Mary I - Queen of England

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18

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Mary I - Queen of England

Veritas temporis filia

Truth the daughter of time

· BORN: 18 FEBRUARY 1516

· PROCLAIMED QUEEN: JULY 1553

· DIED: 17 NOVEMBER 1558

MARY IN HENRY VIII'S REIGN

bloody queen mary

MARY I (1516-1558), queen of England, unpleasantly remembered as "Bloody Mary" because of the religious persecutions which occurred during her reign, was the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. . Mary was born at Greenwich, on Monday, on the 18^th of February, 1516, and she was baptized on the following Wednesday, Thomas Cardinal Wolsey standing as her godfather. She seems to have been a precocious child and is reported in July 1520, when scarcely 4 years old, as entertaining some visitors by a performance on the virginals. When she was little over nine, she was addressed in a complimentary Latin oration by commissioners sent over from Flanders on commercial matters and replied to them in the same language “with as much assurance and facility as if she had been twelve years old” Her father was proud of her achievements. About the same time that she replied to the commissioners in Latin, he was arranging that she should learn Spanish, Italian and French. A great part, however, of the credit of her early education was undoubtedly due to her mother, who not only consulted the Spanish scholar Juan Luis Vives upon the subject but was herself Mary's first teacher in Latin.

When Mary was two years old, she was proposed in marriage to the dauphin, son of Francis I. Three years later the French alliance was broken off and in 1522 she was affianced to her cousin, the young emperor Charles V, by the treaty of Windsor. In 1525, however, after his great victory over Francis at Pavia, Charles released himself from this engagement and made a more convenient match.

Later in the same year Mary was given an establishment of her own and was sent to Ludlow with a council which was designed to secure the better government of the Marches of Wales. For several years she accordingly kept her court at Ludlow, while new arrangements were made for the disposal of her hand. She was now proposed as a wife, not for the dauphin as before, but for his father Francis I, who had just been redeemed from captivity at Madrid, and who was only too glad of an alliance with England to mitigate the severe conditions imposed on him by the emperor.

Mary Tudor was the only child born to Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon to survive childhood. Had she been born a boy, it is likely that the whole of English history would have been different (but probably less interesting!).

Mary had a good childhood as a young princess, and was the center of court attention in her earliest years. But, as the years progressed and no little brothers followed, Mary's father began to look into the alternatives. Eventually, Henry sought an annulment from Catherine, and married his second Queen: Anne Boleyn. Mary was declared illegitimate and was to no longer be called "princess", but rather "The Lady Mary".

Mary's health, moreover, was indifferent, and even when she was seriously ill, although Henry sent his own physician, Dr. Buttes, to attend her, he declined to let her mother visit her. At her mother's death, in Jan. 1536, she was forbidden to take a last farewell of her.

When Anne Boleyn gave birth to Elizabeth, Mary was sent to attend the new young Princess in her household. Soon Elizabeth would be declared a bastard as well since her mother also failed to produce a male heir for Henry. But in May following another change occurred. Anne Boleyn, her bitterest enemy, fell under the king's displeasure and was put to death. Mary was then urged to make a humble submission to her father as the means of recovering his favour and after a good deal of correspondence with the king's secretary, Thomas Cromwell, she eventually did so. The terms exacted of her were bitter in the extreme, but Mary, alone and at the mercy of her imperious father, at length subscribed an act of submission, acknowledging the king as “Supreme Head of the Church of England under Christ,” repudiating the pope's authority, and confessing that the marriage between her father and mother “was by God's law and man's law incestuous and unlawful.”

Henry was now reconciled to her and gave her a household in some degree suitable to her rank. During the rest of the reign her position was less difficult. She appeared at the court and a number of new marriage projects for her were made, though all of them came to nothing. Her privy purse expenses for nearly the whole of this period have been published and show that Hatfield, Beaulieu or Newhall in Essex, Richmond and Hunsdon were among her principal places of residence. Although she was still treated as of illegitimate birth, in 1544 she was restored by statute to a position in the succession next after Edward and any other legitimate children who might be born to the king, but under conditions to be regulated by Henry's will.

In October 1537, Queen Jane gave birth to Edward. Henry's longed for son and Mary stood as the young Prince's godmother at the christening. The court was soon plunged into mourning as Jane died two weeks after Edward's birth.

