Burnings of Protestants and the Failure of Mary's Religious Policy

Burnings of Protestants and the Failure of Mary's Religious Policy

After Mary had taken the throne from Lady Jane Grey in 1553, she had,

in her view, the task of returning the church to the state it had been

in at the start of 1534. By the end of the year of her accession, Mary

had re-implemented the heresy laws and by her death in November 1558,

a minimum of 287 Protestants had died in the flames at Smithfield and

elsewhere across the country. At the end of Mary's reign Protestantism

was far from being suppressed, and upon the accession of Elizabeth,

England once again swung to Protestantism. England would never be

officially Catholic again. Although it can be argued that Catholicism

was not a total failure under Mary, by her standards she had certainly

not achieved what she had set out to do. She had wanted to

re-establish a good relationship with the Papacy, and have a complete

return to Catholicism proper. She had wanted to restore all Church

lands, bring back the monasteries, and most importantly Catholic

doctrine.

Mary's religious policy was simple from the outset; to bring the

return of Roman Catholicism to the country. This was no secret, as she

had given up her title as Princess for her religion. She had also

openly defied her brother, Edward VI, when he decreed that it was

illegal to perform, and take part in the mass. Mary was eager to

re-establish a relationship with the Pope, as well as bring back the

old Catholic rituals, which has stood after the Act of Six Articles in

1547. These were a revival of the Mass, ritual worship, clerical

celibacy, and implicitly the reaffirmation of the traditional doctrine

of the Lord...

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...n, Politics and

Society under the Tudor". Pg 223.

[19] Robert Tittler: "The reign of Mary I". Pg 39.

[20] Robert Tittler: "The reign of Mary I". Pg 39.

[21] Christopher Haigh: "English Reforms; Religion, Politics and

Society under the Tudor". Pg 224.

[22] Christopher Haigh: "English Reforms; Religion, Politics and

Society under the Tudor". Pg 221.

[23] Parkyn: "Parkyn's Narrative of the Reformation". Pg 82.

[24] David Loades: "Politics and Nation, England 1450-1660". Pg 200.

[25] Christopher Haigh: "English Reforms; Religion, Politics and

Society under the Tudor". Pg 219.

[26] Numbers from: "Lincolnshire Archaeological and Architectural

Society Reports and Papers".Pg 58-9 and P. Hughes: "The Reformation in

England". Pg 598-600.

[27] Simon Renard: Report to Charles V, re.30th November 1554.