One of the main themes of Mary’s existence is the triumph of determination over adversity. She lived in a violent, intolerant age, surrounded by the intrigues of a time when men and women gambled their lives for advancement at court. Deceit, like ambition, was endemic among the power-seekers of mid-Tudor England who passed, in procession, through her life. Pride, stubbornness and an instinct for survival saw her through tribulations that would have destroyed a lesser woman. Her bravery put her on the throne and kept her there, so that when she died she was able to bequeath to Elizabeth a precious legacy that is often overlooked: she had demonstrated that a woman could rule in her own right.
The vilification of Mary has obscured the many areas of continuity between her rule and those of the other Tudors. Today, despite the fact that much more is known about her reign, she is still the most maligned and misunderstood of English monarchs. For Mary Tudor, the first queen of England, truth has not been the daughter of time.
Portrait of a lady thought to have been Mary Tudor, inscribed and dated 1546. (By kind permission of Viscount De L’Isle from his private collection.)
Katherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII. Her inability to produce a male heir destroyed her marriage, plunging her daughter Mary and the entire country into a period of painful upheaval.
King Henry VIII, between 1535 and 1540. A striking portrait of Mary’s father, painted at a time when her relationship with him was compromised by his determination to divorce her mother, Katherine of Aragon.
The first of Mary’s five stepmothers, Anne Boleyn was hated by the princess as the usurper of her mother’s place as queen and the author of all her misfortunes between 1533 and 1536. Anne’s occasional attempts at reconciliation were contemptuously repulsed. But her disgrace and execution only increased the king’s determination to subdue his elder daughter.
Mary aged 28 in 1544, the year she was restored to the succession by Act of Parliament. Her fine complexion is evident, as is her love of the latest fashions in rich russet and crimson brocade and velvet.
Jane Seymour, quiet but clever enough to play an effective role in bringing about the downfall of Anne Boleyn. Jane was a religious conservative who championed Mary’s cause but died after giving birth to Henry VIII’s heir, Prince Edward.
Edward VI, probably painted in 1546, the last year of his father’s reign. Intellectually capable, committed to religious reform and fond of sports, the young king was not the weakling of popular imagination. He was determined to cut both Mary and Elizabeth out of the succession when he realized he was dying.
The intelligent and companionable Katherine Parr, Henry VIII’s sixth and last wife. Her friendship with Mary transformed the princess’ life in the mid-1540s, but Katherine’s impulsive remarriage to Thomas Seymour after the old king’s death cooled their relationship.
The hastily divorced Anne of Cleves. In this famous painting by Holbein, the German princess appears personable. Henry VIII married her unwillingly and never overcame his aversion in the six months that she was his consort. Mary remained on excellent terms with her till Anne’s death in 1557.
Mary’s Lady Governess, Margaret Pole, countess of Salisbury. A vital influence in Mary’s upbringing, this niece of Edward IV was one of the great ladies of the English court. Handsome, devout and devoted to Mary, she was imprisoned by Henry VIII and executed in 1541.
Cardinal Reginald Pole, Margaret’s son, papal legate and archbishop of Canterbury. He spent years in exile in Italy when he opposed Henry VIII. In 1554 he restored the English Church to the papacy, ending twenty years of schism.
The Emperor Charles V as a young man. The head of the Habsburg dynasty, Charles V ruled a vast swathe of Europe and the Americas, often through his relatives. Mary viewed him as a father figure after Henry VIII rejected her, but his support for her was often half-hearted and driven by political rather than personal considerations.
The Tudor lady in this miniature by Flemish painter Lavinia Teerlinc has recently been identified by Dr David Starkey as Lady Jane Grey, the cousin chosen by Edward VI in 1553 to inherit his throne.
John Dudley, duke of Northumberland, chief minister of Edward VI in 1553. One of the period’s most enigmatic figures, he and Mary had known each other for many years and their antipathy was palpable. He made a fatal misjudgement when he discounted Mary’s determination to fight for the throne.
A medallion portrait of Sir Thomas Wyatt the younger. Wyatt was a former soldier who became embroiled in an ill-fated attempt to prevent Mary’s marriage to Philip of Spain. The failed rebellion dangerously compromised Elizabeth, who was imprisoned in the Tower of London for two months.
Mary and her husband, King Philip, son of Charles V. After Mary’s death, he recalled with distaste his time as king of England. In this portrait, Mary appears regal and content while Philip looks awkward and rather absurd with his spindly legs.
This superb replica of Queen Mary’s elegant purple and white wedding gown, set with pearls, was made by costume expert Tanya Elliott.
A portrait of Queen Elizabeth dating from around 1560. This is the closest depiction we have of what Elizabeth must have looked like during Mary’s reign. As queen, Mary came to detest Anne Boleyn’s daughter, viewing her as devious and disloyal. Despite being belatedly acknowledged as Mary’s heir, Elizabeth always resented her treatment during her half-sister’s reign.
Simon Renard, Charles V’s ambassador to England during the first three years of Mary’s reign. An energetic man of considerable ability, he did not really understand English politics and his judgement of Mary was often condescending. This portrait captures his charm, intensity and cunning.
A page from the Queen Mary Atlas, commissioned by Mary for her husband Philip, by Portuguese cartographer Diego Homen. This map shows the British Isles. The arms of Philip II, on the left, were partially removed during Elizabeth’s reign.
Framlingham Castle in Suffolk, where Mary raised her standard and gathered an army in July 1553. Her triumph was one of the very few successful revolts of the provinces against central authority in English history.
Winchester Cathedral, where Mary married Philip in the wet July of 1554.
The burning of Cranmer. Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury from 1533 to 1556, was hated by Mary for his role in her mother’s divorce and his reforming ideas on religion. This woodcut from John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs shows his death at the stake in Oxford in March 1556.
Select Bibliography
MANUSCRIPT SOURCES
BRITISH LIBRARY
Additional MSS
Cottonian MSS
Harley MSS
Lansdowne MSS
Royal MSS
Sloane MSS
Stowe MSS
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES (formerly the Public Record Office)
State Papers, Domestic
Henry VIII (SP 1)
Edward VI (SP 10)
Mary, and Philip and Mary (SP 11)
Supplementary (SP46)
State Papers, Foreign
Mary, and Philip and Mary (SP 69)
Exchequer
Exchequer Accounts various (E101)
Lord Chamberlain’s Office
Robes and Special Events (LC2)
Miscellanea (LC5)
OXBURGH HALL, Norfolk
Bedingfeld MSS
WESTMINSTER ABBEY, Library and Muniments Room
The Queen Mary Manual (on loan from Westminster Cathedral) Documents relating to Queen Mary and the refounding of Westminster Abbey: 5305, 37414, 37457, 12750, 37419, 6484F, LXXXVI, 12792, 37418
PRIMARY SOURCES
(Place of publication for all printed works is London unless otherwise stated)
‘A Discourse that it was not convenient for the Queen to marrie’, in J. Somers, A fourth collection of scarce tracts etc, vol. 2, 1752
A Short-title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, and Ireland and of English Books printed abroad, 1475-1640, Bibliographical Society, 1926
Acts of the Privy Council, ed. J. R. Dasent et al., 1890-1964
Ambassades de Messieurs de Noailles en Angleterre, ed. R. Aubert de Vertot d’Aubeuf, 5 vols, Leyden, 1763
An epitaphe upon the Death of the Most excellent and late vertuous Queen Marie, 1558
Autobiography of the Emperor Charles V, transl. L. F. Simpson, 1862
Beer, B. L. and S. M. Jack (eds), The letters of William, Lord Paget of Beaudesert, 1547-1563, Camden Miscellany, 25 (Camden 4th series), 1974
Bonner, Edmund, A profitable and necessarye doctryne …,1555
—, An honest godlye instruction and information for the tradynge and bringinge up of Children …, 1555
—, Homelies sette forth by the righte reuerende father in God …, 1555
Calendar of State Papers and manuscripts, relating to English affairs, existing in the archives and collections of Venice …, ed. R. Brown et al., 1864-98
Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, Edward VI, ed. C. Knighton, 1992
Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, Mary I, ed. C. Knighton, 1998
Calendar of State Papers, Foreign, of the reign of Elizabeth, 1558-59, ed. J. Stevenson, 1863
