Research Paper On Mary 1

Queen Mary I of England
"In thee, O lord, is my trust, let me never be confounded: if God be for us, who can be against us?" was what Mary Tudor, queen of England from 1553-1558, frequently exclaimed according to Anna Whitlock, author of Mary Tudor: England’s First Queen (429). Mary was a very devout Catholic, and because of her beliefs, she attempted to convert England from Protestantism to Catholicism, which resulted in the killing of 284 Protestants during her reign (Maurer 2). Although she performed many cruel acts, a closer examination of history revealed that Mary faced many hardships during her life that resulted in her spiteful retaliation toward Protestants with cruelty that was not uncommon during that time. Therefore, she is not

Overtime, it became a part of her identity, especially during hardships. When Mary was born, her father, King Henry VIII, said she was the “pearl of the world” (Maurer 3). She was well educated, with a gift for music and language (Whitlock). It seemed like a happy life, but all of that would change when her father attempted to divorce her mother, Catherine of Aragon, because she could not produce a heir. At this time, the Catholic faith was the main faith of England and the Pope was seen as the true ruler of the European countries (Maurer 3). Because the Pope would not allow him to divorce Catherine, Henry banished her. The years that followed only became more treacherous for Mary. She was sent away to become a servant to Anne and Henry’s daughter, Elizabeth, and was not permitted to see her mother, even on her deathbed (Maurer 7). Mary wrote her father countless letters asking for an explanation but was never given such (Maurer 6). Catholicism was the only connection she had with her mother and her status for most of her childhood and adolescence. Every wrongdoing that had happened to her in her youth was because of a Protestant, and because of this she believed that all Protestants were perfidious and overly critical of the Catholic Church. She frequently prayed for God to protect her from Anne and for her father to remain faithful to the Catholic Church (Maurer 7). In this hard time, she held onto her

With the permission of Queen Elizabeth, John Foxe wrote a book call Actes and Monuments about Mary’s reign and portrayed the Catholic leaders as “bloodthirsty villains” (Maurer 25). This book became wildly popular, second only to the Bible in England, and people began to give her the infamous nickname “Bloody Mary” (Maurer 15). However, history is always under the mercy of the writer, and Mary’s history was written with a spiteful pen. In truth, she was not hated by all of her subjects. In fact, the people rejoiced when she became Queen. Once Henry died, Edward VI became king when he was nine-years-old (Maurer 14). Six years later he died and his councilmen declared that Jane Grey, Edwards Protestant cousin, was to become queen (Maurer 14). The councilmen did not want a Catholic to be the Queen of England. Thirty thousand men gathered to create an army for Mary and hundreds gave money and supplies to them (Whitlock). When Mary’s army defeated Jane Grey’s army, the English people threw giant celebrations all night (Maurer 16). Many believed she was the rightful heir to the throne. History is always tainted in a specific mindset, exemplifying the wrongdoings of others and overlooking the wrongdoings of their own beliefs, the righteous being only those who win. Malcolm Noel, a king’s scholar, recognizes that Mary had been subject to a history rewrite