A film about Bloody Mary, the Queen of England. Mary Tudor

Queen of England since 1553, daughter of Henry VIII Tudor and Catherine of Aragon. Mary Tudor's accession to the throne was accompanied by the restoration of Catholicism (1554) and brutal repressions against supporters of the Reformation (hence her nicknames - Mary the Catholic, Mary the Bloody). In 1554, she married the heir to the Spanish throne, Philip of Habsburg (from 1556 King Philip II), which led to a rapprochement between England and Catholic Spain and the papacy. During the war against France (1557-1559), which the queen began in alliance with Spain, England at the beginning of 1558 lost Calais, the last possession of the English kings in France. Mary Tudor's policies, which ran counter to the national interests of England, aroused discontent among the new nobility and the emerging bourgeoisie.

Mary's life was sad from birth to death, although nothing at first foreshadowed such a fate. For children her age, she was serious, self-possessed, rarely cried, and played the harpsichord beautifully. When she was nine years old, merchants from Flanders who spoke to her in Latin were surprised by her answers in their native language. At first, the father loved his eldest daughter very much and was delighted with many of her character traits. But everything changed after Henry entered into a second marriage with Anne Boleyn. Mary was removed from the palace, torn away from her mother, and finally demanded that she renounce the Catholic faith. However, despite her young age, Maria flatly refused. Then she was subjected to many humiliations: the retinue assigned to the princess was disbanded, she herself, banished to the Hatfield estate, became a servant to Anne Boleyn’s daughter, little Elizabeth. Her stepmother pulled her ears. I had to fear for her very life. Maria's condition worsened, but her mother was forbidden to see her. Only the execution of Anne Boleyn brought Mary some relief, especially after she, having made an effort, recognized her father as the “Supreme Head of the Church of England.” Her retinue was returned to her, and she again gained access to the royal court.

Mary I Tudor the Bloody" >

The persecution resumed when Mary's younger brother, Edward VI, who fanatically adhered to the Protestant faith, ascended the throne. At one time she seriously thought about fleeing England, especially when they began to put obstacles in her way and were not allowed to celebrate mass. Edward eventually dethroned his sister and bequeathed the English crown to Henry VII's great-granddaughter Jane Gray. Maria did not recognize this will. Upon learning of her brother's death, she immediately moved to London. The army and navy went over to her side. The Privy Council declared Mary queen. Nine days after her accession to the throne, Lady Gray was deposed and ended her life on the scaffold. But in order to secure the throne for her offspring and not allow the Protestant Elizabeth to take it, Mary had to marry. In July 1554, she married the heir to the Spanish throne, Philip, although she knew that the British did not like him very much. She married him at the age of 38, already middle-aged and ugly. The groom was twelve years younger than her and agreed to the marriage only for political reasons. After the wedding night, Philip remarked: “You have to be God to drink this cup!” He, however, did not live long in England, visiting his wife only occasionally. Meanwhile, Maria loved her husband very much, missed him and wrote him long letters, staying up late at night.

She ruled herself, and her reign in many respects turned out to be extremely unhappy for England. The queen, with feminine stubbornness, wanted to return the country to the shadow of the Roman Church. She herself did not find pleasure in tormenting and tormenting people who disagreed with her in the faith; but she unleashed upon them the lawyers and theologians who had suffered during the previous reign. The terrible statutes issued against heretics by Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V were directed against Protestants. From February 1555, bonfires burned throughout England, where “heretics” perished. In total, about three hundred people were burned, among them church hierarchs - Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer and others. It was ordered not to spare even those who, finding themselves in front of the fire, agreed to convert to Catholicism. All these cruelties earned the queen the nickname “Bloody.”

Who knows - if Mary had a child, she might not have been so cruel. She passionately wanted to give birth to an heir. But this happiness was denied to her. A few months after the wedding, it seemed to the queen that she was showing signs of pregnancy, which she did not fail to notify her subjects about. But what was initially mistaken for a fetus turned out to be a tumor. Soon the queen developed dropsy. Weakened by illness, she died of a cold while still not an old woman.

Mary Tudor, daughter of the famous Henry VIII, remained in power for only five years, but left such an indelible mark on the history of Britain that the day of her death (and, accordingly, the accession to the throne of Queen Elizabeth) became a national holiday for many years. Everything this woman did as queen was doomed to failure. The subjects hated Mary and feared her like fire.

And she sowed death around her as if she had concluded a friendly pact with the noseless one. The father of the future Queen Mary Tudor was Henry VIII - a monarch in some ways very similar to our Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible. He married six times, and all his wives were the most unhappy women in the kingdom. He executed two of them - Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, and divorced two - Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves. Another one, Jane Seymour, died in childbirth, and only his last wife, Catherine Parr, did not manage to lose either life or power - Henry was no longer young and died. Princess Mary was born from the king’s first marriage, which could have been happy if if it weren’t for the heirs to the throne dying in childhood. Henry lived with Catherine of Aragon for more than twenty years.

Mary was born in 1516, seven years after Henry's marriage to Catherine, and the first years of her childhood were very happy - the king was happy at least that his baby Mary was alive. On the occasion of her birth, joy reigned in the kingdom. The king hoped that after the birth of a healthy daughter, healthy sons would begin to be born. But this did not happen. And the king began to move away from both his wife and daughter. She was mainly raised by her mother, a devout Catholic who came from the royal house of Spain. So the young princess was pious, reserved in her feelings, pious and very diligent. Even as a child, she amazed the courtiers with her knowledge. But she also amazed me with her exceptional religiosity, which the king liked less and less. Henry did not like Catholics: politically, he considered them harmful to the country, and religiously, boring and harsh. But little Maria was a true Catholic; she knew the sacred Latin texts by heart. This drove Henry crazy. He wanted to reform the church and expel Catholic monks from the country. He forbade the princess to delve into issues of the Catholic faith, but she resisted. Then he deprived her of his retinue and ordered her not to show herself at all. And only after he had cooled down, he returned her Catholic monks and ladies-in-waiting, but from then on he looked at the princess as if she were nothing. He needed a new marriage and an heir.