In January 1540, Mary gained yet another stepmother: Anne of Cleves. Although they shared different religions (Mary was Catholic, Anne a Lutheran), the two women became fast friends and would remain so until Anne's death in 1557. Unfortunately Anne's marriage to Henry wasn't so long-lived and she was divorced in July of the same year.

Shortly after the annulment of his marriage to Anne of Cleves Henry took another wife (now his 5^th), Kathryn Howard. Kathryn was probably 18 years old, making Mary six years older than her new stepmother. Mary was apparently appalled at her father's action and there were come quarrels between Mary and Kathryn during the young Queen's reign. That reign turned out to be all too short, as she was arrested, tried and executed for adultery in 1542.

At this time of emotional upheaval Mary fell seriously ill and may have been in danger of losing her life. Her father was concerned enough to send his own doctors to look after her.

Henry's last Queen was Katherine Parr, who was about four years older than Mary. They were married in 1543, and she survived Henry at his death in 1547. All three of Henry's children attended the wedding at Hampton Court. Mary was friends with her last stepmother, although they too had religious differences, as Katherine was a strong supporter of the Reformed Church.

When Henry VIII began to fall ill, he drafted his will declaring that Edward would be his heir and Mary was to follow him if the young Prince were to die childless. Elizabeth was also included, and she would take the throne if Mary were to die without an heir. As we know in hindsight, this is exactly what was to happen.

MARY IN EDWARD VI REIGN

Henry VIII died January 28, 1547, leaving his 9 year-old son as King. The young Edward was a supporter of the Protestant faith, although Mary seems to have hoped at one point he would see the error of his ways and return England to the Church of Rome.

During the reign of her brother, Edward VI, Mary was again subjected to severe trials, which at one time made her seriously meditate escaping abroad. Edward himself indeed seems to have been personally kind to her, but the religious innovations of his reign soon brought her into conflict with the government. She had done sufficient violence to her own convictions in submitting to a despotic father and was not disposed to yield an equally tame obedience to authority exercised by a factious council in the name of a younger brother not yet come to years of discretion. Besides, the cause of the pope was naturally her own. In spite of the declaration formerly wrung from herself, most people did not regard her as a bastard although the full recognition of her rights implied the recognition of the pope as head of the church. Hence, when in 1549 Edward's parliament passed an Act of Uniformity enjoining services in English and communion in both kinds, she insisted on having mass in her own private chapel under the old form. When ordered to desist, she appealed for protection to her cousin, the emperor Charles V, who intervened for some time not ineffectually, threatening war with England if her religious liberty was interfered with.

Some time in 1552, Edward began to show signs of the illness that would eventually claim his life. He was reported to have a hacking cough that eventually resulted in him spitting up blood and tissue. Medical historians generally agree that he had tuberculosis.

But Edward's court was composed of factions of which the most violent eventually carried the day. Lord Seymour, the admiral, was attainted of treason and beheaded in 1549. His brother, the protector Somerset, met with the same fate in 1552. Fearing Mary would return the country to the Catholic faith, powerful men in the realm such as John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland and Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk began to make their plans. Although they made moves to court Mary's favor, they worked secretly with their own agenda. John Dudley, duke of Northumberland, then became paramount in the privy council and easily obtained the sanction of the young king to those schemes for altering the succession which led immediately after Edward's death (July 6, 1553) to the usurpation of Lady Jane Grey. Duke of Northumberland married his son Guildford to Suffolk's daughter Jane Grey, who would be in line for the throne after Mary and Elizabeth. By placing Jane on the throne in Edward's wake, they thought they would have a puppet they could control (although Jane seems to have had other ideas about that!).

Northumberland put his plans into action and convinced Edward to leave his crown to his cousin Jane.

Dudley had, in fact, overawed the rest of the privy council, and when Edward died, he took such energetic measures to give effect to his scheme that Lady Jane was actually recognized as queen for some days, and Mary had to flee from Hunsdon into Norfolk. But the country was devoted to her cause, as indeed her right in law was unquestionable, and before many days she was royally received in London and took up her abode within the Tower.

