Mary Tudor, Queen of England: ‘Bloody Mary’ or Troubled Monarch?

this episode is brought to you by curiositystream subscription streaming service that offers over 2000 documentaries and non-fiction titles unlimited access starting at just 299 a month and 30 days for free if you sign up using the code biographics there is a link below more on them in a bit the phrase bloody mary may simply evoke images of a stick of celery in a tall glass or memories of your last brunch but the origin of the term comes of course from queen mary the first of england daughter of henry viii who led a violent catholic counter-reformation against protestantism but is that all there is to know about mary tudor well stick with us today and we'll learn about mary's unhappy upbringing and her troubled reign plagued by personal and political disappointments princess mary was the first surviving child of king henry viii of england and catherine queen of aragon when mary came into the world on february the 18th 1516 her father welcomed her as the greatest pearl in the kingdom as proud as henry might have been he rarely showed affection to his daughter the king was more interested in using mary as a diplomatic pawn in the complex game of alliances that had engulfed england france and the holy roman empire when mary was just two years old she was betrothed to the dolphin or prince of france francis iii this wedding arrangement among two infants was all kinds of inappropriate and it was intended to secure an alliance between england and france four years later diplomatic relations between the two kingdoms soured and the cringe factor just escalated the six-year-old mary was now offered in marriage to her mother's cousin the holy roman emperor charles v who was age 22. the marriage never took place but mother catherine wanted to ensure that mary would be raised as a proper princess worthy of an emperor mary was tutored by a spanish tutor juan louis vuivers who outlined her curriculum in the treatise called the education of a christian woman according to vivez young girls should be prepared for a life of humility self-sacrifice and obedience in the company of virtuous women men on the other hand should be avoided girls should also restrain the fire of their youth it is preferable that they learn instead to weave and spin which includes a love of sober sadness in other words catherine and vivez were raising mary to become a rather submissive young lady devoid of spirit and initiative but mary had another role model in her household albeit one who dedicated her little attention henry viii from him mary inherited a love of riding and hunting and a talent for playing the loot and dancing the king started to take notice of these not so dainty traits so in the summer of 1525 he sent the nine-year-old lady mary to ludlow castle in the welsh marches this relocation carried a great symbolic value by presiding over that court mary effectively acted as princess of wales making her a prospect to inherit the throne mary stayed in ludlow until just after her 11th birthday when threats of a welsh rebellion made it safer for her to leave for london when she returned mary was met by a very tense situation henry had informed queen catherine that he intended to divorce her as he was having a relationship with anne boleyn mary stuck by her grieving mother trying to console her through that difficult period from 1527 to 1533. won't go into all of the details of the annulment of henry and catherine's marriage but one of the best known consequences of this was the schism of the church of england from catholicism ten years after the beginning of the reformation major european court adhered to protestantism from mary's perspective the schism from the church of rome had deep personal connections catholicism was her religion as well as a mother's protestantism and the reformation represented the faith of catherine's rival anne boleyn which henry had opportunistically embraced in july of 1533 the 17 year old mary was informed that her parents marriage had been pronounced invalid and that henry and anne were now man and wife mary was also told that she could no longer communicate with her mother and things went from bad to worse after the 7th of september 1533. that is when anne gave birth to princess elizabeth the future queen of england mary was stripped of her title of princess and ordered to serve as a maid of honour to elizabeth the teenage mary was moved to a new residence hatfield house to look after her half-sister she had been removed from her mother and from her beloved lady-in-waiting margaret poll she had also been assigned to the worst lodgings in hatfield and was routinely humiliated by members of elizabeth's household chief among them was lady shelton the aunt of anne boleyn any other cinderella would have accepted her fate as an errand girl while staging musical routines with a bunch of mice but mary fought back with quiet dignity she always refused to address elizabeth as princess and feigned deafness if somebody addressed her as lady mary rather than princess mary lady shelton retaliated by confiscating her clothes and jewelry or even by abusing her both verbally and physically if king henry came around to visit elizabeth lady shelton ensured that mary was locked up preventing her from seeing her father but mary continued with her quiet rebellion she learned how to exchange secret messages with her mother with the help of loyal servants mary could also count on another ally the envoy of charles v to london spanish ambassador eustace chapoise chapois became a good friend