When the king began divorce proceedings in 1533, the princess was seventeen years old. She experienced her parents' divorce with despair. For her, it meant the loss of everything - Mary, who had been given the title of Princess of Wales a few years ago, was now losing her rights to the crown. The beautiful Anne Boleyn became the new queen. For Anna's sake, the king broke with Rome, and now the country has become Protestant. Henry closed the monasteries, banished the monks to foreign lands, and sent those who objected too much to prison or executed them. Mary, as a Catholic, cried bitterly and accumulated grievances. Anne Boleyn saw her as a threat to herself and her newborn daughter Elizabeth. She immediately took a strong dislike to the princess and in every possible way incited the king against her. At Anna's request, he included his daughter in the queen's retinue, and now the princess's duties included caring for the girl who could take her place. The queen pestered the princess with claims, pokes and pinches. On top of everything else, the king forbade her to see her mother and forced her to call her mother, who was almost the same age as Anna. With all the strength of her soul, Maria wanted this humiliation to end quickly. And it stopped.

Suspecting the queen of treason, Henry sent her to the chopping block. And he immediately married Jane Seymour. Maria developed a completely human relationship with the king’s new wife. But this happiness did not last long: Jane gave birth to Henry - finally! - the long-awaited heir to the throne, Prince Edward, and died after childbirth. The rest of Henry's wives occupied the throne * briefly, did not give birth to any more children, and over the years Mary learned to deftly maneuver between them and her father. The princess perceived her own fate as a misfortune.
In 1547, when Ma-Prince Filiria was already 31 years old, Henry died unexpectedly. It seemed that this large and strong man would live to a ripe old age, but for many years he was ill with tuberculosis, which he had no idea about. He was 55 years old in the year of his death. The question of succession to the throne immediately arose. Edward was a weak nine-year-old boy. No one knew whether he would live to adulthood. Nevertheless, according to the law, Prince Edward became the new king of Great Britain under two regents - Somerset and Paget, who hated and feared Mary. They understood that the aging princess could sacrifice the life of the boy monarch. But Maria did not have to interfere in this matter. Little Edward turned out to be sick with the same terrible illness as his father. But before his death he managed to sign a decree on succession to the throne, according to which power passed not to Mary or Elizabeth, but to the eldest daughter of the Duke of Suffolk, the royal brother, Lady Jane Grey.

Jane was a beautiful, intelligent, noble sixteen-year-old girl. She wrote poetry and loved to read. Maria understood that she could not compare with Jane either in beauty or in her kind and pure disposition. And she decided to take the throne from the impostor. This is what Mary called the niece of the deceased king. Jane was queen for only nine days. Hiding behind the name of the people, Mary organized a conspiracy against the “illegitimate” daughter of the Duke, arrested the entire family of Guilford Dudley, to whom Jane was married, and brought the young couple to trial. Perhaps her relative would have been pardoned later, but then fate intervened. Jane's ardent supporter, Thomas Wyatt, came out in defense of Jane; this decided Jane’s fate - both she and her husband were beheaded No. right in the royal

Queen Mary began by finally deciding to get married. She had never been able to do this before. During her father’s lifetime, she was engaged for several years, but things didn’t go any further than that. After his death, she could finally start selecting candidates for husbands. The choice fell on the Spanish Prince Philip: he was a good Catholic - and Mary was going to restore the power of the Pope in England, which was already accustomed to Protestantism - and he was handsome. Maria liked it ok. Philip did not like Maria - she was scary, with a dry yellow face, on which despondency was persistent, but he married her - the desire to become a king defeated dislike. But, having entered into marriage and spending the night with Mary, Philip fled to his homeland, where there are so many pretty women in the warm sea.

And Mary remained to rule the country. The first thing she did was to issue a decree depriving Protestants of the right to practice their faith. Moreover, she lit the fires of the Inquisition throughout England. Over the course of a couple of years, 300 people were burned at the stake. These are scary times.
The second thing she did was drag England into a war with France, since her husband’s homeland, Spain, was at war. It was the stupidest adventure. The British still remembered the Hundred Years' War. Thank God, the war did not last more than two years. But during this time, the British lost her last husband - possession in France. What she did not do was give birth to a legal heir. Philip, whom parliament refused to even recognize as their king, so stoically avoided communication with his wife that one could only hope for a miracle. And in May 1558, the queen solemnly announced to her subjects that the country would soon have a prince or princess. But Mary’s joy turned out to be premature. Instead of a long-awaited heir, the queen carried a tumor under her heart. Doctors made a terrible diagnosis - dropsy. At the end of the same 1558, Mary died. The people were so happy about the deliverance that after her death they called Mary Bloody. Although she did not shed much blood, her status as a villain remained with her forever.

(1491-1547). This significant event for the country happened on April 22, and on June 11, the newly-made king tied the knot with Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536). This woman was the daughter of such outstanding personalities as Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. It was this couple who founded the united Kingdom of Spain, which became a powerful maritime power.

Catherine of Aragon - mother of Bloody Mary

Before her marriage to Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon was in a marital relationship with Prince Arthur, Henry's older brother. But the marriage lasted only 4.5 months. Arthur died on April 2, 1502. After this, the woman remained a widow for almost 7.5 years, until the need arose to strengthen the alliance between England and Spain. Catherine's second marriage to the new English king became the guarantor of this union.

The crowned couple lived together until January 1533. Catherine of Aragon's main task was to give birth to a son so that England would receive an heir. But the woman’s birth was extremely unsuccessful. She first became pregnant in 1509, and on January 31, 1510, gave birth to a premature stillbirth. On the first day of 1511 she gave birth to a boy. But the child lived less than 2 months and died at the end of February.