MARY as the queen of nine days

Mary realized that a plot was being hatched to place Jane on the throne. She had been urged by some friends to flee the country since they feared her life would be in danger. Mary knew that if she fled, she would forfeit all chances of becoming Queen and returning England to Catholicism, so she chose to remain and make a stand for her crown.

Edward died on July 6, 1553. Shortly afterwards, Northumberland informed Jane at Syon house that Edward had left the crown to her and that she was now Queen of England. Mary, meanwhile, was in East Anglia. Northumberland and three of his sons went to take Mary into custody. Mary was at this time moving around with a growing army of supporters. She knew that he must have confirmation of her brother's death, because it would be treason to declare herself Queen otherwise. She received news from a reliable source that Edward was indeed dead, and promptly sent proclamations throughout the country announcing her accession to the throne,

Mary went to Framlingham Castle in Suffolk, which was better fortified. Her number of supporters was increasing and Mary took time to inspect her troops personally. The people of Suffolk were flocking to Mary and many of the leaders who were supposed to take her into custody instead went and begged for her pardon.

By this time, the Privy Council in London realized their error in going along with Northumberland's plot and declared Mary the true Queen of England. She left Framlingham for London on July 24. As Mary approached the outskirts of London, she was met by her sister Elizabeth, who offered her congratulations and rode in a place of honor with the new Queen. When Mary made her formal entry into London on the 30th of September, Elizabeth and the surviving wife of Henry VIII, Anne of Cleves, rode in a chariot behind the Queen's in the great procession.

On the morning of October 1, Mary made the short walk from Westminster Palace to Westminster Abbey across the street for her coronation. It was nearly 5 o'clock before the ceremony was finished and the court made it's way back to Westminster Palace for the banquet in the Great Hall. Mary was now crowned Queen. She was thirty-seven years of age, short and thin, wrinkled in the face, and very unhealthy. But she had a great liking for bright colours, and all the ladies of her Court were magnificently dressed. She also had a great liking for old customs.

Parliament met four days after the coronation and in the second session (three days later), Mary began to introduce the legislations that she had long hoped for. First, there was an act proclaiming Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon valid and legal. This act passed with little resistance. However, the other main act was to repeal all the religious laws passed in the reign of Edward VI, and this didn't pass as easily.

Of the conspirators who tried to place Jane on the throne, only a few were initially executed, including the Duke of Northumberland, John Dudley. Jane and Guildford were found guilty of treason, but Mary refused to execute them. Guildford's brothers, the other three sons of John Dudley, were kept in the Tower, but not killed. The Duke of Suffolk (Henry Grey), Jane Grey's father, was released. Her first acts as queen displayed a character very different from that which she still holds in popular estimation. Her clemency toward those who had taken up arms against her was remarkable. She released from prison Lady Jane's father, the duke of Suffolk, and had difficulty even in signing the warrant for the execution of Northumberland. Lady Jane herself she fully meant to spare, and did spare till after Sir Thomas Wyatt's formidable insurrection in 1554. Her conduct, indeed, was in most respects conciliatory and pacific, and so far as they depended on her personal character the prospects of the new reign might have appeared altogether favorable.

Now, the question who should be the Queen's husband had given rise to a great deal of discussion. Some said Cardinal Pole was the man -- but the Queen did not think so. Others said that the gallant young Earl of Devonshire was the man -- and the Queen thought so too, for a while; but she changed her mind. At last it appeared that Philip, Prince of Spain, was certainly the man -- but the people detested the idea of such a marriage from the beginning to the end, and murmured that the Spaniard would establish in England, by the aid of foreign soldiers, the Popish religion, and even the terrible Inquisition itself.

