WHO IS MARY I TUDOR?

Daughter of King Henry VIII, Mary Tudor reigned over England and Ireland for five years.

She reigned five years over England, she was nicknamed the Bloody Mary, who is really Mary Tudor?
Mary I (1516-1558)
Reign: 1553-1558

Daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Marie is from an early age a pawn in the diplomatic game, because her future marriage is able to seal an alliance with another power. But the separation of her parents ruins her future and plunges her into isolation for several years during which she continues to claim her Catholic faith. After the death of Edward VI, she received the support of a large part of the English nobility. She was proclaimed queen on July 19, 1553, thirteen days after the death of her half-brother. Her motto “Truth, daughter of time” bears witness to the bitter and long struggle she waged to assert her legitimate rights to the crown.

Mary I Tudor and her husband, Philip. Hans Eworth, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The first woman to rule the kingdom

Marie was thirty-seven when she was crowned Queen of England: she was the first woman to rule the kingdom. It restores Catholicism. But it was above all her marriage to Philip II of Spain that triggered strong hostility towards her, the interference of a foreign prince being to be feared.
Cautious and reserved, she is also endowed with an iron will. In 1557, the Venetian ambassador, Giovanni Michiel, said of her: “Her eyes are so piercing that they inspire not only respect but also fear. »

Vodka, pressed tomato juice, tabasco and a little celery fleur de sel. This is the recipe for “Bloody Mary”, a blood-red cocktail whose name refers, according to one of the versions linked to its origin, to Queen Mary I of England.

Daughter of King Henry VIII, Marie Tudor imposed herself on the English and Irish thrones in July 1553, at the age of 37. She remained there for five years, until her death on November 17, 1558.

His mother Catherine of Aragon was the daughter of Queen Isabella I of Castile, known as Isabella the Catholic. Catholic, Marie was passionately so, to the point of sending to the stake, in four years, 282 Protestants – notably preachers -, because of their faith. It is for this reason that she inherited the nickname “Bloody Mary”.

However, she was no more violent than her predecessors and often resorted to punishment only after careful consideration. But what matters in this case is that she is a queen, she is a queen woman, she is a woman and that is the original sin.

If we made a legend out of it, it may also be because it was unexpected for a woman to be violent like that. A woman coming to power, becoming queen, who commits such atrocities, so there it is amazing and it goes down in history.

Mary I of England in 1544. National Portrait Gallery, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Mary I Tudor had her sister Elizabeth I of England imprisoned in the Tower of London

There is also a point to be noted. If Queen Mary I of England had been so cruel, she would never have saved the life of her half-sister, 17 years her junior. Daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Princess Elizabeth is Protestant. Suspected in 1554 of having participated in a plot led by nobles who disagreed with the sovereign’s religious policy, she was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London.

She had stayed at home pretending she was sick instead of coming to support her sister and I believe that Marie was convinced that she was involved. But she wouldn’t have had him executed without proof. But there was no evidence. So even if Elizabeth Ist had a bad time, first at the Tower of London and then under house arrest, Marie did not take action against her. Shows she wasn’t that bloody.

If she had had him killed, the monarch would certainly have changed the destiny of England. Because this half-sister, who succeeded him and reigned 44 years, is none other than Queen Elizabeth I. Which profoundly marked the history of the British kingdom.

The death

After Philip’s return in 1557, Mary I thought she was pregnant again and was expected to give birth in March 1558. She gave notice in her will that Philip should be regent during her child’s minority. The pregnancy was non-existent, however, and Mary I was forced to accept Elizabeth as her successor.

Marie I Tudor fell ill in May 1558 and she died on November 17 at the age of 42 at Saint James’s Palace, during an epidemic of influenza which also carried off Reginald Pole the same day. She was weak and possibly had an ovarian cyst or cancer of the uterus. His half-sister Elizabeth succeeded him. Philippe, who was in Brussels, wrote to his sister Joan of Austria: “I feel a reasonable regret for his death”.

Despite her testamentary dispositions, Mary I was not buried alongside her mother, and she was buried in Westminster Abbey on December 14 in a vault she shared with Elizabeth I. After his accession to the throne of England in 1603, James VI of Scotland had a plaque added to the tomb bearing the inscription in Latin: Regno consortes et urna, hic obdormimus Elizabetha et Maria sorores, in spe resurrectionis (“Consorts on the throne and in the tomb, here we sleep, Elizabeth and Mary, sisters, in the hope of the resurrection”).

Sources: PinterPandai, British Heritage, History

Photo credit (main picture): Antonis Mor, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons