Queen Mary or Bloody Mary

928 Words2 Pages

Queen Mary I, also known as Bloody Mary, reigned over England from 1553 until her death in 1558. She was the first Queen Regnant. Mary was the only child born to Henry VIII to survive but was later deemed illegitimate. The title of “Bloody Mary” was given to her due to the bloody persecutions she gave during the Protestant Reformation. Bloody Mary’s persecutions of Protestants and attempt to make England what it was during the reign of her father, Henry VIII, made a big impact on England. On February 18, 1516, in the palace of Greenwich, Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon gave birth to a girl; later christened, Mary. She was the only child born to Henry VIII to survive. In her early years of childhood, “she was the darling of everyone, charming, pretty, a prodigy of learning, her father’s pride” (Wilkinson 198). At a young age, Mary was engaged to Emperor Charles V. Charles V realized that he was “too poor to wait for her and married a rich Portuguese” (Wilkinson 198). Henry VIII changed his attitude towards Mary and her mother Catherine of Aragon after the woman that Charles V gave birth to a child that took the throne to Spain (Wilkinson 198). Mary had a tough childhood. According to Wilkinson, Henry VIII had indifferent feelings about making his daughter, Mary, illegitimate (198). Henry VIII turned on his wife, Catherine of Aragon, and his daughter, Mary (Wilkinson 198). Mary endured years of neglect. Henry VIII was a monster, “he kept her in confinement, deprived her of her friends and her household, refused to let her see her mother, even when either of them was ill, and forced her to become lady-in-waiting to her half-sister, Elizabeth” (Wilkinson 198). Mary became very stressed and “lived in constant fear of being poisone... ... middle of paper ... ...rough his sermon that he preferred the late Queen Mary over Queen Elizabeth (Ridley 217). Works Cited Loades, D. M. Mary Tudor: A Life. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell, 1989. Print. "Mary I, Queen of England (1516-1558) [Mary Tudor; Bloody Mary]." Mary I, Queen of England (1516-1558) [Mary Tudor; Bloody Mary]. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. Morris, Jean. The Monarchs of England. New York: Charterhouse, 1975. Print. Porter, Linda. The First Queen of England: The Myth of "Bloody Mary" New York: St. Martin's, 2008. Print. Ridley, Jasper Godwin. Bloody Mary's Martyrs: The Story of England's Terror. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2001. Print. Waller, Maureen. Sovereign Ladies: Sex, Sacrifice, and Power : The Six Reigning Queens of England. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2008. Print. Wilkinson, Philip. The British Monarchy for Dummies. Chichester: John Wiley, 2006. Print.

Open Document