Henry VIII with his son Edward

After this, the queen could not become pregnant for several years. And only on February 18, 1516 she gave birth to a girl. They named her Mary in honor of Queen Mary Tudor of France, who was Henry VIII's sister. This is how the future Queen of England, Mary I, was born, nicknamed Bloody Mary (1516-1558).

The birth of a girl did not bring joy to the English king, since he wanted a boy, a worthy heir. Catherine became pregnant again and gave birth to a girl in November 1518. But the baby lived only a few hours and died. After this, the queen was no longer able to get pregnant, and the question of the heir to the throne hung in the air.

In 1525, Henry VIII's decision to divorce Catherine of Aragon began to mature. In 1527, the king finally decided to break off all relations with his wife and declare the marriage invalid. The basis for this was dead children, which indicated God’s curse on the crowned marriage. It couldn’t be otherwise, because the king married the wife of his late brother. And in the Third Book of Moses “Leviticus” (chapter 20 par. 21) it is said: “If a man takes his brother’s wife: this is vile; he revealed his brother's nakedness. They will bear their sin and die childless.”

The king needed to officially divorce his wife, so he brought in the church for this purpose. But the Pope categorically opposed divorce. Then Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church and declared himself the supreme head of the English Church. In January 1533, the king secretly married Anne Boleyn, who became his second wife. Henry VIII officially separated from his first wife on May 23 of the same year. Thus, Catherine of Aragon ceased to be Queen of England. This had the most deplorable effect on her daughter Mary, as she lost her right to the crown.

Her father separated her from her mother and settled her in Hatfield, one of the old royal castles. Most of the servants were dismissed, and the girl found herself as a poor relative. She did not recognize the king's decision to divorce and did not recognize the new queen. In 1536, Catherine of Aragon died, and Mary took a more loyal position towards her father.

In the same year, the king's second wife, Anne Boleyn, was beheaded. Her daughter Elizabeth also fell out of favor, and Mary managed to restore her position at court. She was allocated funds for expenses, and the girl was given the opportunity to dress well and have servants. Her further life began to take place against the backdrop of a change of royal wives.

Henry VIII was extremely greedy for women and changed wives and favorites very often

In 1547, Henry VIII left this mortal coil. At the time of the king's death, the future Queen of England, Mary I, was 31 years old. By the standards of that time, she was considered a mature woman, but did not have a husband. The deceased king had a son, Edward (1537-1553), from his third wife, Jane Seymour. It was he who ascended the English throne at the age of 9, becoming Edward VI.

The child's health was poor, and his regents did everything possible to remove Mary from the throne. They feared that if a woman got married, she would try to seize the throne. Edward VI was set against the second legitimate heir, and the main motive for the hostility was that Mary remained a devoted Catholic and disliked the Protestant faith. And the latter began to dominate in England after the break with the Pope.

Edward was a Protestant, and therefore he began to treat his sister coldly, which completely suited his regents. But in 1553, the young king fell ill with tuberculosis, and it became clear to everyone that he would not live long. They began to look for a replacement for the dying king. We chose Jane Gray (1537-1554), who was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII and, in terms of succession to the throne, stood after Mary and Elizabeth (daughter of Anne Boleyn). But the royal entourage ignored this fact and persuaded Edward VI to exclude both Mary and Elizabeth from contenders for the throne.

The young king died on July 6, 1553 at the age of 15. The future Queen of England, Mary I, lived at the royal residence in Hunsdon at this time. She was invited to the funeral of the late king, but someone warned the woman that she might be arrested in order to facilitate Jane Gray's rise to power. As a result of this, Maria hastily left for East England, where she had several estates.

Many adherents of the Catholic faith lived in these places. All these people expressed their readiness to support Mary and proclaim her the successor of Edward VI. Meanwhile, on July 10, 1553, Jane Gray was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland. But Mary’s supporters reacted with indignation and gathered at Framlingham Castle on July 12. A serious military force was concentrated there, and most of the English nobility went over to its side.

As a result of this, Jane Gray lasted only 9 days in power. She went down in history as the “queen of 9 days.” Mary's supporters overthrew her on July 19 and imprisoned her in the Tower of London. The legitimate heir to the royal throne herself triumphantly entered London on August 3, 1553. She was followed by a huge retinue of 800 representatives of the most noble English families. Sister Elizabeth was among them. She behaved modestly and quietly, and no one paid attention to the inconspicuous young girl. Thus began the reign of Bloody Mary.

Queen Mary I of England (Bloody Mary)

Maria I reigned for just over 5 years. She officially ascended the throne on July 19, 1553, and died on November 17, 1558. What is remarkable about the years of her reign, and why was this woman dubbed the terrible nickname Bloody Mary? As a child, she received an excellent education. She knew Latin perfectly and could read and write fluently in this ancient language. She spoke French, Spanish and Greek. She was well versed in music and danced beautifully. Outwardly, she was pretty and had red hair.

Henry VIII was attached to his daughter in his own way and more than once told others that she was very attractive. At the age of 6, the girl was engaged to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. He was 16 years older than Mary, and few believed in the prospect of such a marriage. And indeed, in 1527 the engagement was terminated. But this did not upset the girl at all. She was more concerned about the relationship between her father and mother, which ended in divorce.

Queen Mary I of England, nicknamed Bloody Mary

By her character, Maria was not at all a bloodthirsty and tough woman. When she became queen, the question immediately arose of what to do with Jane Gray and her husband Guilford Dudley. At first, Her Majesty decided to hold a formal trial and pardon young people who had not yet turned 20 years old. These young creatures turned out to be just puppets in the experienced hands of nobles. But in January 1554, Thomas Wyatt's rebellion began. His goal was to overthrow Mary from the throne.