Calendar of State Papers, Foreign, of the reign of Mary, 1553-58, ed.W. B. Turnbull, 1861
Calendar of State Papers relating to the negotiations between England and Spain …, ed. R.Tyler et al., 1862-1954
Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Edward VI, Philip and Mary, Elizabeth, 1924-39
Chronicle and Political Papers of Edward VI, ed.W. K. Jordan, 1966
Chronicle of Queen Jane and of the first two years of Queen Mary…, ed. J. Nichols, Camden Society, 48, 1850
Clifford, Henry, The Life of Jane Dormer, Duchess of Feria, ed. J. Stevenson, 1887
Collection des Voyages des Souverains des Pays-Bas, ed. L. P. Gachard and C. Piot, Brussels, 1874-82
Count of Feria’s despatch to Philip II of 14 November 1558, ed. M. J. Rodriguez Salgado and S. Adams, Camden Miscellany, 28, 1984
Cranmer,Thomas, The Works of Archbishop Cranmer…, ed. J. E. Cox, London, 1844-6
Documents relating to the Revels at Court in the time of King Edward VI and Queen Mary, ed. A. Feuillerat, 1914
Du Bellay, Jean, Ambassades en Angleterre de Jean du Bellay … Correspondance Diplomatique, Paris, 1905
Ecclesiastical Memorials, ed. J. Strype, Oxford, 1822
Elder, John, The copie of a letter sent into Scotland, 1555
‘Elizabeth and Mary Tudor’, in The Early Modern Englishwoman , Series 1, Printed writings, 1500-1640, pt 2, vol. 5, selected and introduced by L. Prescott, Aldershot, 2001
Ellis, Henry, Original letters, illustrative of English History, 1824
England under the reigns of Edward VI and Mary …, ed. P. F.Tytler, 1839
England’s Boy King,The Diary of Edward VI, 1547-1553, ed. J. North,Welwyn Garden City, 2005
Fox, John, Idem iterum: or, the history of Queen Mary’s Big-belly, 1688
—, The acts and monuments of John Foxe, 8 vols, 1877
French Letter concerning Lady Jane Gray and Queen Mary, published from a Bruges MS by J. A. Giles, Caxton Society, 1844
Fuller, Thomas, The History of the Worthies of England, 1662
Furnivall, F. J. (ed.), Ballads on the condition of England in Henry VIII’s and Edward VI’s reigns, vol. 1, 1868
Giustiniano, Sebastiano, Four Years at the court of Henry VIII, ed. R. Brown, 1854
Grey, Lady Jane, ‘Some account of Lady Jane Grey and her remains’, in L. Richmond, Fathers of the English Church, vol.VI, 1807
Greyfriars Chronicle, ed. J. Nichols, Camden Society, LIII, 1852
Guaras, Antonio de, The Accession and Coronation of Queen Mary, 1892
Gunn, S. J., ‘A letter of Jane, duchess of Northumberland, in 1553’, English Historical Review, CXIV, November 1999
Hakluyt, Richard, The Principal Navigations,Voyages,Traffics and Discoveries of the English nation made by sea or overland, 1598
Hall’s Chronicle, ed. H. Ellis, 1809
Harleian Miscellany, 1813
Haynes, Samuel, A collection of State Papers … from 1542 to 1570, 1740
Hayward, John, The Life and Raigne of King Edward VI, ed. B. L. Beer, Kent, OH, 1993
Hearne,Thomas (ed.), Sylloge Epistolarum, 1716
Holinshed, Raphael, Chronicles of England, Ireland and Scotland, ed. H. Ellis, 1807
Homem, Diogo, The Queen Mary Atlas, 2005
Inventory of King Henry VIII, ed. D. Starkey, vol. 1, Society of Antiquaries, 1998
Knox, John, The first blast of the trumpet against the monstrous regiment of women, Geneva, 1558
Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII, ed. J. Gairdner, 1862-1932
Letters of the Queens of England, 1100-1547, ed. A. Crawford, Stroud, 1994
Lisle Letters, ed. M. St Clare Byrne, 1983
Machyn, Henry, The Diary of Henry Machyn, ed. J Nichols, Camden Society, XLII, 1848
Malfatti, Cesare V., The accession, coronation and marriage of Mary Tudor, Barcelona, 1956
Marcus, L., J. Mueller and M. B. Rose (eds), Elizabeth I: Collected Works,2000
Marillac, Charles de, Correspondance politique de MM. de Castillon et de Marillac , ed. J. Kaulek, Paris, 1885
Martin,Thomas, A Traictise declarying and plainly provyng, that the pretensed marriage of Priests, and professed persons, is no mariage, 1554
