality - Maria expected to immediately pardon the young couple. But the fate of the “queen of nine days” was decided by the rebellion of Thomas Wyatt, which began in January 1554. Jane Gray and Guildford Dudley were beheaded in the Tower on 12 February 1554. She again brought closer to herself those people who had recently been against her, knowing that they were able to help her in governing the country. She began the restoration of the Catholic faith in the state and the reconstruction of monasteries. At the same time, during her reign there were a large number of executions of Protestants. From February 1555, fires began to burn. There are many testimonies of the torment of people dying for their faith. In total, about three hundred people were burned, among them church hierarchs - Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer and others. It was ordered not to spare even those who, finding themselves in front of the fire, agreed to convert to Catholicism. All these cruelties earned the queen the nickname “Bloody.” In the summer of 1554, Mary married Philip, the son of Charles V. He was twelve years younger than his wife. According to the marriage contract, Philip had no right to interfere in the government of the state; children born from this marriage became heirs to the English throne. In the event of the queen's premature death, Philip was to return back to Spain. The people did not like the queen's new husband. Although the queen tried to pass a decision through parliament to consider Philip the king of England, parliament refused her this. He was pompous and arrogant; the retinue who arrived with him behaved defiantly. Bloody clashes began to occur on the streets between the British and the Spaniards.

Illness and death
In September, doctors discovered signs of pregnancy in Mary, and at the same time a will was drawn up, according to which Philip would be regent until the child came of age. But the child was never born, and Queen Mary appoints her sister Elizabeth as successor.
Already in May 1558, it became obvious that the false pregnancy was a symptom of illness - Queen Mary suffered from headaches, fever, insomnia, and gradually lost her sight. During the summer, she contracted influenza and on November 6, 1558, officially named Elizabeth as her successor. On November 17, 1558, Mary I died. The disease that caused many pains is considered by historians to be uterine cancer or ovarian cyst. The Queen's body lay on display at St. James's for more than three weeks. She was buried in Westminster Abbey.
She was succeeded by Elizabeth I.

They say the famous drink is named after her. There is no evidence of this, but let’s welcome: Mary I Tudor, aka Mary the Catholic, aka Bloody Mary - the eldest daughter of Henry VIII from his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England. Not a single monument was erected to this queen in her homeland (there is a monument in her husband’s homeland - in Spain). In her will, she asked that a memorial be erected jointly for her and her mother, so that, as she wrote, “the glorious memory of both of us would be preserved,” but the will of the deceased remained unfulfilled. November 17, the day of her death and at the same time the day of Elizabeth's accession to the throne, was considered a national holiday in the country for two hundred years, and before the generation that remembered Queen Mary disappeared from the face of the earth, it was firmly ingrained in the minds of people that Mary's reign was " brief, despicable, and engendered misery,” while her sister’s reign “lasted long, was glorious, and prosperous.” In all subsequent years, they called her nothing more than Bloody Mary and imagined life at that time from illustrations in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, where Catholic executioners tortured Protestant prisoners shackled. Those awaiting execution pray, and their faces are illuminated by ecstatic visions of paradise. However, during her lifetime, no one ever called Mary “bloody.” The designation of Queen Mary as "Bloody Mary" does not appear in English written sources until the early 17th century, that is, approximately 50 years after her death! Maria was a very ambiguous person - many are inclined to justify her and consider her unfortunate, but one thing is certain - she was a woman of difficult fate. Before the birth of Mary Tudor, all the children of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon died during or immediately after childbirth, and the birth of a healthy girl caused great joy in the royal family. The girl was baptized in the monastery church near Greenwich Palace three days later; she was named in honor of Henry’s beloved sister, Queen Mary Tudor of France. For the first two years of her life, Maria moved from one palace to another. This was due to the epidemic of the English sweat, which the king feared as he moved further and further from the capital. The princess's retinue during these years consisted of a lady tutor, four nannies, a laundress, a chaplain, a bedmaster and a staff of courtiers. They all dressed in Mary's colors - blue and green. By the autumn of 1518, the epidemic had subsided, and the court returned to the capital and to its normal life. At this time, Francis I ascended the throne in France. He was eager to prove his strength and power, for which he sought to conclude a friendly alliance with Henry through the marriage of Mary and the French Dauphin. Among the conditions regarding the princess's dowry, one very significant clause was written down: if Henry never had