These discontents gave rise to a conspiracy for marrying Earl of Devonshire to the Princess Elizabeth, and setting them up, with popular tumults all over the kingdom, against the Queen. This was discovered in time by Gardiner; but in Kent, the old bold county, the people rose in their old bold way. Sir Thomas Wyatt was their leader. He raised his standard at Maidstone, marched on to Rochester, established himself in the old castle there, and prepared to hold out against the Duke of Norfolk, who came against him with a party of the Queen's guards, and a body of five hundred London men. The London men, however, were all for Elizabeth, and not at all for Mary. They declared, under the castle walls, for Wyatt; the Duke retreated; and Wyatt came on to Deptford, at the head of fifteen thousand men. But these, in their turn, fell away. When he came to Southwark, there were only two thousand left. Not dismayed by finding the London citizens in arms, Wyatt led his men off to Kingston-upon-Thames, intending to cross the bridge that he knew to be in that place, and so to work his way round to Ludgate, one of the old gates of the City. He found the bridge broken down, but mended it, came across, and bravely fought his way up Fleet Street to Ludgate Hill. Finding the gate closed against him, he fought his way back again, sword in hand, to Temple Bar. Here, being overpowered, he surrendered himself, and three or four hundred of his men were taken, besides a hundred killed. Wyatt, in a moment of weakness (and perhaps of torture) was afterwards made to accuse the Princess Elizabeth as his accomplice to some very small extent. But his manhood soon returned to him, and he refused to save his life by making any more false confessions. He was quartered in the usual brutal way, and from fifty to a hundred of his followers were hanged. The rest were led out, with halters round their necks, to be pardoned, and to make a parade of crying out, “God save Queen Mary!"

Mary was to begin searching for a suitable husband. One of the possibilities was Edward Courtenay, who had spent most of his life in the Tower. He was younger than Mary, but he was one of the last descendants of the House of York and one of the most obvious choices for a husband. One of Courtrenay's greatest attractions in the view of the people was that he was an Englishman, not a foreign Prince. However, the Emperor Charles V (Mary's cousin), who had been an instrumental advisor to the English Queen, had other idea and was already making plans to suggest his son Prince Philip of Spain as Mary's best choice of husband. The ambassador formally suggested this to the Queen a short time after her coronation. After much thought and prayer on the matter, Mary accepted the proposal. Negotiations of the contract began, although the public sentiment was not in favor of the match.

During this time, plots were being hatched to depose Mary and place Elizabeth and Edward Courtenay on the throne. It turns out that there were a total of four plots at hand. One involved Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger (son of the poet Thomas Wyatt a courtly suitor of Anne Boleyn) and the Duke of Suffolk, Henry Grey (already released from the Tower after his involvement with the Northumberland plot) what would lead rebel armies from various parts of England. Wyatt's army reached London, but the rebellion was put down at the city gates. He and his fellow conspirators were arrested.

Mary realized the mistake she had made before in her lenient treatment of Northumberland's rebels, and vowed not to make it again. In all, roughly 100 rebels were hung, although the Queen pardoned 400 others. Lady Jane Grey and her husband would also have to be put to death now, as they may be the possible focal point for another rebellion. Edward Courtenay was put back in the Tower where he had spent much of his life. Elizabeth had been summoned to London for questioning and was eventually imprisoned in the Tower as well, although she was later sent to Woodstock.

In March, 1554, Mary acted in a proxy betrothal, with the Count of Egmont standing in for Prince Philip. He eventually set sail for England on July 12, arriving at the Isle of Wight a week later. On July 23, he arrived at Winchester where he would meet his bride for the first time. It is not known exactly what language they used to converse (quite possibly Latin), but Philip and Mary talked into the evening and by all appearances seemed to be getting along well.

The marriage took place two days after their meeting, on July 25th, the day of St. James - patron saint of Spain. After the wedding, they proclaimed: Philip and Mary, by the grace of God, King and Queen of England, France and Naples, Jerusalem and Ireland, defenders of the faith, Princes of Spain and Sicily, Archdukes of Austria, Dukes of Milan, Burgundy and Brabant, Counts of Habsburg, Flanders and the Tyrol.

After dancing and dinner, the couple was put to bed in accordance with the ancient blessing ritual. In September, one of the Queen's physicians announced that she was pregnant. In fact, she did seem to show many of the signs including nausea and an enlarging belly.

Meanwhile, Mary began to act on her intention to restoring the Catholic faith in England. "The nobles were allowed to keep the lands gained in the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII, but the Queen encouraged returning former Church property (mainly furniture and plate) and set an example by doing so herself. The medieval heresy taws were restored by Parliament, which meant that heretics could be killed, and their property and holdings given over to the Crown.