More-Molyneux, J., ‘Letters illustrating the reign of Queen Jane’, Archaeological Journal, vol. xxx, 1873
Muller, J. A. (ed.), Letters of Stephen Gardiner, Cambridge, 1933
Ponet, John, A short treatise of politike power …, Strasbourg, 1556
Privy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary, ed. F. E. Madden, 1831
Procter, John, The Historie of Wyates rebellion, 1554
Relations politiques des Pays-Bas et de l’Angleterre sous le regne de Philippe II, ed. Baron Kervyn de Lettenhove, Brussels, 1882
‘Respublica A.D. 1553. A drama of real life in the early days of Queen Mary’, in J. S. Farmer, Recently Recovered ‘Lost’Tudor Plays, 1907
‘Ritratti del regno de Inghilterra. A description of English life and institutions in the reign of Mary Tudor’, in Two Italian Accounts of Tudor England, Barcelona, 1953
Rymer,T., Foedera, 1704-32
Smith,Wentworth, The True Chronicle Historie of the whole life and death of Thomas Cromwell, 1613
State Papers of King Henry VIII, London, 1830-52
‘State Papers relating to the custody of the Princess Elizabeth at Woodstock in 1554’, ed. R. C. Manning, Norfolk Archaeology, vol. 4, 1855
Stow, John, The Annales of England, 1605
Tottel’s Miscellany: Songes and Sonnettes, ed. Edward Arber, 1897
Vita Mariae Angliae Reginae of Robert Wingfield of Grantham, ed. and transl. D. MacCulloch, Camden Miscellany, 4th series, 29, 1984
Vives, Juan Luis, The education of a Christian woman, ed. C. Fantazzi, Chicago, IL, 2000
Watson,Thomas, Holsome and catholyke doctryne concerninge the seuen sacramentes , 1558
Wood, M. A. E., Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain, 1846
Wriothesley, Charles, A Chronicle of England, ed.W. D. Hamilton, Camden Society, NS 11, 1875-7
Wyatt, George, The papers of George Wyatt Esquire, of Boxley Abbey, ed. D. Loades, Royal Historical Society, 1968
SECONDARY WORKS
Alford, Stephen, Kingship and Politics in the Reign of Edward VI, Cambridge, 2002
Alsop, J. D., ‘The act for the queen’s regal power’, Parliamentary History, 13, pt 3, 1994
Appleby, Andrew B., Famine in Tudor and Stuart England, Stanford, CT, 1978
Benson, Robert, The Deathbeds of Bloody Mary and Good Queen Bess, 1906
Bernard, G.W., The King’s Reformation, 2005
Blockmans,Wim, Emperor Charles V, 1500-1558, 2002
&nb
sp; Brigden, Susan, New Worlds, Lost Worlds, 2001
Carter, Alison J., ‘Mary Tudor’s Wardrobe’, Costume, the Journal of the Costume Society, no. 18, 1984
Chamberlin, Frederick, The Private Character of Henry VIII, 1932
Childs, Jessie, Henry VIII’s Last Victim, 2006
Coleman, C. and D. Starkey (eds), Revolution Re-assessed, 1986
Coward, Barry, Social Change and Continuity in Early Modern England, 1550-1750, 1997
Creighton, Charles, A History of Epidemics in Britain, 2nd edn, 1965
Davey, Richard, Historical Women Series: Mary Tudor, 1897
Denny, Joanna, Anne Boleyn, 2004
—, Katherine Howard, 2005
Dowling, M., ‘Humanist support for Katherine of Aragon’, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, 57, 1984
Duffy, E. and D. Loades (eds), The Church of Mary Tudor, Ashgate, 2006
Duffy, Eamon, The Stripping of the Altars, 2005
Emmison, F. J. ,Tudor Secretary: Sir William Petre, 1961
Erickson, C., Bloody Mary, 1978
Ford, Francis, Mary Tudor. A retrospective sketch, 1882
Galton, Arthur, The character and times of Thomas Cromwell, 1887
Gammon, S., Statesman and Schemer:William, first lord Paget, Newton Abbot, 1973
Garrett, Christina, The Marian Exiles, 1938
Glasgow,Tom, Jr, ‘The Navy in Philip and Mary’s War, 1557-1558’, Mariner’s Mirror, vol. 53(4), 1967
Hamel, Ernest, Marie la Sanglante, 1862
Hannay, M. (ed.), Silent but for the Word, Kent, OH, 1985
Harbison, E. H., Rival Ambassadors at the Court of Queen Mary, Princeton, NJ, 1940
Hume, M. A. S. (ed.), Two English Queens, Mary and Elizabeth, and Philip, 1908
Hutchinson, R., The Last Days of Henry VIII, 2005
—, Thomas Cromwell, 2007
Iongh, Jane de, Mary of Hungary, 1959