and made several attempts to intervene on her behalf at court alas they were all unsuccessful in 1534 the english parliament ratified the act of supremacy which made the schism from rome official and recognized henry viii as head of the church of england mary was supposed to take an oath recognizing him as such but she refused accepting the act of supremacy meant admitting that henry and catherine's marriage was illegal rejecting such an oath was equal to treason punishable by death but henry showing mercy let his daughter live at the beginning of february 1535 just before her 19th birthday mary fell ill she had been suffering for some time from stomach pains headaches and depression but on that occasion her symptoms were worse than ever somebody at court even suspected poisoning henry had the good idea of sending her away from hatfield to recover at the royal palace in greenwich and recover she did albeit very slowly but barely one year later mary received yet another devastating blow lady shelton without tact or pity announced that on the 12th of january 1536 catherine of aragon had died mary's life would only improve when king george the eighth group tired of his new wife on may the 19th 1536 amberlynn's graceful neck was struck by the executioner at the tower of london she had been executed on trumped-up charges of infidelity incest with her own brother and conspiracy to kill the king these accusations had been concocted by the king and his minister thomas cromwell there were many reasons behind the execution anne had failed to give birth to a male heir or unopposed an alliance with the holy roman empire favoring the french or the king simply wanted to remarry what mattered for mary is that henry's new wife jane seymour had every intention to build a good relationship with her in the summer of 1536 mary was summoned to court to meet her father for the first time in five years at the time she was 20 years old and henry had lost cena as a troubled teenager he was now impressed by an intelligent confident woman who had survived years of abuse and neglect with dignity during christmas 1536 the lady mary was formally welcomed back at court for it to happen she was eventually forced to sign a document recognizing catherine and henry's marriage as unlawful nonetheless thanks to the family unity created by queen jane mary enjoyed a newfound happiness but the days of her benefactor were numbered because on october 12 1537 jane fulfilled henry's most persistent wish by giving birth to a son edward finally this was the male heir that everyone was hoping for except of course for mary ambitious and intelligent she knew her best path to the throne would not involve male heirs older or younger the birth of the prince had another consequence jane was confined to bed with a bout of pure apparel fever a fever caused by uterine infection following childbirth she died 12 days later on the 24th of october king henry was stricken with heavy grief he dealt with it in an emotionally mature way he left england altogether to pursue diplomatic missions mary remained at court further blossoming into a well-liked member of the royal household she was a pious young woman attending mass every day and offering donations to impoverished members of the clergy but she also enjoyed hunting playing cards and attending shows with jesters foreign ambassadors started to take note of the young lady admiring her intelligence good nature and good looks she would have made a perfect bride for some foreign prince well in theory in practice her position was ambiguous mary was formerly an illegitimate child i mean remember that document that she was forced to sign moreover a potential future groom of mary's could lay claims to the throne threatening the legitimate heir prince edward for this reason king henry kept several suitors at bay but of course he didn't have any problems with his ongoing nuptials in january 1540 he married anne of cleves before quickly swiping left and tying the knot with catherine howard catherine's date of birth is uncertain but she was for sure younger than her stepdaughter mary initially the pious mary did not get along with dad's latest trophy wife but just as the two young ladies were becoming friends henry received a letter from the archbishop of canterbury thomas cranner accused catherine of past and present sexual liaisons henry announced her treason and had catherine executed on february 13 1542. following year henry married for the sixth time with catherine parr who like jane seymour before her was able to recreate some degree of family unity mary enjoyed some quiet happy time playing with elizabeth and edward she had now grown fond of a much younger half-siblings but there was a growing cloud over their future as henry viii grew older i mean what would happen after the death of the king but just before we get into what will happen let me tell you about today's sponsor curiosity stream curiosity stream is a subscription streaming service that offers over 2 000 documentaries and non-fiction titles from some of the world's best filmmakers including exclusive originals now if you're enjoying this video then you're bound to find loads of stuff on their platform that you will love they've got plenty of stuff about english history including a great documentary by the way that reconstructs the life of william the conqueror it's called william the conqueror and if you search for that you will find it and that's just one example there's really so much stuff on curiosity stream that you are never going to run out of interesting things to watch it's