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 Mary I
(1516-1558) was queen of England from 1553 until her death in
1558. She was the daughter
of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.
Mary became queen after King Edward VI, her brother, died.
An attempt to set her aside in favour of Lady Jane Grey,
"the nine-day queen," failed.
The English people preferred Mary because she belonged to
the Tudor family of English rulers.
Mary was a devout
Roman Catholic and tried to take England back to the Roman
Catholic Church. She
repealed a law that had made Protestantism the state religion.
She also revived certain severe laws against heresy or
disbelief in church doctrine. She
became known as "Bloody Mary" because of the
persecutions she caused. More
than 300 people were burned at the stake during her reign.
Among them were Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, and Hugh
Latimer, all high-ranking Protestant clergymen.
Mary also drove many Protestant clergymen into exile.
Mary
married King Philip II of Spain. Their
marriage was unpopular, because many English people viewed Spain
as England's greatest enemy. Philip
persuaded Mary to join Spain in a war against France.
But France won the war, which officially ended in 1559,
after Mary's death. Mary died childless and she was succeeded on the throne by her
Protestant sister, Elizabeth I.
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