The uprising was suppressed, and Jane Gray and her wife were executed, thereby eliminating dangerous contenders for the English throne. Several other conspirators were also beheaded, but Queen Mary I of England forgave most of the rebels. She even brought some former enemies closer to her so that they would help her in governing the country. But as for Elizabeth’s sister, she was sent to Woodstock Palace, where the girl was actually under house arrest.

As a Catholic, Mary I freed the Catholics languishing in the Tower of London and began rebuilding the Catholic churches destroyed under Henry VIII. But the queen needed to strengthen her position and win over as many Catholics as possible to her side. The best option was to find a husband in a Catholic country. At the age of 37, the ruler of England married the son of Charles V (Holy Roman Emperor and Spanish king) Philip.

Philip II - husband of Bloody Mary

The husband was 12 years younger than his wife. In addition, he was distinguished by extreme arrogance and arrogance. His retinue matched Philip. The British did not like these people, and the English parliament did not recognize the queen's husband as the English king. The wedding of the crowned persons took place on July 25, 1554 at Winchester Cathedral. It is noteworthy that Philip did not speak a word of English. Therefore, the spouses communicated in a mixture of 3 languages ​​- Spanish, French and Latin.

When the queen first came to the throne, she stated that she would not force anyone to follow Catholicism. But a couple of months passed, and the main Protestant churchmen found themselves in prison. In October 1553, the church doctrine that existed in the country before Henry VIII's break with the Pope was restored. Accordingly, all of Henry's religious laws were repealed and the English Church came under Roman jurisdiction.

But most importantly, the Acts of Heresy were revived. In accordance with this, mass executions of Protestants began. The first of them took place in February 1555. Heretics who did not want to convert to Catholicism began to be burned at the stake. In total, with the blessing of Mary I, 283 Protestants were destroyed, according to other sources a little more. For this, the English queen received her nickname Bloody Mary.

This policy did not bring the queen popularity among the people. The situation was aggravated by rains and floods, which led to famine. Tax collection remained at the medieval level, and commercial relations were limited to the African coast. The English did not dare to venture into other lands, since the Spaniards ruled there, and their king was Mary’s husband. Philip became King Philip II of Spain in January 1556 and, naturally, defended the interests of his kingdom in all foreign policy matters.

In a word, Queen Mary I of England, after 5 years of her reign, began to rapidly lose popularity among her subjects. It is not known how all this would have ended, but circumstances intervened. The Queen felt weak and ill in May 1558. There is a version that she had uterine cancer, from which she died on November 17, 1558.

According to another version, a viral fever that swept through Europe in 1557 was to blame. This disease had a sluggish form, and the outcome was both negative and positive. In the summer of 1558, the queen's maid fell ill, and when she recovered, Maria I herself fell ill. Unlike the maid, she was unlucky.

The Queen felt the end approaching and wrote her will at the end of October. In it, she transferred royal power to her sister Elizabeth. She ascended the throne after the death of Mary I. This woman went down in history as Queen Elizabeth I of England. Under her, the country reached prosperity, power and became a great maritime power.

Queen Mary I of England, also known as Bloody Mary, wanted to be buried next to her mother. But the body was interred only on December 14, 1558 in the chapel of Westminster Abbey. Elizabeth I died in 1603. In 1606, her coffin was buried next to Mary’s, and the two sisters ended up with one tombstone next to each other.

A sculpture of Elizabeth was installed on it, and under it they wrote an epitaph in Latin: “Companions in the kingdom and in the grave, we sisters Elizabeth and Mary lie here in the hope of resurrection.” In this way, descendants paid tribute to two outstanding women who played an important political role in the 16th century.

Mary I Tudor (her years of life - 1516-1558) - also known as Bloody Mary. Not a single monument was erected to her in her homeland (there is one only in Spain, where her husband was born). Today the name of this queen is associated primarily with reprisals. Indeed, there were many of them during the years when Bloody Mary was on the throne. Many books have been written on the history of her reign, and interest in her personality continues to this day. Despite the fact that in England the day of her death (at the same time she ascended the throne) was celebrated as a national holiday, this woman was not as cruel as many imagined her to be. After reading the article, you will be convinced of this.

Maria's parents, her childhood

Mary's parents are the English king Henry VIII Tudor of Aragon, the youngest Spanish princess. The Tudor dynasty was still very young at that time, and Henry was only the second ruler of England to belong to it.

In 1516, Queen Catherine gave birth to a daughter, Mary, her only viable child (she had previously had several unsuccessful births). The girl's father was disappointed, but hoped for heirs in the future. He loved Mary and called her the pearl in his crown. He admired his daughter's strong and serious character. The girl cried very rarely. She studied diligently. Teachers taught her Latin, English, music, Greek, harpsichord playing and dancing. The future Queen Mary the First Bloody was interested in Christian literature. She was very attracted to stories about ancient warrior maidens and female martyrs.

Candidates for husbands

The princess was surrounded by a large retinue corresponding to her position: court staff, a chaplain, maids and nannies, and a lady mentor. As she grew up, Bloody Mary began to practice falconry and horse riding. Worries about her marriage, as is usual with kings, began from infancy. The girl was 2 years old when her father entered into an agreement on his daughter's engagement to the son of Francis I, the French Dauphin. The contract, however, was terminated. Another candidate for the husband of 6-year-old Mary was Charles V of Habsburg, Holy Roman Emperor, who was 16 years older than his bride. However, the princess did not have time to mature for marriage.

Catherine was disliked by Henry

In the 16th year of their marriage, Henry VIII, who still had no male heirs, decided that his marriage to Catherine was displeasing to God. The birth of an illegitimate son indicated that it was not Henry’s fault. It turns out that it was his wife. The king named his bastard Henry Fitzroy. He gave his son estates, castles and a ducal title. However, he could not make Henry heir, given that the legitimacy of the creation of the Tudor dynasty was questionable.