available on many platforms web app roku android xbox one if you've got a screen you're probably going to be able to watch it on that screen get unlimited access starting at just 299 a month and for you guys the first 30 days are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com forward slash biographics and use the promo code biographics during the sign up process that's a great way to support the show and let's get back to the video henry died on january 28 1547. his son was crowned as king edward vi nine years of age mary withdrew to east anglia where she held a sort of parallel court which always included a catholic priest reciting mass four times a day as king edward and his court continued the path to protestantism mary began to believe that her destiny was to keep the catholic faith alive in england this conviction was reinforced by the ambassadors of charles v who had every interest in maintaining influence over her cousin in 1549 the act of uniformity outlawed catholic mass replacing it with services from the book of common prayer mary would not comply with the act as she wrote to charles the fifth in life or death i will not forsake the catholic religion even if compelled thereto by threats or violence a personal chaplain was intimidated on orders of edward seymour the duke of somerset this gentleman was the uncle and lord protector to the young king edward eventually seymour proved to be quite lenient allowing mary to celebrate the catholic rites privately but seymour's tenure as lord protector was short-lived and his successor john dudley duke of northumberland was openly hostile to mary and catholicism he defined her as the conduit by which the rats of rome might creep into the stronghold dudley and even king edward issued intimidations to mary that she stopped celebrating mass but she defiantly persisted this religious tug-of-war continued until february 1553 when mary started hearing rumors about the king's ill health the fifteen-year-old edward vi was in fact suffering from severe tuberculosis and he was deteriorating quickly this was the beginning of a duel of wits between mary and john dudley with the prize being the throne of england mary considered herself to be the rightful heir to the crown while dudley was ready to sponsor another candidate in order to prevent a catholic from becoming queen this was dudley's daughter-in-law lady jane gray who happened to also be the great-granddaughter of the first tudor king henry vii at the beginning of july 1553 mary was in her hertfordshire residence when she received a summons to greenwich palace to sit by her dying brother mary feared this to be a trap from dudley and she headed to norfolk instead east of london when she reached her court in kenninghaul on july 9 she learned that edward had died three days prior but the worst piece of news was that dudley's son was heading to norfolk to capture her mary acted quickly and decisively she pronounced herself rightful queen of england before her household and sent a message to dudley ordering him to accept her as monarch mary's message received dudley when he was hosting a banquet for queen jane grey which must have been all kinds of awkward dudley had reassured queen jane and his allies that mary would be easily tamed and controlled but mary would not yield and she started to amass an army of supporters recruited from the gentleman and peasants of east anglia dudley had not been idle either sending an army and a fleet to confront mary but the odds were quickly turning against him by the 16th of july mary's army numbered about 30 000 and dudley's fleet had switched sides on the 18th john dudley yielded to his new queen and on august 3rd 1553 mary tudor rode triumphantly into london proclaimed as the new queen of england she succeeded the unlucky lady jane grey queen of nine days [Music] england welcomed mary as a rightful heir to the throne she was first and foremost an adult an intelligent woman heavily contrasted against the previous boy king but nobody knew what to expect from a single queen as monarch the only president had been queen matilda in the 12th century reign remembered as a chaotic time but mary got off to a good start making an impression as a virtuous conscientious and kind sovereign sure she had dudley's head chopped off even after he had recanted his protestant faith but mary was very lenient toward dudley's allies and especially lady jane grey who received a short sentence to be served at the tower of london the new queen gave proof of her great tolerance as she had no intention to compel or constrain other men's consciences straight off the bat mary launched a series of much-needed reforms english finances were in dire condition after years of malpractice endorsed by dudley edward vi and henry viii mary's predecessors are taken to debasing the coinage or lowering the proportion of gold and silver in english circulation this debasement increased cash flow in the economy but eventually curbed foreign trade what was the point of trading with england if the pound was becoming worthless mary revalued the currency and while she initially intended to curb public spending she understood the necessity of investing in the military she expanded the navy and incentivized exploration in the new world a long-term program whose rewards would be reaped by her successes but let's stay in the present with the crown firmly on her head the queen's counselors and subjects were busy with another question was mary intending to marry and if so when and to whom mary had the same question in mind and sought the advice