Page 35 - All About History 48 - 2017 UK

Bloody Mary On Trial

By 19 July, Mary had won the day without a
drop of bloodshed: Lady Jane was deposed, and
Mary was proclaimed queen to the great joy of
her subjects. Jane was imprisoned in the Tower of
London, and, on 3 August, Mary entered London
in triumph: the dark days of uncertainty and
turmoil she had experienced throughout her life
now appeared to be at an end, and she had at last
come into her rightful inheritance.
Queen Mary

On 1 October, Mary’s achievements seemed to be
complete when she succeeded in becoming the
first queen regnant of England to be crowned. A
queen regnant reigning supreme in England was
unprecedented, and thus Mary had no example
from which to follow. This certainly later worked
in her half-sister Elizabeth’s favour, as she was able
to learn from Mary’s mistakes. Mary, however, had
good reason to believe that a woman could rule
successfully. Her maternal grandmother, Isabella of
Castile, had been an effective monarch in her own
right, and Mary’s mother had always believed that
her daughter could do the same.
Four days after the coronation, Mary’s
parliament met and passed the First Statute of
Repeal. This erased all of the religious policies that
Mary’s entry into London, accompanied by over
800 followers, proved very popular with the crowds had been put in place by Edward VI, for Mary was
determined that England ought to be returned
to the Catholic Church under the jurisdiction of
the pope. At the same time, she was given the
opportunity to correct a wrong that had remained
with her for many years: the marriage of her
parents, which had been denounced by Thomas
Cranmer, was declared to be valid, finally securing
her own legitimacy.
In a further step to secure her position, in April
1554, parliament passed the Act for Regal Power.
This consolidated the queen’s power “as fully and
absolutely” as it had been in any of Mary’s male
predecessors: despite her sex, her authority was to
be on a level with theirs.
Though Mary was queen in her own right,
it never occurred to her that she would rule
alone. From her infancy she had been primed for
An extract from Edward VI’s diary, about his
father’s attempt to change Mary’s religious views

THE LOSS OF CALAIS

The recapture of England’s last continental possession stung
With her husband Philip’s could not be said of the English Machyn recorded that it was, “…
encouragement, Mary finally garrison stationed at Calais, and the heaviest tidings to London and
agreed to lend English support on New Year’s Day 1558, 27,000 to England that ever was heard of.”
to Spain’s war against France in French troops attacked the town. On Moreover, plans to try to regain
March 1556. It was an unpopular 7 January, it surrendered and was possession came to nothing. For
move, and stretched the country’s declared a reclaimed land. centuries, blame for the loss of
already limited resources to the Calais was the last English Calais has been aimed squarely at
limit. Under the leadership of the possession in France, and had been Mary. This is too simplistic a view,
Earl of Pembroke, the English Army in its hands since 1347 when Edward however, and at the time it was
fought well and achieved a decisive III captured the town. The loss was not seen in this way. It is therefore
victory against the French at Saint both disastrous and humiliating unfair to attribute it wholly to
Quentin in 1557. However, the same for England, and the diarist Henry Mary’s actions.

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