Catherine's first husband was Prince Arthur of Wales. He was the eldest son of the founder of the dynasty. 5 months after the wedding ceremony, he died of tuberculosis. Then, at the suggestion of the Spanish matchmakers, he agreed on the engagement of Henry, his second son (he was 11 years old at the time), to Catherine. The marriage had to be registered when they reached adulthood. Fulfilling his father's last wishes, at the age of 18 Henry VIII married his brother's widow. Usually the church prohibited such marriages as closely related ones. However, as an exception, powerful individuals were granted permission to do this by the Pope.

Divorce, Henry's new wife

And now, in 1525, the king asked the pope for permission to divorce. Clement VII did not refuse, however, he did not give his consent. He ordered the “king’s case” to be delayed as long as possible. Henry expressed his opinion to his wife about the futility and sinfulness of their marriage. He asked her to agree to a divorce and go to a monastery, but the woman responded with a decisive refusal. By this, she doomed herself to a very unenviable fate - vegetating in provincial castles under surveillance and separation from her daughter. The “king’s case” dragged on for several years. The Archbishop of Canterbury, as well as Henry's appointed Primate of the Church, finally declared the marriage null and void. The king was married to Anne Boleyn, his favorite.

Declaration of Mary as illegitimate

Then Clement VII decided to excommunicate Henry. He declared his daughter from the new Queen Elizabeth illegitimate. T. Cranber, in response to this, declared Mary, Catherine’s daughter, illegitimate by order of the king. She was deprived of all the privileges due to an heiress.

Henry becomes head of the Church of England

Parliament in 1534 signed the “Act of Supremation”, according to which the king headed the Anglican Church. Some tenets of religion were revised and abolished. This is how the Anglican Church arose, which was sort of in the middle between Protestantism and Catholicism. Those who refused to accept it were declared traitors and subjected to severe punishments. From now on, property belonging to the Catholic Church was confiscated, and church taxes began to flow into the royal treasury.

Mary's plight

Bloody Mary became orphaned with the death of her mother. She became completely dependent on her father's wives. Anne Boleyn hated her, mocked her in every possible way and even assaulted her. The very fact that this woman, who wore Catherine’s jewels and crown, now lived in the apartments that had once belonged to her mother caused great suffering to Mary. The Spanish grandparents would have stood up for her, but by this time they had already died, and their heir had enough problems in his own country.

Anne Boleyn's happiness was short-lived - before a daughter was born instead of the son expected by the king and promised by her. She served as queen for only 3 years and outlived Catherine by only 5 months. Anna was accused of state and adultery. The woman ascended the scaffold in May 1536, and Elizabeth, her daughter, was declared illegitimate, like the future Mary Bloody Tudor.

Mary's other stepmothers

And only when, reluctantly, our heroine agreed to recognize Henry VIII as the head of the Anglican Church, remaining a Catholic in her soul, she was finally given back her retinue and access to the king’s palace. Bloody Mary Tudor, however, did not marry.

A few days after Boleyn's death, Henry married his lady-in-waiting Jane Seymour. She took pity on Mary and persuaded her husband to return her to the palace. Seymour gave birth to Henry VIII, who by that time was already 46 years old, the long-awaited son of Edward VI, and she herself died. It is known that the king valued and loved his third wife more than others and bequeathed to bury himself near her grave.

The fourth marriage for the king was unsuccessful. Seeing Anna of Cleves, his wife, in person, he became furious. Henry VIII, after divorcing her, executed Cromwell, his first minister, who was the organizer of the matchmaking. He divorced Anna six months later, in accordance with the marriage contract, without entering into carnal relations with her. After the divorce, he gave her the title of adopted sister, as well as a small property. The relationship between them was practically family, as was the relationship between Cleves and the king’s children.

Catherine Gotward, Mary's next stepmother, was beheaded in the Tower, after 1.5 years of marriage, for adultery. 2 years before the death of the king, the sixth marriage was concluded. Catherine Parr took care of the children, looked after her sick husband, and was the mistress of the courtyard. This woman convinced the king to be more kind to his daughters Elizabeth and Mary. Catherine Parr survived the king and escaped execution only because of her own resourcefulness and a stroke of luck.

Death of Henry VIII, recognition of Mary as legitimate

Henry VIII died in January 1547, bequeathing the crown to Edward, his infant son. If his descendant died, it was supposed to go to his daughters - Elizabeth and Mary. These princesses were finally recognized as legitimate. This gave them the opportunity to count on a crown and a worthy marriage.

Edward's reign and death

Mary suffered persecution because of her adherence to Catholicism. She even wanted to leave England. For King Edward, the thought of her taking the throne after him was intolerable. On the advice of the Lord Protector, he decided to rewrite his father's will. 16-year-old Jane Gray, Edward's second cousin and granddaughter of Henry VII, was declared the heir. She was a Protestant and also a daughter-in-law of Northumberland.

Suddenly he fell ill 3 days after the will he had drawn up was approved. This happened in the summer of 1553. He died soon after. According to one version, death was due to tuberculosis, since he had been in poor health since childhood. However, there is another version. The Duke of Northumberland, under suspicious circumstances, removed the king's attending physicians. A healer appeared at his bedside. She allegedly gave Edward a dose of arsenic. After this, the king felt worse and breathed his last at the age of 15.

Mary becomes queen

After his death, Jane Gray, who was 16 years old at the time, became queen. However, the people rebelled, not recognizing her. A month later, Mary ascended the throne. She was already 37 years old by this time. After the reign of Henry VIII, who proclaimed himself the head of the Church and was excommunicated from it by the Pope, about half of all monasteries and churches in the state were destroyed. Bloody Mary had to solve a difficult problem after the death of Edward. England, which she inherited, was ruined. It urgently needed to be revived. In the first six months, she executed Jane Gray, her husband Guilford Dudley, and her father-in-law John Dudley.