of charles v no surprise the habsburg emperor chose his only son philip philip had a reputation for being kind of dull but on the plus side he was dignified serious 11 years younger than mary and fantastically rich upon the death of his father he would contribute two pieces of prime real estate to a potential royal marriage the netherlands and spain this is to say that a union between mary and philip would have brought together two great powers however mary's councillors realized that england would have been the junior partner in such an alliance and england would likely become just another habsburg dominion the protestants within england were also worried about the potential influence of spanish catholic clergy but mary had made up her mind she would marry philip whom she had seen only once in a portrait by titian on november 8 1553 she announced her intention to marry philip and in january of 1554 she concluded a marriage treaty with charles the fifth the news was badly received by a group of conspiring noblemen led by sir thomas wyatt the plot also involved henry gray father of lady jane the plan called for four separate armies to march into london seize the court and replace mary with her half-sister elizabeth set to marry an english nobleman the plan however reached the ears of the spanish ambassador who notified mary's main adviser lord chancellor stephen gardiner the rebel alliance of nobleman melted away but thomas wyatt did not back down on january 26 1554 wyatt and his small army occupied the kentish town of rochester issuing a proclamation against the queen mary sent two contingents to suppress the uprising but most of those soldiers swapped sides and joined wired in less than a week he had rallied four thousand men at his command ready to march on london mary's counselors advised her to flee but the queen would not have it on february 1 she delivered a rousing speech to londoners rallying their support two days later wyatt's army arrived at the tower of london expecting to find little resistance they were sorely wrong they found that mary's supporters had blocked all bridges and were in control of the artillery atop the tower after a failed attempt to outmaneuver the defenses wyatt surrendered it's easy to guess the fate of thomas wyatt he and 90 of his co-conspirators were tried and executed their bodies were left to rot in the open as a warning against future rebellions the aftermath of the rebellion did not spare two ladies who may have posed a threat to queen mary the first was her half-sister lady elizabeth who had been approached by wyatt and friends to join their uprising but during a hearing with mary's counselors elizabeth managed to distance herself from the plot mary realized that elizabeth may still become a rallying figure for protestant schemes and so she put her under house arrest for one year the second lady was the former queen jane gray and she did not get away so easily her father henry had been one of the rebels and she still carried legitimate claims to the throne on february 12 1554 lady jane gray was beheaded at the tower of london with the anti-spanish and anti-catholic conspirators out of the way barry was free to marry prince philip albeit with some clauses added to the marriage treaty which became the sort of ultimate prenup it now stipulated that philip would be king of england only for the duration of the marriage and he would be unable to issue any proclamations or treaties he could also not appoint any foreigners to the english council and he could not demand england to support spain in acts of war on july 25 1554 the marriage of mary and philip of england and spain finally took place it seems that from the start the union was not a happy one philip complained about the old age of mary and her courtiers described her as not at all beautiful small and rather flabby and has no eyebrows philip showed little affection for his bride avoiding her most of the time and yet in october of 1554 mary announced her pregnancy in april of 1555 the queen moved to hampton court visibly pregnant and preparing for birth but the days and the weeks passed and nothing happened members of mary's household began noticing that her belly was becoming flatter again eventually mary and her doctors had to admit the truth they had all been mistaken and the queen had never actually been pregnant so how was this possible after all she had displayed all the signs of pregnancy including the seating of her periods as well as swollen stomach and a discharge of milk it may be that mary suffer from aminorea a condition which causes painful and irregular periods and swelling of the abdomen and the breasts other hypotheses include a disorder of the pituitary gland a uterine cancer or even a phantom pregnancy a deep rooted belief of expecting a child which generated psychosomatic symptoms whatever the underlying cause by august all symptoms had subsided and mary left hampton court as quietly as possible while mary was coping with her apparent pregnancy one of her most trusted counselors was hard at work on religious matters this was the new archbishop of canterbury cardinal reginald pohl son of mary's former lady in waiting cardinal poll oversaw mary's counter-reformation which culminated on november 25 1554. on that date parliament repealed henry viii's act of supremacy and effectively reinstated the catholic faith in england three weeks later poll and the parliament revived the medieval heresy laws these granted to bishops the right to identify heresy suspects and hand them over to secular authorities for trial torture and