The Bloody Queen of England

We usually confuse “Queen Mary I” with “Mary Queen of Scots” because they have lived at the same time but  they are completely different; Mary Stuart (Queens of Scots) was Mary Tudor’s cousin and she ruled Scotland.

Mary Tudor also known as “Bloody Mary” was a daughter of King Henry VIII and his first of six waves Catherine of Aragon.  She was the only child from that union to survive infancy; she reigned as Queen of England from 1553 until 1558 and is considered one of the ten most evil women in history.

In 1553 when Edward, her half-brother died, Mary's cousin Lady Jane Grey was nominated to the throne and was one undisputed winner for her sympathy towards people. By July 19 Jane Grey had been deposed and Mary was the undisputed Queen. Her official coronation came on November 30 of the same year. Mary first began to earn her unofficial title of “Bloody Mary” when she had her cousin, Lady Jane Grey, executed to prevent any possible power struggle.

Mary had always rejected and resented the break with Rome that her father had instituted and his subsequent establishment of the Anglican Church that had flowed from her half-brother's Protestantism, and now she tried to turn England back to Roman Catholicism. This effort was carried out by force, and hundreds of Protestant leaders were executed.

She was determined that the country will return to Roman Catholic so she became in a religious fanatic and burned over 300 prominent Protestants . The official excuse given by the Roman Catholics for this was that they were burning dangerous heretics and were doing them a favour by destroying their bodies in the hope of saving their souls.

When she died in 1558, many Londoners held street parties. Instead of re-establishing Roman Catholicism as who got his fanaticism was promoting the Protestant cause. Her legacy is summed up in the name by which she is known: Bloody Mary.

She was succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I, who quickly undid many of Mary's changes, and returned England to its former Protestant-friendly environment.

Why is Mary Tudor important to history?

Mary Tudor is important to world history, as any monarch is, because it allows us to have a snapshot of that country during those years. However, specifically to Mary Tudor, she was important to world history because of her strong Roman Catholic links to other countries.