a son, then Mary would inherit the crown. This is the very first establishment of her rights to the throne. During the negotiations at that time, this condition was purely formal and insignificant. Henry still had high hopes for the appearance of his son - Catherine was pregnant again and almost pregnant - and in any case, in those days it seemed unthinkable for a woman to become Queen of England by right of inheritance. But, as we know, it was precisely this, then very unlikely, possibility that turned out to be realized. The Queen gave birth to a stillborn child, and Mary continued to be the main contender for the English throne. Maria's childhood was spent surrounded by a large retinue appropriate to her position. However, she saw her parents very rarely. Her high position was slightly shaken when the king's mistress Elizabeth Blount gave birth to a boy (1519). He was named Henry, the child was revered as having royal origin. He was assigned a retinue and given titles corresponding to the heir to the throne. The princess's upbringing plan was drawn up by the Spanish humanist Vives. The princess had to learn to speak correctly, master grammar and read Greek and Latin. Great importance was given to the study of the works of Christian poets, and for the sake of entertainment she was recommended to read stories about women who sacrificed themselves - Christian saints and ancient warrior maidens. In her spare time, she enjoyed horse riding and falconry. However, there was one omission in her education - Maria was not at all prepared to govern the state. After all, no one imagined... In his work “Admonition to a Christian Woman,” Vives wrote that every girl should constantly remember that by nature she is “an instrument not of Christ, but of the devil.” The education of a woman, according to Vives (and most humanists of that time agreed with him), should be built primarily taking into account her natural sinfulness. This postulate underlay the upbringing of Mary. The main thing she was taught was how to minimize, soften or hide the fatal depravity of her nature. By inviting Vives to draw up a plan for Mary’s education, Catherine primarily meant that this education would have to protect the girl, protect her “more reliably than any spearman or archer.” First of all, Mary's virginity needed protection. Erasmus of Rotterdam, who at first generally considered it unnecessary to give women in England any kind of education, later nevertheless came to the conclusion that education would help a girl “better preserve modesty,” because without it, “many, confused due to inexperience, lose their chastity earlier, than they realize that their priceless treasure is in danger.” He wrote that where they do not think about the education of girls (of course, this meant girls from aristocratic families), they spend the morning combing their hair and anointing their face and body with ointments, skipping mass and gossiping. During the day, in good weather, they sit on the grass, giggling and flirting “with the men who lie nearby, bending on their knees.” They spend their days among “fed-up and lazy servants, with very wretched and unclean morals.” In such an atmosphere, modesty cannot flourish, and virtue means very little. Vives hoped to keep Maria from these influences and therefore attached great importance to her environment. He insisted that she stay away from male society from early childhood, “so as not to get used to the male sex.” And since “a woman who thinks alone thinks at the behest of the devil,” she must be surrounded day and night by “sad, pale and modest” servants, and after classes learn to knit and spin. Knitting was recommended by Vives as an “unconditionally” proven method of calming the sensual thoughts inherent in all female creatures. A girl should not know anything about the “disgusting obscenities” of popular songs and books, and should beware of any kind of love there, like “boa constrictors and poisonous snakes.” He advised instilling in the princess the fear of being alone (to discourage the habit of relying on herself); Mary had to be taught to always need the company of others and to rely on others for everything. In other words, Vives recommended instilling in the princess an inferiority complex and helplessness. The constant companion of this was to be constant melancholy. In June 1522, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V arrived at Henry's court. Rich festivities were organized in his honor; preparations for this meeting took several months. On it, an engagement agreement was signed between Maria and Charles (the engagement to the French Dauphin was terminated). The groom was sixteen years older than the bride (Maria was only six at that time). However, if Karl perceived this union as a diplomatic step, then Maria had some romantic feelings for her fiancé and even sent him small gifts. In 1525, when it became clear that Catherine would not be able to give birth to an heir, Henry seriously thought about who would become the next king or queen. While his illegitimate son was given titles earlier, Mary received the title of Princess of Wales. This title has always been borne by the heir to the English throne. Now she needed to manage her new possessions on the spot. Wales was not yet part of England, but only a dependent territory. Managing it was not an easy task, since the Welsh considered the English conquerors and hated them. The princess left for her new possessions at the end of the summer of 1525 with a huge retinue. Her residence at Ludlow represented the royal court