Execution of Jane and her husband

Bloody Mary, whose biography is often presented in gloomy tones, was not by nature prone to cruelty. For a long time she could not send her relative to the chopping block. Why did Bloody Mary decide to do this? She understood that Jane was just a pawn in the wrong hands who did not want to become queen. The trial of her and her husband was at first intended simply as a formality. Queen Mary Bloody wanted to pardon this couple. However, Jane's fate was decided by T. Wyatt's rebellion, which began in January 1554. On February 12 of the same year, Jane and Guilford were beheaded.

Reign of Bloody Mary

Maria again brought closer to herself those who had recently been among her opponents. She understood that they could help her govern the state. The restoration of the country began with the revival of the Catholic faith, which was undertaken by Bloody Mary. An attempt at counter-reformation - that’s what it’s called in scientific language. Many monasteries were reconstructed. However, during the reign of Mary there were many executions of Protestants. The fires started burning in February 1555. Many evidences have been preserved about how people suffered while dying for their faith. About 300 people were burned. Among them were Latimer, Ridley, Cramner and other church hierarchs. The Queen ordered that those who agreed to become Catholics should not be spared when faced with the fire. For all these cruelties, Mary received her nickname Bloody.

Marriage of Mary

The queen married her son Philip (summer 1554). The husband was 12 years younger than Maria. According to the marriage contract, he could not interfere in the government of the country, and the children born from the marriage were to become heirs to the English throne. In the event of Mary's premature death, Philip was to return to Spain. The British did not like the queen's husband. Although Mary made attempts through parliament to approve the decision that Philip should be considered king of England, she was denied this. The son of Charles V was arrogant and pompous. The retinue who arrived with him behaved defiantly.

Bloody skirmishes between the Spaniards and the English began to occur in the streets after Philip's arrival.

Illness and death

Maria showed signs of pregnancy in September. They drew up a will, according to which Philip was to become regent of the child until he came of age. However, the child was not born. Mary appointed Elizabeth, her sister, as her successor.

In May 1558 it became clear that the apparent pregnancy was in fact a symptom of illness. Maria suffered from fever, headache, and insomnia. She began to lose her vision. In the summer, the Queen contracted influenza. Elizabeth was officially appointed successor on November 6, 1558. Mary died on November 17 of the same year. Historians believe that the disease from which the queen died was an ovarian cyst or uterine cancer. Mary's remains rest in Westminster Abbey. The throne was inherited by Elizabeth I after her death.

Mary I Tudor (1516-1558) - Queen of England from 1553, eldest daughter of Henry VIII from his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Also known as Bloody Mary, Mary the Catholic. Not a single monument was erected to this queen in her homeland (there is a monument in her husband’s homeland - in Spain), her name is associated with bloody massacres, the day of her death (and the day of Elizabeth I’s accession to the throne) was celebrated in the country as a national holiday.

Biography
Queen of England since 1553, daughter of Henry VIII Tudor and Catherine of Aragon. Mary Tudor's accession to the throne was accompanied by the restoration of Catholicism and repressions against supporters of the Reformation (hence her nicknames - Mary the Catholic, Mary the Bloody). In 1554, she married the heir to the Spanish throne, Philip of Habsburg, which led to England's rapprochement with Catholic Spain and the papacy. During the war against France, which the queen began in alliance with Spain, England at the beginning of 1558 lost Calais, the last possession of the English kings in France. Mary Tudor's policies, which ran counter to the national interests of England, aroused discontent among the new nobility and the emerging bourgeoisie. Mary's life was sad from birth to death. For children her age, she was serious, self-possessed, rarely cried, and played the harpsichord beautifully. When she was nine years old, merchants from Flanders who spoke to her in Latin were surprised by her answers in their native language. At first, the father loved his eldest daughter very much and was delighted with many of her character traits.
But everything changed after Henry entered into a second marriage with Anne Boleyn. Mary was removed from the palace, torn away from her mother and demanded that she renounce the Catholic faith. But despite her young age, Maria flatly refused. Then she was subjected to many humiliations: the retinue due to the princess was disbanded, she herself, banished to the Hatfield estate, became a servant to Anne Boleyn’s daughter, Elizabeth. Her stepmother pulled her ears. I had to fear for my life. Maria's condition worsened, but her mother was forbidden to see her. Only the execution of Anne Boleyn brought some relief to Mary, especially after she recognized her father as the “Supreme Head of the Church of England.” Her retinue was returned to her, and she again gained access to the royal court. When Mary's younger brother, Edward VI, who fanatically adhered to the Protestant faith, ascended the throne. She thought about fleeing England, especially when they began to put obstacles in her way and not allow her to say mass. Edward eventually dethroned his sister and bequeathed the English crown to Henry VII's great-granddaughter Jane Gray. Maria did not recognize this will. Upon learning of her brother's death, she immediately returned to London. The army and navy went over to her side. The Privy Council declared Mary queen. Nine days after her accession to the throne, Lady Gray was deposed and ended her life on the scaffold. But in order to secure the throne for her offspring and not allow the Protestant Elizabeth to take it, Mary had to marry. In July 1554, she married the heir to the Spanish throne, Philip, although she knew that the British did not like him very much. She married him at the age of 38, already middle-aged and ugly. The groom was twelve years younger than her and agreed to the marriage only for political reasons. After the wedding night, Philip remarked: “You have to be God to drink this cup!” He, however, did not live long in England, visiting his wife only occasionally. Meanwhile, Maria loved her husband very much, missed him and wrote him long letters, staying up late at night. She ruled herself, and her reign in many respects turned out to be extremely unhappy for England. The queen, with feminine stubbornness, wanted to return the country to the shadow of the Roman Church. She herself did not find pleasure in tormenting and tormenting people who disagreed with her in the faith; but she unleashed upon them the lawyers and theologians who had suffered during the previous reign. The terrible statutes issued against heretics by Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V were turned against Protestants. From February 1555, bonfires burned throughout England, where “heretics” perished. In total, about three hundred people were burned, among them church hierarchs - Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer and others. It was ordered not to spare even those who, finding themselves in front of the fire, agreed to convert to Catholicism. All these cruelties earned the queen the nickname “Bloody.”