In January 1555, the arrests began. John Hooper (former Bishop of Gloucester), John Rogers and John Cardmaster were arrested after they refused to cease their heretical activities and put on trial. All three were condemned to be burnt at the stake, with Rogers the first to die. Instead of deterring the Protestants the burnings mainly served to increase their hatred of the Queen. In all about 275 people died and were later included in John Foxe's Acts and Monuments of the English Martyrs. It was because of these burnings that the Queen gained the epitaph "Bloody Mary".

In the danger of this rebellion, the Queen showed herself to be a woman of courage and spirit. She disdained to retreat to any place of safety, and went down to the Guildhall, sceptre in hand, and made a speech to the Lord Mayor and citizens. But on the day after Wyat's defeat, sheep did the most cruel act, even of her cruel reign, in signing the warrant for the execution of Lady Jane Grey.

They tried to persuade Lady Jane to accept the unreformed religion; but she steadily refused. On the morning when she was to die, she saw from her window the bleeding and headless body of her husband brought back in a cart from scaffold on Tower Hill where he had laid down his life. But, as she had declined to see him before his execution, lest she should be overpowered and not make a good end, so, she even now showed a constancy and calmness that will never be forgotten. She came up to the scaffold with a firm step and a quiet face, and addressed the bystanders in a steady voice. They were not numerous, for she was too young, to innocent and fair, to be murdered before the people on Tower Hill, as her husband had just been; so, the place of her execution was within the Tower itself.

She said that she had done an unlawful act in taking what was Queen Mary's right, but that she had done so with no bad intent, and that she died a-humble Christian. She begged the executioner to despatch her quickly, and she asked him, "Will you take my head off before I lay me down?" He answered, "No, Madam," and then she was very quiet while they bandaged her eyes. Being blinded, and unable to see the block on which she was to lay her young head, she was seen to feel about for it with her hands, and was heard to say, confused, "O what shall I do! Where is it?" Then they guided her to the right place, and the executioner struck off her head. You know too well, now, what dreadful deeds the executioner did in England, through many many years, and how his axe descended on the hateful block through the necks of some of the bravest, wisest, and best in the land. But it never struck so cruel and so vile a blow as this. The father of Lady Jane soon followed, but was little pitied. Queen Mary's next object was to lay hold of Elizabeth, and this was pursued with great eagerness. Five hundred men were sent to her, with orders to bring her up, alive or dead. They got to her house at ten at night, when she was sick in bed. But next morning their leaders put her into a litter to be conveyed to London. She was so weak and ill that she was five days on the road. Still, she was so resolved to be seen by the people that she had the curtains of the litter opened, and so, very pale and sickly, passed through the streets. She wrote to her sister, saying she was innocent of any crime, and asking why she was made a prisoner. But she got no answer, and was ordered to the Tower. They took her in by the Traitor's Gate, to which she objected, but in vain. One of the lords who conveyed her offered to cover her with his cloak, as it was raining, but she put it away from her, proudly and scornfully, and passed into the Tower, and sat down in a court-yard on a stone.

They asked her to come in out of the wet, but she answered that it was better sitting there, than in a worse place. At length she went to her apartment, where she was kept a prisoner.

Gardiner wanted to put her to death. He failed, however, in his design. Elizabeth was, at length, released, and Hatfield House was assigned to her as a residence, under the care of Sir Thomas Pope.

It would seem that Philip, the Prince of Spain, was a main cause of this change in Elizabeth's fortunes. He was not an amiable man, being, on the contrary, proud, overbearing, and gloomy. But he and the Spanish lords, who came over with him, did not like the idea of doing any violence to the Princess.

The Queen had been expecting her husband with great impatience, and at length he came, to her great joy, though he never cared much for her. They were married by Gardiner, at Winchester, and there was more holiday-making among the people. But England had its old distrust of this Spanish marriage. Even the Parliament would pass no bill to enable the Queen to set aside the Princess Elizabeth and appoint her own successor.

