Mary I was actually the first woman to sit on the throne of England and should have been remembered as such in history. However, her name has come to this day as Bloody Mary, as she ordered hundreds of people to be burned alive during her reign. Let’s take a closer look at who is Bloody Mary, Queen of England, who dyed the throne process full of ambitions in blood, and let’s see the events that led to all this.
Although we are used to seeing a queen on the throne of England, this was not the case until the 16th century. Like all monarchies, men took the throne of England, until Mary I. Mary I is the first woman to ascend the throne of England. Such an important event should have been commemorated this way in history, but he himself was in the reign. He committed such bloody events that The name that survives to this day is Bloody Mary.
Queen Mary I of England is called Bloody Mary because she ordered hundreds of people to be burned alive at the stake. Moreover, the only reason for such a punishment is that these people are Protestants. Fortunately, Mary’s reign only lasted five years, and perhaps thousands of people were spared death. Who is Bloody Mary, a woman full of ambition, Let’s take a closer look at why he did all this.
The boy who never came: Who is Bloody Mary?
King VIII. The fifth of five daughters of Henry and Catherine of Aragon, Mary was born in 1516. All of her siblings, except Mary, had died in infancy. Having studied Latin as a child, Mary was also a master musician like her father.
According to the custom of the time, Mary was engaged to Charles V, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, when she was 6 years old, but the engagement was broken off three years later. This annoyed Henry because He needed an heir to succeed him on the throne. Pope VII, the pope of the time, to divorce his wife. Clement, but was denied.
Mary is exiled:
King VIII. Henry declared that the sole decision maker of the English Church was the King of England when his request for divorce was refused. He said that papal decrees would not bind him. He divorced Catherine of Aragon and married Anne Boleyn. She had a daughter, she, who would later ascend to the throne as Elizabeth I.
As she was no longer married to the king, Catherine of Aragon and her daughter Mary were sent to a castle in Cambridgeshire. Catherine died in 1536. Henry later married three more times. and eventually had a son named Edward. King VIII. After Henry died in 1547, his son VI. He ascended the throne under the name Edward.
VI. There is great pressure from the Protestants on Edward:
It is necessary to go back a little to understand what happened after this point and how Mary got her bloody nickname. King VIII. After Henry took the throne In 1534, England broke away from the Roman Church, the center of Catholics, and the English Church was established. With the influence of the lords, great rights were given to the Protestant sect. However, Catholics were not satisfied with these reform movements.
King VIII. After the death of Henry VI. When Edward came to the throne, especially the lords of Somerset and Northumberland, prominent figures of the Protestant sect VI. They began to put a lot of pressure on Edward.
One move by the lords was the last straw for Mary. Changing the throne of lords VI. For Edward to be replaced by his niece Jane Gray. They made a number of adjustments. VI in 1553. When Edward died, it was indeed decided to be replaced by Jane. However, Mary gathered a large army with the other lords of the country behind her and marched to the palace with her half-brother Elizabeth.
Mary ascends the throne as Mary I and becomes England’s first queen:
Mary came to the throne as Mary I in 1553 and became the first queen of England. Mary I, who survived the winter but did not forget the frost she ate, He had all the Northumberland lords executed who wanted to put Jane Gray on the throne. His advisory council included both Catholics and Protestants, but the number of Protestants gradually dwindled over time.
In 1554, Mary I’s announcement that she would marry Prince Philip of Spain caused great anxiety among Protestants. because this marriage would strengthen Catholicism. Despite all the objections, Mary I and Prince Philip of Spain married. Mary became pregnant twice but did not give birth. According to rumors, this marriage between the two was only a formality.
Mary I begins to sign the resolutions for which she will be nicknamed bloody:
Mary never liked her father’s decisions that restricted Catholic rights. The actions of the Protestant lords had added salt and pepper to this work. In 1555, a series of heresy laws were passed in England. Under these laws, Protestants were the number one heretics.
Protestants began to be arrested one after another. Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury Nearly 300 Protestants were burned alive at the stake for being heretical. It is estimated that as many people died in prisons. During this period, nearly a thousand Protestants fled to Germany and Geneva.
The queen, now known as Bloody Mary, attempted monetary reform during this period. He developed trade with Catholic countries, He even started a short-lived war with France. After his death in 1558, his half-brother Elizabeth took the throne. Elizabeth I became a much more beloved queen.
Why did Mary do all this?
According to historians, it was Mary’s signature to all these bloody events. The main reason was his hatred for his father. It was a father figure that he destroyed when he strengthened Protestantism by making anti-Catholic decisions to strengthen the reign of his father, who had driven him and his mother away from the palace just to have a son.
Another reason for all this is It was the role of Protestants in politics. Since many important lords of the country were Protestant, they were gaining political power thanks to the rights granted to this sect. According to him, the only way to abolish this power, which even affected the decision-making mechanism of the queen, was to abolish the rights given to the Protestants, and even to abolish it himself.
Some historians say that Mary I did these because she was a woman. When we consider the conditions of the period A woman sitting on the throne, however talented, would not be taken seriously. For this reason, Mary took much more radical and bloody decisions in order to show her strength and frighten friends and foes.
Britain’s first queen, who got this name by burning hundreds of people alive Who is Bloody Mary We answered the question and talked about the details you need to know about this extraordinary historical figure. You can share your thoughts on the subject in the comments.