Family and marriage
Her parents were King Henry VIII Tudor of England and the youngest Spanish princess, Catherine of Aragon. The Tudor dynasty was young, Henry the Eighth was only its second representative on the throne. In the Thirty Years' War of 1455-1487 of the Scarlet and White Roses, the legitimate heirs of the crown were exterminated and Parliament had no choice but to proclaim the illegitimate son of the youngest of the Lancastrian princes King Henry the Seventh Tudor. The parents of Catherine of Aragon were the most powerful couple of rulers - Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, who, in addition to Spain united by their marriage, owned southern Italy, Sicily, Sardinia and other islands of the Mediterranean Sea. During their reign, major historical events took place: the completion of the Reconquista, the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus, the expulsion of Jews and Moors from the country. And also the revival of the Inquisition. The Queen's confessor and Inquisitor General Tomaso Torquemada carefully developed and implemented an uninterrupted, perfectly executed conveyor belt for the destruction of heretics and suspected heretics.
Early years. After several unsuccessful births, in 1516 and in the eighth year of her marriage, Queen Catherine gave birth to her only viable child, a daughter, Mary. The father was disappointed, but still hoped for the birth of heirs. He loved his daughter, called her the best pearl in his crown and admired her serious and firm character; the girl cried very rarely. Maria was a diligent student, she was taught English, Latin, Greek, music, dancing and playing the harpsichord. She studied Christian literature, and especially loved stories about women martyrs and ancient warrior maidens. The princess was surrounded by a large retinue corresponding to her high position: a chaplain, court staff, a lady mentor, nannies and maids. Growing up, she practiced horse riding and falconry. As is customary among kings, worries about marriage began from her infancy. She was two years old when an engagement agreement was concluded with the French Dauphin, son of Francis the First. The agreement was terminated and the next candidate for six-year-old Maria was the Holy Roman Empire Emperor Charles V of Habsburg, who was 16 years older than her. But the princess did not have time to mature for marriage. In the sixteenth year of marriage and in the middle of his forties, Henry the Eighth, having the only female heir in his arms, after much thought about the fate of the dynasty, came to the conclusion that his marriage was not pleasing to the Almighty. The birth of an illegitimate son testified that it was not he, Henry, who was to blame. The king named the bastard Henry Fitzroy, gave him castles, estates and a ducal title, but could not make him heir, especially given the dubious legitimacy of the founding of the Tudor dynasty.
Catherine's first husband was the eldest son of the founder of the dynasty, Arthur, Prince of Wales. Five months after the wedding, he died of tuberculosis and, at the insistent proposal of Spanish matchmakers, Henry the Seventh entered into an agreement on the engagement of Catherine and his 11-year-old second son, Henry, the marriage was to take place when he reached adulthood. At the age of 18, fulfilling his father's dying will, Henry the Eighth married his brother's widow. The Church prohibited such marriages as closely related ones, but powerful individuals, as an exception, were given permission by the Pope. And now, in 1525, Henry asked the pontiff for permission to divorce. Pope Clement the Seventh did not refuse, but did not give permission either, but ordered to delay the “Great King’s Cause” as much as possible. Henry himself expressed to Catherine his thoughts about the sinfulness and futility of their marriage and asked her to agree to a divorce and retire to a monastery as the widow of Prince Arthur. Catherine responded with a categorical refusal and stood by it until her last breath, thereby dooming herself to a sad existence - supervised vegetation in provincial castles and separation from her daughter. Her apartments, crown and jewels were given to the next queen. The “great work of the king” dragged on for several years. And in parallel with him, the king took his own steps: parliament approved a number of bills limiting the power of the pope in England. T. Cranber, Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of the Church, appointed by the king, declared the marriage of Henry and Catherine invalid and married the king to his favorite Anne Boleyn.
Pope Clement the Seventh excommunicated the king and declared Elizabeth, Henry's daughter by Anne Boleyn, illegitimate. In response, T. Cranber, by order of the king, declared Catherine’s daughter Maria illegitimate and she was deprived of all the privileges due to the heiress. In 1534, Parliament approved the “Act of Supremacy”, which declared the king the head of the English Church. Some religious dogmas were abolished and revised, rituals remained and still remain mainly Catholic. This is how a new Anglican Church emerged, occupying an intermediate position between Catholicism and Protestantism, but due to non-recognition of the supremacy of the Pope, it is classified among the Protestant denominations. Those who refused to accept it were declared state traitors and subject to severe punishment. The property of the Catholic Church was expropriated, all church taxes for the Holy See now went to the royal treasury. Temples, monasteries and even the tombs of saints were desecrated, destroyed and ransacked. Particularly cruel measures were required - imprisonment, scaffolding and gallows to suppress the resistance of the English clergy, monastic orders and ordinary Catholics.