in miniature. Mary was entrusted with the duties of administering justice and performing ceremonial functions. In 1527, Henry cooled down in his love for Charles. The engagement between him and Mary was broken off shortly before Mary left for Wales. Now he was interested in an alliance with France. Mary could have been offered as a wife to Francis I himself or one of his sons. Maria returned to London. In the summer of 1527, Henry decided to annul his marriage to Catherine. Maria at the same time became the illegitimate daughter of the king and lost her rights to the crown. For the next few years, Mary was Henry's means of putting pressure on the queen. Catherine did not recognize the invalidity of the marriage, and Henry, threatening her, did not allow her to see her daughter. After Henry's unauthorized divorce, Mary's life did not improve at all. He married again, Anne Boleyn became his new wife, and Maria was sent to serve her stepmother, with whom her relationship did not work out. But Anne Bolleyn was executed for adultery and Henry VIII took the quiet and calm Jane Seymour as his wife. She gave birth to the king's son Edward, but soon died. After Jane, as I already told, there was Anne of Cleves, then Catherine Howard, and the last was Catherine Parr. Maria's life all this time largely depended on the kind of relationship she had with her new stepmothers. After Henry's death, Mary was still unmarried, although she was 31 years old. She was the second contender to the throne after Edward, the son of Henry and Jane Seymour. During the short reign of her younger brother, Mary significantly expanded her circle of courtiers. “The princess’s house is the only refuge of noble young ladies who are not devoid of piety and integrity,” testifies Jane Dormer, one of Mary’s chambermaids, “and the noblest lords of the kingdom seek a place for their daughters from the princess.” Jane slept in Mary's bedchamber, wore her jewelry and cut meat for her mistress. They were very attached to each other, and Mary was disgusted by the very thought that Jane could marry and leave her. She often said that Jane Dormer deserved a good husband, but that she did not know a man who would be worthy of her. Having ascended the throne, Mary prevented Jane from marrying the most eligible bachelor in the kingdom, Henry Courtney. Only towards the end of her reign did the queen allow her beloved maid of honor to marry the Spanish envoy, Duke of Feria. Henry Courtney himself seemed such a tasty morsel that many considered him a suitable match for Mary herself. But, having come to power at the age of thirty-seven, she turned away from the handsome Courtney, considering him simply a spoiled youth. Edward was nine when he ascended the throne. He was a weak and sickly boy. The Duke of Somerset and William Paget became regents under him. They feared that if Mary got married, she would try to seize the throne with the help of her husband. They tried to keep her away from the court and in every possible way incited the young king against his older sister. The main point of friction was the reluctance of Mary - a devoted Catholic - to convert to the Protestant faith, which was professed by King Edward. At the beginning of 1553, Edward showed symptoms of an advanced stage of tuberculosis. The weakened teenager was forced to sign a heritage law. According to him, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Suffolk became queen. Mary and her half-sister Elizabeth - Anne Boleyn's daughter - were excluded from contenders for the throne. I already told the story of the clash between Jane and Mary recently, so I won’t dwell on it. Mary ascended the throne when she was 37 - a huge age by those standards - at a time when England, in the opinion of most European monarchs, had lost the opportunity to influence international politics, having slipped into the days of the end of the Wars of the Roses. The fact is that Henry VIII was able to so convincingly create the illusion of power and majesty that this extended to his state. Under Edward, this illusion dissipated, and when Dudley became the de facto ruler of the country in 1549, the importance of England as a powerful power was completely lost. Strengthening English territories on the continent required money. At the end of July, Reirard wrote that Maria “could not find funds for current expenses” and did not know how to pay the disgruntled English soldiers who served in the garrisons of Guienne and Calais. The government had been on the verge of bankruptcy for many years, and along with the huge balance of payments deficit that Dud-li left behind, there were also hundreds of debt obligations that had been gathering dust for decades in the office of the royal exchequer. Maria discovered that the government owed "many old servants, workers, officials, merchants, bankers, military leaders, pensioners and soldiers." She sought ways to pay off old debts and in September announced that she would pay the obligations left by the two previous rulers, regardless of the statute of limitations. In addition, Maria took an important step in resolving the multi-year currency crisis. New coins were issued, with higher gold and silver content, in accordance with the established standard. The Queen announced that there would be no reduction in the standard in the future. Of course, these measures forced her government further into debt and it remained insolvent, but the country's inflation was brought under control. The exchange rate of the English currency in the financial markets of Antwerp and Brussels began