Queens of Britain Series: Mary I

Welcome to the Queens of Britain series. In 2024, the blog will spotlight the reigning queens from the island of Great Britain. Check back each month to learn about the women who led their nations.

By Master John via Wikimedia Commons

In their seventh year of her marriage to King Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon gave birth to healthy baby girl whom they named Mary in 1516. Five years earlier, their only other child to survive pregnancy and birth died in infancy. A happy, bonnie baby, Mary delighted both of her parents. Precocious like both of them with reddish gold hair, Mary shared her parents love of learning and music. Before she was five, she was entertaining diplomats with musical performances. By nine, she knew French, Latin, Greek, and her mother's native Spanish. Still young and handsome, King Henry doted on her and often bragged of her accomplishments.  

In her early years, Henry negotiated royal marriages for her with France and then the Holy Roman Empire and then France again. As a princess, a diplomatic marriage would have been her expected path. But, as the years passed and it became clear that Queen Catherine, who was six years older than Henry, would have no other children, Mary's destiny changed. 

Mary became the first female heir to be treated as Princess of Wales, although she was never officially granted the title. In clear preparation for eventual succession to the throne, the nine-year-old princess was sent to Welsh Marches with her own household to rule over the principality as had happened with many male heirs before her. Although a female heir was very rare in English history, with only the disputed Empress Matilda as a predecessor, women were not uncommon in her mother's homeland. A daughter of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile, Queen Catherine would not have questioned the fitness of a woman for the crown. Petronilla had been the first female monarch in Aragon four centuries earlier and Urraca had been the first queen in Castile and Leon a few decades before that.

All seemed set for Mary to eventually succeed King Henry VIII. She would marry and have children and the Tudor Dynasty would have a bright and glorious future.

History went in a different direction.

While Mary was far away in the Welsh borderlands, her father began to question everything. Why had he had no sons? Had he actually sinned by marrying Catherine, who was his older brother Arthur's widow? Was the lack of sons God's punishment for lying with his "sister"? As Catherine lost her youthful bloom and became even more religiously devout, Henry met a flirtatious and lively young woman who reminded him of his youth. Anne Boleyn.

Soon, Henry became convinced that his soul and his kingdom were in danger because of his "incestuous" marriage to Catherine. Surely Catherine would agree as well? She did not. Didn't Henry remember that she had sworn that she and the 15-year-old Arthur had never lain together as husband and wife? Didn't Henry recall that he had received a dispensation from the Pope to marry Catherine, you know, just in case Arthur really had consummated the marriage? Wasn't that enough to assuage such guilt and cleanse such sin?

It wasn't.

When Catherine refused to grant Henry an annulment, he spent years exploring every path he and his councilors could devise to try to force it. When at long last, they settled upon the idea that the King of England should not be subject to the Pope in Rome, Henry thought he had found his solution. He, who had earned the title "Defender of the Faith" because of his defense of the papacy against the Lutheran reformers, declared himself Head of the Church of England. He divorced Catherine and married Anne. 

The impact on Mary was devastating. Because her father believed he had never actually married her mother, he declared Mary a bastard and removed her from the line of succession. His bright, beautiful young daughter whom he had raised to rule was cast aside. Now called The Lady Mary, her household was dismissed and, by the end of the year, the 17-year-old Mary was sent to live in the household of her new baby half-sister Elizabeth, Henry's daughter by Anne Boleyn. Convinced of her true place in the world, Mary refused to acknowledge Anne and Elizabeth. As punishment, Henry stopped speaking to her and refused to allow her to visit her ailing mother. The strain took a terrible toll on Mary's own health. She was not even able to attend Catherine's funeral when she died in early 1536.

By then, Anne Boleyn has suffered a couple miscarriages and another young woman had caught Henry's eye. Within a year, Henry had beheaded Anne on trumped-up adultery charges, declared their marriage void, added Elizabeth to his list of bastards, and married Jane Seymour. The speed of these changes must have been dizzying to Mary. However, Jane sought to reconcile the young woman with her father. Initially, Mary still refused to acknowledge her illegitimacy and her parents' invalid marriage, but she was eventually bullied into it.

With her acquiescence, The Lady Mary was welcomed back to Henry's good graces. When her half-brother Edward was born in 1537, Mary was named godmother. Then, when Queen Jane died from childbed fever, Mary acted as chief mourner. She was still illegitimate and still barred from the succession, but she was again "loved" by her increasingly mercurial father. She was once again granted her own household and budget. Marriages were even discussed with foreign princes, but nothing came of them. 

Over the next few years, Mary's life was relatively calm--although her former governess was executed on charges of treason due to the actions of her son. Henry's fourth marriage ended in a peaceful annulment and the fifth with another beheading for adultery (this time at least the charges were more accurate). With his sixth marriage to Catherine Parr, Mary's status improved even more. Catherine was able to convince the king to reinstate both his daughters to the line of succession immediately after their young half-brother Edward. 