Stepmothers
With the death of her mother, Maria became orphaned. Now she was entirely dependent on her father's wives. Anne Boleyn hated Mary, mocked her and did not disdain assault. The very fact that her stepmother lived in her mother’s apartment and wore Catherine’s crown and jewels caused Mary daily suffering. The Spanish grandparents could have stood up for her, but by this time they had long been buried in the joint tomb of the Royal Chapel in Grenada, and their heir had no time for Mary - there were enough problems in Spain. The happiness of the new Queen Anne Boleyn was short-lived - only until the birth of a daughter instead of the son she had promised and expected by the king. She remained queen for three years and outlived Catherine by only five months. Henry could divorce as much as he wanted. Anne Boleyn was accused of marital and high treason, in May 1536 she ascended the scaffold, and her daughter Elizabeth, like Mary before, was declared illegitimate by the primate of the Anglican Church. And only then, reluctantly, Mary agreed to recognize her father as the head of the English Church, remaining a Catholic at heart. She was given back her retinue and given access to the royal palace. She didn't get married. A few days after the execution of Anne Boleyn, Henry married a modest maid of honor, the beautiful Jane Seymour, who felt sorry for Mary, and it was she who persuaded her husband to return her daughter to the palace. Jane gave birth to the forty-six-year-old king's long-awaited son and heir, Edward the Sixth, and she herself died of puerperal fever. Henry loved or valued his third wife more than anyone else and bequeathed to be buried next to her. Fourth marriage. Seeing Anne of Cleves in person, the king suffocated with rage, threw her into the Tower and, after the divorce, executed the organizer of the matchmaking, First Minister T. Cromwell. In accordance with the marriage contract, six months later, without entering into carnal relations with Anna, Henry divorced and gave the ex-queen the title of foster sister and possession of two castles. Their relationship was almost family, like Anna's relationship with the king's children. The next stepmother, Catholic Catherine Gotward, after a year and a half of marriage, was beheaded in the Tower for proven adultery, and her co-religionists were persecuted and executed. Two years before his death, the king's sixth marriage took place without ardent love on the one hand and a promise to give birth to a son on the other. Catherine Parr looked after her sick husband, took care of the children, and successfully fulfilled the role of mistress of the courtyard. She convinced Henry to be more kind to his daughters Mary and Elizabeth. She escaped execution and survived the king only by luck and her own resourcefulness. In January 1547, at the age of 56, Henry the Eighth died, bequeathing the crown to his young son Edward, and in the event of his death without issue, to his daughters Mary and Elizabeth. The princesses were recognized as legitimate and could count on a worthy marriage and a crown. Mary, Edward's half-sister, suffered persecution for her adherence to the Catholic faith and even considered leaving England. The thought that she would take the throne after him was unbearable for the king. Under pressure from the all-powerful Lord Protector, he rewrote his father's wills, declaring his second cousin, the granddaughter of Henry the Seventh, sixteen-year-old Jane Gray, a Protestant and daughter-in-law of Northumberland, as the heir. Three days after the will was approved in the summer of 1553, Edward the Sixth suddenly fell ill and soon died. According to one version, from tuberculosis, since he was in poor health since childhood. According to another, under suspicious circumstances: the Duke of Northumberland removed all the attending physicians, a healer appeared at the patient’s bedside and gave him a dose of arsenic. After some relief, Edward felt worse, his body became covered with ulcers and the fifteen-year-old king gave up the ghost.

Queen of England
After Edward's death, sixteen-year-old Jane Gray becomes queen. However, the people, not recognizing the new queen, rebelled. And a month later Mary ascended the throne. She was thirty-seven. After the reign of Henry VIII, who declared himself the head of the Church and was excommunicated by the Pope, more than half of the churches and monasteries in the country were destroyed. After Edward, Mary had a difficult task. She inherited a poor country that needed to be revived from poverty. During her first six months on the throne, Mary executed 16-year-old Jane Gray, her husband Guilford Dudley and father-in-law John Dudley. Being by nature not inclined to cruelty, Maria for a long time could not decide to send her relative to the chopping block. Maria understood that Jane was only a pawn in the hands of others and did not at all aspire to become queen. At first, the trial of Jane Gray and her husband was planned as an empty formality - Maria expected to immediately pardon the young couple. But the fate of the “queen of nine days” was decided by the rebellion of Thomas Wyatt, which began in January 1554. Jane Gray and Guildford Dudley were beheaded in the Tower on 12 February 1554. She again brought closer to herself those people who had recently been against her, knowing that they were able to help her in governing the country. She began the restoration of the Catholic faith in the state and the reconstruction of monasteries. At the same time, during her reign there were a large number of executions of Protestants. From February 1555, fires began to burn. There are many testimonies of the torment of people dying for their faith. In total, about three hundred people were burned, among them church hierarchs - Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer and others. It was ordered not to spare even those who, finding themselves in front of the fire, agreed to convert to Catholicism. All these cruelties earned the queen the nickname “Bloody.” In the summer of 1554, Mary married Philip, the son of Charles V. He was twelve years younger than his wife. According to the marriage contract, Philip had no right to interfere in the government of the state; children born from this marriage became heirs to the English throne. In the event of the queen's premature death, Philip was to return back to Spain. The people did not like the queen's new husband. Although the queen tried to pass a decision through parliament to consider Philip the king of England, parliament refused her this. He was pompous and arrogant; the retinue who arrived with him behaved defiantly. Bloody clashes began to occur on the streets between the British and the Spaniards.

Illness and death
In September, doctors discovered signs of pregnancy in Mary, and at the same time a will was drawn up, according to which Philip would be regent until the child came of age. But the child was never born, and Queen Mary appoints her sister Elizabeth as successor.
Already in May 1558, it became obvious that the false pregnancy was a symptom of illness - Queen Mary suffered from headaches, fever, insomnia, and gradually lost her sight. During the summer, she contracted influenza and on November 6, 1558, officially named Elizabeth as her successor. On November 17, 1558, Mary I died. The disease that caused many pains is considered by historians to be uterine cancer or ovarian cyst. The Queen's body lay on display at St. James's for more than three weeks. She was buried in Westminster Abbey.
She was succeeded by Elizabeth I.