to rise, and in 1553 the prices of food and other goods in England fell by a third. Despite talk of inability and inexperience, Maria began to lead and, it seems, quite well. The people were more or less calmed down, religious and economic problems began to be resolved. During her first six months on the throne, Mary executed 16-year-old Jane Gray, her husband Guilford Dudley and father-in-law John Dudley. Being by nature not inclined to cruelty, Maria for a long time could not decide to send her relative to the chopping block. Maria understood that Jane was only a pawn in the hands of others and did not at all aspire to become queen. At first, the trial of Jane Gray and her husband was planned as an empty formality - Maria expected to immediately pardon the young couple. But the rebellion of Thomas Wyatt that followed the trial decided the fate of the nine-day queen. Maria could not help but understand that her relative would be a beacon for Protestant rebels all her life, and reluctantly signed the death warrant for Jane, her husband and father (the latter was one of the participants in Wyatt’s rebellion). From February 1555, fires began to burn. There are many testimonies of the torment of people dying for their faith. In total, about three hundred people were burned, among them church hierarchs - Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer and others. It was ordered not to spare even those who, finding themselves in front of the fire, agreed to convert to Catholicism. All these cruelties earned the queen the nickname “Bloody.” On July 18, 1554, Philip of Spain arrived in England. Without any enthusiasm, he met his bride, who was ten years older than him, and wished to see the rest of Mary's courtiers. Having examined the flower of English sorority, he kissed all the ladies. “Those I saw in the palace do not shine with beauty,” said a nobleman from Philip’s retinue, repeating the opinion of his master. “The truth is, they're just ugly.” “The Spaniards love to please women and spend money on them - but these are completely different women,” wrote another close associate of the Spanish prince. However, Philip's servants were more impressed by the short skirts of English women - “they look rather obscene when they sit.” The Spaniards were equally amazed that English women did not hesitate to show their ankles, kiss strangers at the first meeting and, just think, they could dine alone with their husband's friend!.. The most shameless thing in the eyes of the visitors was how well English women held in the saddle. Philip himself was known as a man who knew how to tactfully deal with unattractive women, but his attempts to start a flirtation with Magdalena Dacre, one of Mary’s ladies-in-waiting, were sharply rebuffed. In the summer of 1554, Maria finally got married. The husband was twelve years younger than his wife. According to the marriage contract, Philip had no right to interfere in the government of the state; children born from this marriage became heirs to the English throne. In the event of the queen's premature death, Philip was to return back to Spain. For several months after the wedding ceremony, the Queen's associates awaited the announcement of the news that Her Majesty was preparing to give the country an heir. Finally, in September 1554, it was announced that the queen was pregnant. But on Easter 1555, several Spanish ladies gathered in the royal palace to attend the birth of a child, as required by the etiquette of the Spanish royal court. However, at the end of May there was a rumor that Maria was not expecting offspring at all. According to the official version, there was an error in determining the date of conception. In August, the queen had to admit that she had been deceived and the pregnancy turned out to be false. Hearing this news, Philip sailed to Spain. Maria saw him off in Greenwich. She tried to hold on in public, but when she returned to her chambers, she burst into tears. She wrote to her husband, urging him to return. In March 1557, Philip arrived again in England, but more as an ally than as a loving husband. He needed Mary's support in the war with France. England sided with Spain and lost Calais as a result. In January 1558, Philip left for good. Already in May 1558, it became obvious that the false pregnancy was a symptom of illness - Queen Mary suffered from headaches, fever, insomnia, gradually losing her sight. During the summer, she contracted influenza and on November 6, 1558, officially named Elizabeth as her successor. On November 17, 1558, Mary I died. The disease that caused many pains is considered by historians to be uterine cancer or ovarian cyst. The queen's body was laid out for burial at St. James's for more than three weeks. She was buried in Westminster Abbey. She was succeeded by Elizabeth I. And now some facts for comparison: So, during the reign of Mary’s father, King Henry VIII (1509-1547), 72,000 (seventy-two thousand) people were executed in England. During the reign of Mary's younger half-sister and successor, Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603), 89,000 (eighty-nine thousand) people were executed in England. Let’s compare the numbers once again: under Henry VIII - 72,000 executed, under Elizabeth I - 89,000 executed, and under Mary - only 287. That is, “Bloody Mary” executed 250 times fewer people than her father, and 310 times fewer than her little sister! (We, however, cannot say how many executions there would have been if Mary had been in power longer). Under Mary I, the supposedly “Bloody One,” executions