MARY THE CATHOLIC, Queen of England. - Daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon; b. at Greenwich on 19 Feb. 1516, d. in London on 17 Nov. 1558.
By her Spanish mother she was educated in Catholicism, and in this sense she also received the care of the Countess of Salisbury. The latter's son, Reginald Pole, was Mary's childhood friend; he became her confidant and her principal adviser, especially when he rose to the archbishopric of Canterbury. Henry VIII made use of Mary to create good relations with other states, betrothing her to the Dauphin of France, then to Emperor Charles V, and then to the Duke of Orléans. After Henry VIII's divorce, Mary never saw her mother again; she lived with her half-sister Elizabeth, in conflict with her stepmother Anne Boleyn, and was harshly treated even by her father, who had abandoned the Church of Rome. Mary devoted herself to the study of religious problems, more attracted by these than by the problems connected with the nascent British nationalism. The period of Edward VI's reign (1547-53) was no less harsh for Mary, who sorrowfully saw in him an inert instrument of the Calvinist party. An attempt was made to exclude her from the succession: the will that Edward VI signed as he lay dying, at the prompting of the Duke of Northumberland, Dudley, placed on the throne the latter's daughter-in-law, the sixteen-year-old Jane Grey. Parliament did not recognize this: the Duke and Jane were killed; Mary assumed the crown (July 1553) and vindicated the rights of the Church of Rome: the deposed bishops were recalled to office, the Protestant bishops were expelled. The revolts of certain Calvinist centers were easily pardoned; Parliament remained favorable. This kind of "Counter-Reformation" and the marriage to Philip II of Spain (25 July 1554) made Mary unpopular, and the Reformation spread more widely: it was helped by the program of colonial power, opposed to the Queen's regard for Spanish interests. Soon she also lacked the help of Philip II, who returned to Spain (Aug. 1555), disappointed in the hope of a pregnancy for Mary. She devoted herself more intensely to her religious mission and sharpened the condemnations against heretics. The opposition took violent forms. John Fox was its soul. Death sentences were renewed, this time to the detriment of the Protestants: 220 were executed, among them T. Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the bishops Ridley of London and Latimer of Worcester. Philip II returned, but to ask for aid (March 1557) in his final struggle against France: Mary consented and imposed a forced loan. Disastrous aid: the naval expedition led to the loss of Calais, English for many years.
Some Protestant historians gave Mary the title of "Bloody," making her out to be cruel and vindictive. It will suffice to note that the majority of those condemned were notorious rebels and common criminals, and the rest were people who covered themselves with the cloak of heresy for incessant vengeance and rebellion. The State Papers and the reports of ambassadors have vindicated the memory of the Queen, who had an upright and gentle character and who resorted to measures of severity only after having exhausted all other means (cf. Pastor, VI, pp. 550-51).
Bibliography7 works
Ettore Rota