The New Student's Reference Work/Mary I of England

Mary I of England, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, was born at Greenwich Palace on Feb. 18, 1516.  She is usually known as Mary Tudor.  When a girl she was a great favorite with her father, and was devoted to her mother and church.  When her mother was divorced, Henry treated her harshly, and during her half-brother Edward’s reign she lived in retirement.  But no threats could make her conform to the English church.  On the death of Edward, July 6, 1553, Mary became entitled to the crown.  Though Lady Jane was declared queen, the whole country favored Mary, who was able without bloodshed to enter London in triumph on Aug. 3.  The queen showed remarkable leniency toward her enemies.  She sought gradually and carefully to bring back the Roman religion.  A few leading reformers were imprisoned, but there persecution stopped.  Queen Mary’s reign was ruined by her marriage to Philip II of Spain.  The proposal caused Wyatt’s rebellion.  This rising was put down and Jane Grey was, with her husband and father, beheaded.  Cardinal Pole entered England as the pope’s legate, and the country became once more Roman Catholic.  Then began the persecution which earned the queen the name of Bloody Mary, when some three hundred victims were burnt at the stake.  During this time Mary was almost helpless with ill-health.  Calais, the last English foothold on French ground, was lost, and Mary died on Nov. 17, 1558.  See the histories of Froude and Lingard and England under Edward VI and Mary by Tytler.