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Mary I Revision Booklet
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Mary IEngland in Context
England had been strongly reformed by Edward’s death in 1553. There had been seven years of governance by his
advisors Somerset and then Northumberland. Northumberland had overseen the second Act of Uniformity which
had imposed a nonattendance fine on anyone for refusing to go to the Anglican church. The Bible was officially
translated, and all services were done in English. England was, by every definition, a reformed nation – and people
were accepting of that by Edward’s death. They possibly felt that the new religion was a standard and unchanging
one after such a tumultuous 30 years for their religion.
The English were still poor from the process of debasement which had ravaged the previous decade. Bread and
wheat prices were higher than ever, though Northumberland had removed punishments for the unemployed and
had begun the process of reminting the coinage in 1552.
England was not a weak nation by any means, but it had not been involved in European matters since 1544 other
than a treaty to hand over one of the two remaining cities the country held in France – Boulogne – and to end the
Scottish war.
Europe in Context
Charles V was the leader of Europe. He was the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, King of all Spain and King of
Naples as well as the Low Countries. However, by the 1550s he was getting old and weak; he suffered from gout
which had caused him to have to postpone a battle with France and subsequently lost the town of Metz to them as
well as Verdun and Toul. England had allied with France in the Treaty of Boulogne, leaving him friendless in the
continent. The Ottomans were, as ever, fighting him in the east. They were not as close as they had been in 1529
with the Siege of Vienna, but nonetheless they were still a constant threat and major irritation. Within his own
country, too, he was threatened; Protestant Princes had allied with Henry II and were no longer under his control.
As ever, the Italian Wars were in full swing. However, the war lasting from 1551 – 1559 would prove to be the
conclusion of this conflict.
England had no specific allies during this time other than Spain. The country was allied with France insofar as that
they had promised not to oppose them in continental wars. The Empire was sceptical of England’s reformation,
despite the fact that Charles V led both Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. This unity with Spain would be best
demonstrated in 1554 with the second major foreign marriage of a Tudor monarch.
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, Mary I in Context
Mary was known as a precocious child; she was extremely talented in music, reading, writing and languages. She
was, to begin with, raised by her mother, Catherine of Aragon, and doted upon by her father as she was his only
surviving child by his first wife. At nine years old, she was sent to Ludlow Castle and named as the head of the
Council of Wales and the Welsh marches. Many people referred to her as Princess of Wales.
She had been engaged many times by her early twenties; she had been engaged to the son of King Francis, her first
cousin Emperor Charles who was sixteen years her senior (she was six) and then later King Francis himself. All of
these had fallen through, however, and by her accession in 1553 she was 37 years old.
From 1531, she is noted to have been very ill with, among other things, depression. It was from about this time, too,
that she was no longer allowed to see her mother, and only two years later Henry married his second wife – Anne
Boleyn, who was pregnant with his child. Mary would have seen Elizabeth as a bastard, but instead she was named
by the First Act of Succession as Lady Mary as Henry’s and Catherine’s marriage had been declared invalid by the
Anglican Church. Mary’s own household was dissolved and given to Elizabeth.
This made Mary’s illness worse. She strenuously refused to acknowledge Anne or Elizabeth as anything more than a
mistress and bastard which enraged her once loving father. She was devastated by her mother’s death in 1536 and
had not been allowed to see her in years. She refused to speak to her father for three years. Eustace Chapuys
remained one of her few advisors as he was the ambassador to her cousin.
Jane Seymour encouraged Henry to make peace with Mary. He insisted that she should recognise him as Head of the
Church and reject Papal Authority. She conceded, eventually, and retook her place at court. She was given a
household once again. One of the demands of the Pilgrimage of Grace was that Mary should be relegitimised.
Mary was made the godmother of Edward and was the chief mourner at Jane Seymour’s funeral. She loved her
brother dearly and he loved her. She visited him often, and in 1543 Henry’s final wife, Katherine Parr, successfully
encouraged the family to come closer together, and in 1544 Henry invited Mary and Elizabeth to Christmas with him.
They were both returned to the line of succession in the Third Succession Act, but remained illegitimate.
During Edward’s reign she rarely left her court and even more sparsely saw Edward; he demanded that she abandon
Catholicism and even tried to prevent her seeing Mass, which prompted the Emperor to threaten to invade England.
She visited Edward for Christmas in 1550, but he reduced her and himself to tears by berating her for ignoring his
laws of Worship. She refused to convert, and as such he and his protector took measures to ensure a Protestant
succession.
Characters
Queen Mary I Queen of England 1553 – 1558
Reginald Pole Archbishop of Canterbury 1556 - 1558
Stephen Gardiner Lord Chancellor 1553 - 1555
King Edward VI King of England 1547 - 1553
Jane Grey Queen 1553
King Henry VIII King of England 1509 - 1549
Elizabeth Heir to the Throne 1543 - 1558
Philip II King of Spain 1556 - 1598
Sir Thomas Wyatt Leader of the Wyatt Rebellion 1554
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, The coat of arms of Mary and Philip during their short reign as monarchs of England.
Part I
The Catholic
1553 - 1558
3
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