Although Gardiner failed in this object, as well as in the darker one of bringing the Princess to the scaffold, he went on at a great pace in the revival of the unreformed religion. A new Parliament was packed, in which there were no Protestants. Preparations were made to receive Cardinal Pole in England as the Pope's messenger, bringing his holy declaration that all the nobility, who had acquired Church property, should keep it-- which was done to enlist their selfish interest on the Pope's side. Then a great scene was enacted, which was the triumph of the Queen's plans. Cardinal Pole arrived, and was received with great pomp. The Parliament joined in a petition expressive of their sorrow at the change in the national religion, and praying him to receive the country again into the Popish Church. With the Queen sitting on her throne, and the Ring on one side of her, and the Cardinal on the other, and the Parliament present, Gardiner read the petition aloud. The Cardinal then made a great speech to say that all was forgotten and forgiven, and that the kingdom was solemnly made Roman Catholic again.

Everything was now ready for the lighting of the terrible fires of the Inquisition. The Queen declared to the Council, in writing, that she would wish none of her subjects to be burnt without some of the Council being present, and that she would particularly wish there to be good sermons at all burnings, so the Council knew pretty well what was to be done next. After the Cardinal had blessed all the bishops as a preface to the burnings, the Chancellor Gardiner opened a High Court for the trial of heretics. Here, two Protestant clergymen, Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester, and Rogers, a Prebendary of St. Paul's, were brought to be tried. Hooper was tried first for being married, though a priest, and for not believing in the mass. He admitted both of these accusations, and said that the mass was a wicked imposition. Then they tried Rogers, v/ho said the same. Next morning the two were brought up to be sentenced.

Soon afterwards, Rogers was taken out of jail to be burnt in Smithfield; and, in the crowd as he went along, he saw his poor wife and his ten children, of whom the youngest was a little baby. And so he was burnt to death.

The next day, Hooper, who was to be burnt at Gloucester, was brought out to take his last journey, and was made to wear a hood over his face that he might not be known by the people. But they did know him for all that; and, when he came near Gloucester, they lined the road, making prayers and lamentations. His guards took him to a lodging, where he slept soundly all night. At nine o'clock next morning, he was brought forth leaning on a staff, for he had taken cold in prison, and was infirm. The iron stake, and the iron chain which was to bind him to it, were fixed up near a great elm-tree in a pleasant open place before the cathedral, where, on peaceful Sundays, he had preached and prayed, when he was bishop of Gloucester. This tree was filled with people, and there was a great concourse of spectators in every spot from which a glimpse of the dreadful sight could be beheld. When old man kneeled down on the small platform at the foot of the stake, and prayed aloud, the the nearest people were observed to be so attentive to his prayers that they were ordered to stand farther back; for it did not suit the Romish Church to have those Protestant words heard. After that he went up to the stake and was chained ready for the fire. One of his guards had such compassion on him that, to shorten his agonies, he tied some packets of gunpowder about him. Then they heaped up wood and straw and reeds, and set them all alight. But, unhappily, the wood was green and damp, and there was a wind blowing that blew the flame away. As the fire rose and sank, his terrible death turned out to be even more terrible, and all that time they saw him, as he burned, moving his lips in prayer.

Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer were soon tried, found guilty and sentenced to burning.

Five days after the horrible execution of Ridley and Latimer, Gardiner went to his tremendous account before God, for the cruelties he had so much assisted in committing.

Cranmer remained still alive and in prison. He was brought out for more examining and trying, by Bonner, Bishop of London: another man of blood, who had succeeded to Gardiner's work, even in his lifetime, when Gardiner was tired of it.

Mary was of weak constitution and subject to frequent illnesses, both before and after her accession. One special infirmity caused her to believe a few months after her marriage that she was with child, and thanksgiving services were ordered throughout the diocese of London in Nov. 1554

As Mary's pregnancy progressed, Philip began to make plans for the succession if the Queen were to die in childbirth, a relatively common occurrence in Tudor England. Mary would most likely want to exclude Elizabeth from the throne, which meant that the crown would then fall to Mary Queen of Scots, who was about to marry the son of the King of France and was unacceptable for Spanish interests. Philip suggested marrying Elizabeth to a Catholic (and ally of the Holy Roman Emperor): Philibert, Duke of Savoy.

Mary had refused to allow Philip and Elizabeth to meet, but in April when the Court moved to Hampton Court Palace Elizabeth was brought there as well (she had still been at Woodstock until then). She had few visitors and had not been granted an audience with the Queen, since she was still in disgrace. However, one evening the Queen sent over a rich dress to Elizabeth with the message that she was to wear it that evening. She met the King and was later brought into see the Queen. Foxe records that Philip was hiding behind a tapestry during the interview. At the end, Mary agreed to welcome Elizabeth at court.