With Henry's death in 1547, the Catholic Mary inherited many estates. Now in her 30s, she retreated to these as a Protestant Regency Council took control for the nine-year-old King Edward VI. She stubbornly refused to stop practicing her Catholic religion despite laws against it and the young king's insistence. Therefore, she was rarely at court. As Edward's health began to fail, he and his advisors feared what would happen if Mary were to succeed him. Shortly before his death, he, like his father before him, struck Mary and the Protestant Elizabeth from the line of succession in favor of their Protestant cousin Lady Jane Grey. (See my post Queens of Britain Series: Lady Jane Grey)

Mary was at her home at Hunsdon when Edward died and the Privy Council declared Jane queen. Both Elizabeth and Mary were warned to stay away from court, but Mary had no intention of surrendering her rights. She had been the heir to the throne as a child, she had been neglected and restored and rejected. In the end, the 37-year-old exhibited the tenacity of her mother and the self-assurance of her father. She sent orders asserting her claim to the Privy Council and rode for London. An army of supporters formed around her. Nine days later, the Privy Council had deposed Queen Jane and proclaimed Mary the rightful heir. She had not had to fight at all.

In early August, with her sister Elizabeth at her side, Mary arrived in London to public acclaim. Besides restoring Catholicism, one of her first priorities was to find a husband and start a family. She was quickly engaged to her cousin's son, Philip, heir to the Spanish throne. A thwarted uprising by Jane's followers led Philip to insist upon the death of the teenaged claimant. Mary ordered it so. (See my post Killing Queens: A Deadly Tudor Heritage) 

Wedding portrait of Philip and Mary
Woburn Abbey Collection

Mary's proposed foreign marriage caused further unrest as some sought to replace her with Elizabeth. Under the laws of the day, a woman's property belonged to her husband. Many did not want Philip's father, the Holy Roman Emperor, to add England to the expansive territories of his Empire. Mary was able to withstand the challenges, ordered more executions, placed Elizabeth under house arrest, and married Philip. She even had him styled King of England and ensured that all documents would bear both their names. However, the terms of the marriage would only be in place during her lifetime. He would not continue to rule England after her death. Perhaps as importantly, England could not be drawn into the Empire's wars. 

Philip arrived in England two days before their wedding in July 1554. They had never met before. She was 38. He was 27. His nine-year-old son Carlos by his first wife did not accompany him. Philip's first wife (and double first cousin) Maria Manuela of Portugal had died giving birth to Carlos. 

Within weeks, Mary reported feeling nauseated. She was bloated and her period ceased. Everyone rejoiced in her pregnancy. Philip was declared Regent for the child if Mary should die in childbirth. In the spring of 1555, Elizabeth was released from her arrest to attend the imminent birth. But, the child never came. Summer came and Mary's belly went away. The false pregnancy was a terrible blow to the queen, to her marriage, and to the realm. Philip returned to continent to lead his armies while the heartbroken Mary, much like her father, decided her childlessness was God's punishment. Only she was being punished for tolerating heretics in her kingdom. 

At the beginning of her reign, Mary had proclaimed tolerance for Protestants. By the end of 1555, she had officially changed her mind. Executions started early in 1556, even burning some, including Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury, who repudiated Protestantism. Nearly 300 were executed and Mary earned the moniker "Bloody Mary" by which she is known to history. Such persecutions continued throughout her reign.

In 1556, Philip became King of Spain upon his father's abdication. He did not pay a second visit to England until March 1557. He only came to try to persuade Mary to send troops for his continental wars. Mary immediately wished to support him, but it took four months to convince her councilors. Initially, the English forces were successful but by early 1558 they had lost Calais, England's last stronghold on the Continent. 

Mary's reign was fraught with other problems, too, including especially poor weather that ruined the crops and led to famine. The nation's trade also faltered. Despite Spain's growing riches from its territorial subjugation of the old empires of the New World, England did not share in the wealth. 

Philip's brief visit in 1557 once again led Mary to believe she was pregnant. Now in her 40s and distraught, she finally recognized Elizabeth as her heir in 1558. She died that May, perhaps from ovarian cancer or uterine cysts, the symptoms of which might have fueled her second false pregnancy. 

Mary's reign is largely remembered for her zealous religious persecutions, but they were not really very different from the persecutions taking place on both sides of the Reformation across Europe. Her greatest legacy is that she was the first undisputed woman to sit upon the English throne. She acceded without violence and she was succeeded peacefully by England's second undisputed Queen, who would lead the nation over half a century of unprecedented glory. 

QUEENS OF BRITAIN SERIES

Boudica, Queen of the Iceni 
Empress Matilda 
Margaret Maid of Norway 
Lady Jane Grey
Queen Mary I
Queen Elizabeth I
Mary Queen of Scots 
Queen Mary II
Queen Anne - coming soon
Queen Victoria - coming soon
Queen Elizabeth II - coming soon

BLOGS ABOUT MARY
Mary Tudor: Renaissance Queen

MORE ABOUT MARY
Did Queen Mary I Simply Need More Time on The Tudor Chest
England's First Official Queen: Mary Tudor on English Heritage
The Marriage of Queen Mary I and Philip II of Spain on The Tudor Enthusiast
Mary had a little lamb on Medieval Manuscripts Blog
Mary I on British Royal Family
Mary I on History
Mary I and Elizabeth on Norwich School Blog
Mary I Queen of England on Tudor History
Queen "Bloody" Mary I Tudor of England on King's College Women's History
Queen Mary I's Accession on Team Queens
Queen Mary I: The Journey to the Throne on Historic UK
Queen Mary I on Screen on The Tudor Chest
Queen Mary I - Reign of Faith and Fire on Old Royal Naval College Greenwich
Role of a Queen - Mary I and Anne on The National Archives
Was Bloody Mary Really so Bloody? on History Is Now
Was the Reign of Queen Mary I of England Really a Failure? on History Is Now
Why Is Mary I Known as 'Bloody Mary'? on Royal Museums Greenwich