very often execution by burning at the stake with the legal framework in place mary urged the authorities to be diligent in seeking out heresy and punishing it with death the first executions took place in february of 1555. initially the flames consumed the bodies of protestant clergymen such as john hooper bishop of gloucester the executioners had placed a bag of gunpowder around his neck to accelerate combustion as bad as it sounds this was an act of mercy but the gunpowder failed to ignite and the bishop's agony lasted to 45 minutes more high-ranking clergymen followed hooper's fate including archbishop thomas kramner he had led the protestant reformation under edward vi but had later denied his beliefs when mary had ascended to the throne on the day of his execution kramner plunged his hand into the flames as self-punishment for his early recantation besides these high-profile martyrs most victims were commoners poor traders and laborers some of them had been reported as heretic simply for not being able to recite the lord's prayer in one particularly horrific execution a pregnant woman was tied to the stake as her body was consumed by flames she gave birth to a child who was tossed too onto the raging fire so what had happened to mary she started her reign as a fair and compassionate ruler she had executed dudley wyatt and his acolytes sure but that was the standard punishment for high treason it has been argued that mary believed she was fulfilling her destiny by restoring england to the true faith to save her subjects from the eternal flames of hell she believed it was an acceptable price to pay if some of them died at the stake the marian persecutions caused the death of about 300 english subjects and eventually well they backfired mary's bloodthirst caused many loyal subjects to turn away from her catholicism by the end of 1555 mary realized that her actions had only succeeded in expanding the cohorts of her enemies husband by the way was no longer by her side after the revelation of a false pregnancy he had relocated to the netherlands where he enjoyed a life of jousting and womanizing in autumn of 1556 the queen found out that philip would be returning and she was delighted but philip's return was not for the sake of a family reunion the man even brought his mistress to london oh no philip was now king of spain and was planning a war with france and needed england's support king philip arrived in march of 1557 and mary anxious to please her husband succumbed to his pressure despite the council's protests she promised english support for his war with france philip's campaign in france was short and successful in august he captured san quentin taking many french aristocrats as hostages philip scored other minor victories until french king henry ii sued for peace in october 1557 philip left france and disbanded his anglo-spanish forces but henry was already plotting revenge his target was calais jewel of the english crown on french land in december the french attacked approaching over the frozen marshes henry's soldiers laid siege to the city mary responded by dispatching a fleet from dover but the ships arrived too late by the 13th of january 1558 french artillery had breached the walls of calais and the city had fallen guinean ham were conquered by henry mary lost all of england's holdings in france her last foothold on the continent the fall of calais was a devastating blow for mary but it was somewhat softened by the realization that she was pregnant she waited until december of 1558 to notify philip reassuring him that this time it was for real except well it wasn't the baby was due in march but by may no child had been born it appeared that mary's distended belly was the sign of a fatal case of dropsy the accumulation of fluid under the skin which may lead to kidney failure in june the queen became feverish by august her doctors predicted that death was inevitable queen mary tudor finally died on the morning of november 17 1558 at the age of 42. shortly before her death she made the prediction that those who opened her body would find the words phillip and calais carved onto her heart during her short five-year reign mary tudor was beset with personal and political disappointments well summarized by the two words supposedly inscribed on her heart she did initiate some important reforms which set the stage for a stronger england to become a sea power the skill and resilience she displayed before becoming queen are remarkable it is undeniable nonetheless that the persecutions mary instigated are one of the darkest pages in english history mary is remembered for an unjust and unjustified repression of religious expression which eventually turned against her yet a certain queen who came after her had 640 people executed 190 of them for religious reasons but we remember her as gloriana and a certain crusader king who came before her ordered 2000 prisoners beheaded in the holy land simply because he grew impatient with negotiations but we remember him as lionheart i'm not suggesting that mary's reign should never be remembered as bloody but is it fair to single her out as such or would it be fair to reassess her legacy i'm looking forward to hearing your verdict in the comments and as usual thank you for watching please do check out our fantastic sponsor curiosity stream and i'll see you next time

Channel: Biographics

Views: 245,201

Keywords: biographics, biography, biographies, people, famous people, simon whistler

Id: WYstW-NdfLo

Length: 26min 39sec (1599 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 09 2020