were carried out mainly by representatives of the elite, such as Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and his entourage (hence the low number of executions, since ordinary people were executed in isolated cases), and under Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, repressions took place by the general public. Under Henry VIII, the bulk of those executed were peasants driven from their lands and left homeless. The king and lords took plots of land from the peasants and turned them into fenced pastures for sheep, since selling wool to the Netherlands was more profitable than selling grain. In history this process is known as "enclosure". Herding sheep requires fewer hands than growing grain. The “superfluous” peasants, along with their land and work, were deprived of their housing, since their houses were destroyed to make room for the same pastures, and were forced to engage in vagrancy and beg in order not to die of hunger. And the death penalty was established for vagrancy and begging. That is, Henry VIII purposefully got rid of the “excess” population, which did not bring him economic benefit. During the reign of Elizabeth I, in addition to the mass executions of homeless people and beggars, which resumed after a short break during the reign of Edward VI (1547-1553) and Mary "Bloody" (1553-1558), mass executions of participants in popular uprisings, which occurred almost annually, were also added. also the execution of women suspected of witchcraft. In 1563, Elizabeth I issues the “Act against Spells, Witchcraft and Witchcraft”, and a “witch hunt” begins in England. Elizabeth I herself was a very smart and educated queen, and she could hardly believe that a woman could cause a storm by taking off her stockings (this is not a metaphor, the “Stocking Case” heard in Huntingdon is a real case from judicial practice - a woman and her nine-year-old daughter was hanged because, according to the court, they sold their soul to the devil and caused a storm by taking off their stockings). There is a fairly common belief that Mary was glorified as the Bloody One due to the fact that she was a Catholic. After all, this is not the first time in English history that a king has been accused of all sins. Richard III is a clear example of this. For me personally, Maria will forever remain a woman of an unfortunate fate, who was simply prevented from living like a human being. Sources.

Mary I Tudor went down in history as Mary the Bloody, the Catholic, the Ugly. Why was a woman awarded such unflattering nicknames? As you know, royalty are surrounded by gossip and scandals throughout their lives. But this queen earned the most hatred from her subjects.

The Queen of England did not immediately join the ranks of privileged sociopaths. Since childhood, Maria was distinguished by her lively mind and persistent character. The girl rarely cried, expressed her thoughts clearly and amazed those around her with her intelligence. Her father, King Henry VIII, initially doted on his daughter. But everything changed when he married Anne Boleyn. The father lost interest in his daughter. Mary was removed from the royal palace, she was forbidden to see her mother and was required to renounce Catholicism. But, strong in spirit, the girl never wanted to change her faith. Mary gradually became a servant to Anne Boleyn's daughter. The stepmother humiliated her stepdaughter in every possible way, trying to inject her more painfully. When Anne Boleyn was executed, a happy period of life could have begun for Mary. But this did not happen.

During the reign of Edward VI, an ardent Protestant, the persecution of the Catholic faith intensified. Maria was received with hostility and tried to deprive her of the crown. But Edward also died. Then the hour of Mary came. Jane Gray, who inherited the crown, failed, and in 1553 Mary became Queen of England. First of all, she executed sixteen-year-old Jane, her husband and father-in-law.

She was already 37 years old. The middle-aged and unattractive woman decided to keep the crown at all costs, because her half-sister Elizabeth, the same daughter of Anne Boleyn, was literally nipping at her heels. For this reason, Mary married the heir to the Spanish throne, Philip, who was much younger than her. After the first wedding night, the groom, sighing with relief, left for his homeland. He visited his wife extremely rarely and did not hide the fact that he married only for political reasons, but according to the agreement he had no right to interfere in the government of the country. The British did not like Philip, and the Spaniards were often beaten in the streets.

Queen Mary enthusiastically declared war on the Protestants. With manic persistence, she returned England to Catholicism. As if wanting to take revenge for all the persecution and humiliation experienced in childhood, Maria began reprisals. Protestantism was outlawed. Fires were burning everywhere. Heretics were executed cruelly and relentlessly. Even those of them who, under pain of death, renounced Protestantism, were still sent to the stake. In this way, several hundred people were executed. She received the nickname Bloody Mary after her death.

A woman who had wanted to have a child all her life was never able to get pregnant. The queen, who pulled her country out of poverty, earned only the hatred of her subjects. One can hardly call Queen Mary's fate a happy one. Queen Mary died, weakened by illnesses, including dropsy, in 1558. There is an opinion that the famous Bloody Mary cocktail is named after Mary I Tudor.