Mary had retreated into privacy awaiting the birth of her child, as was customary. She waited for the labor pains to begin, but her due date came and went without the birth of a child. The doctors predicted the child would come on June 6, then June 24, and then finally July 3...but none came to pass.

It is thought that Mary did in fact suffer what is called a 'phantom pregnancy' arising from her great wish to have a child. She may have actually been pregnant at some point, but miscarried, or the child died and was not properly expelled. Whatever the case, it became quite clear that the Queen was not going to give birth, since it was now nearly a year after she was first reported to be with child.

After a while, Mary began to receive again and die signs of her "pregnancy" disappeared. The subject was not brought up in the Queen's presence.

In August, Philip left England to conduct business for Spain in the Netherlands. The Queen was overcome with sadness at his departure and wrote to him almost daily.

Meanwhile, the trials and burnings continued. Hugh Latimer (former Bishop of Worcester) and Nicholas Ridley (former Bishop of London) were condemned and burnt at the stake in October 1555. In March 1556, Thomas Cranmer (former Archbishop of Canterbury) followed, thrusting his right hand into the fire first because it had signed his earlier recantation of the Protestant faith.

Philip eventually returned to England in March 1557. Shortly afterwards, England declared war on France following a raid on Scarborough, England by Thomas Stafford, who had been in exile in France. The French King Henry II denied initiating the raid.

Philip lead forces into France and took the town of St. Quentin and surrounding lands. But France struck back and took the city of Calais, the last foothold of England on the Continent. It had been in English hands since 1347.

With this loss came some good news, however. The Queen was sure she was pregnant again, now at the age of 42. She entered seclusion in late February 1558, thinking her confinement for labor would come in March. Those around her seemed to have doubts about the validity of this pregnancy after the earlier incident.

On March 30, Mary drafted her will and it is worded in such a way to portray that the Queen thought she was indeed with child. But, by April, no child had come and the Queen knew that she was once again mistaken. After the symptoms began to fade, Mary was left quite ill. From then on, she became progressively worse. In late October, she added the codicil to her will but did not expressly name Elizabeth as her heir in it.

The Queen drifted in and out of consciousness, but at one point was lucid enough to agree to pass the crown to her half sister, adding that she hoped Elizabeth would maintain the Catholic faith in England. It was around this time that Philip learned of the death of both his father and his aunt.

On November 16_, 1558_, Mary's will was read aloud keeping with custom. She was lucid during the Mass held in her chamber the next morning. The priest performed the last rights, and the Queen died.

Elizabeth gave her sister a royal funeral and she was interred in Westminster Abbey in the chapel built by her grandfather, Henry VII. During the reign of Elizabeth, Mary's tomb became buried under piles of stones from broken altars. When Elizabeth herself died, built a magnificent tomb for both sisters (although only Elizabeth's figure is on it).

A plaque on the marble reads - translated from the Latin - Partners both in throne and grave, here rest we two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary, in the hope of one resurrection.

Her name perhaps deserved better treatment than it has generally met with; for she was not by nature cruel. Her kindness to the poor is undoubted, and the severe execution of her laws seemed to her a necessity. Moreover, she was alive to the injustice with which the law was usually strained in behalf of the prerogative; and in appointing Sir Richard Morgan chief justice of the common pleas she charged him "not to sit in judgment otherwise for her highness than for her subjects," and to avoid the old error of refusing to admit witnesses against the crown.

Mary's conduct as queen was governed by the best possible intentions; and it is evident that her religious zeal caused most of the trouble she brought upon herself. Her subjects were entirely released, even by papal authority, from any obligation to restore the confiscated lands of the church. But she herself made it an object, at her own expense, to restore several of the monasteries; and courtiers who did not like to follow her example encouraged the fanatics to spread an alarm that it would even yet be made compulsory. So the worldly minded joined hands with godly heretics in stirring up enmity against her. Her unpopular foreign marriage and the national humiliations which followed upon it made their task all too easy.

As Bloody Queen Mary, this woman has become famous, and as Bloody Queen Mary, she will ever be justly remembered with horror and detestation in Great Britain.

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