Mary I, called Mary Tudor (1516-1558), queen of England (1553-1558).
Mary was born in London on February 18, 1516, the daughter of Henry VIII
of England, by his first wife, Catherine of Arag?n. On the death of her half
brother, Edward VI, on July 6, 1553, she became the legal heir to the throne.
Lord High Chamberlain John Dudley, duke of Northumberland, however, favored the
succession of his daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey. He proclaimed her queen on
July 10, but the country supported Mary.
Mary began her reign by sweeping away the religious innovations of her father.
Mass was restored without opposition and the authority of the pope
reestablished, but Parliament refused to restore the church lands seized under
Henry VIII. Mary, however, restored the property that the Crown still possessed.
Even more disastrous was her marriage in 1554 to Philip II, king of Spain. The
engagement was greeted in England by a formidable rebellion under the leadership
of Sir Thomas Wyatt to depose Mary and put her half sister, Elizabeth, later
Elizabeth I, on the throne. Philip was an uncompromising Roman Catholic and
unpopular in England. At his order, Mary joined in a war against France, with
the result that Calais, the last remnant of the English conquests won during the
Hundred Years' War with France, was lost in 1558.
The ferocity with which Mary's personal character has been assailed by certain
writers must be ascribed to religious zeal. She was called Bloody Mary because
of a large number of religious persecutions that took place during her reign;
almost 300 people were condemned to death as a result of trials for heresy. Mary
died in London on November 17, 1558, and was succeeded by Elizabeth I.
