the real power lay in the hands of Edward Seymour, his uncle and the brother of the late queen. Seymour, a Protestant, became Lord Protector and together with Cranmer they attempted to establish a Protestant England. Once again Mary was in difficulties. She was a staunch, unswerving Catholic, and so found it increasingly difficult to remain at court, even though she was very fond of her brother, the King. She withdrew to the country and was allowed to say mass in private.
In 1553, Edward VI lay dying and Mary prepared to succeed, as Henry VIII had intended that she would. Her brother’s death approached and Mary prepared to return to London. Meanwhile a rebellion was mounted by a group of Protestant nobles, who feared a return to Catholicism if Mary took the throne, not least because it would greatly reduce their own power and influence. The rebellion was led by the Duke of Northumberland, who supported the candidacy of Lady Jane Grey. She was Edward VI’s cousin. She had no ambition to become Queen, but this did not deter Northumberland, who married her to his son, Lord Guildford Dudley. Northumberland made the dying King sign a new will, bequeathing the crown to Lady Jane Grey and confirming, once again, that both Mary and Elizabeth were illegitimate.
Lady Jane Grey was Queen for only nine days. A counter-rebellion to put Mary on the throne gathered momentum; most of the great barons wanted to be on the winning side. In July 1553 Mary was proclaimed Queen in London, to great rejoicing, and she entered the city in triumph. It was the high point of her reign.
Queen Mary set about getting rid of those who had acted against her. She was endangering her popularity, and her advisers proposed that she should marry in order to consolidate her position. After all, another Protestant candidate could quickly be found. Her old supporter Charles V of Spain offered her his son, Prince Philip, as a suitor. There were several problems looming. The prospective bridegroom was only 26, 11 years younger than Mary, and reported to be very virile. Mary disliked the idea of sex. She was naturally very reluctant, and feared marriage almost as much as her half-sister Elizabeth, and probably for a similar reason – the appalling example of their father’s catastrophic marriages. She finally forced herself to accept the marriage, only to find that it was extremely unpopular with the English people. The Spaniards were, after all, ‘the enemy’. There were riots. There were revolts, the most serious revolt being that of Sir Thomas Wyatt, a 23-year-old Catholic, who led an army of 15,000 to London before it was stamped out.
This experience hardened Mary’s heart, and she now moved against all of those involved in the rebellions against her. Even Lady Jane Grey was executed; although she was entirely innocent she would continue to be a focus for Protestant hopes if she remained alive.
Prince Philip of Spain arrived for the wedding in July 1554. Mary fell in love with him immediately, but he found her unattractive. He was courteous and attentive towards her in public, but privately she was a great disappointment to him, as her aversion to sex was all too apparent. Twice during their marriage Mary claimed that she was pregnant, but it turned out that she was swelling up because she had a diseased womb instead.
It was in the midst of this unhappiness that the persecution of Protestants began. A tribunal was set up in Southwark to question suspected heretics. The Bishop of London, Edmund Bonner, led a procession through London to celebrate the triumph of Rome. Bonner was quickly to gain an evil reputation as an inquisitor. He had suspected heretics to stay at his house, where he perfected the ‘nice-and-nasty’ style of interrogation. An invitation to stay at Bishop Bonner’s house was no treat.
The first victim of the persecutions was John Rogers, who was a married priest. He was burned at Smithfield in February 1555. The Bishop of
In 1553, Edward VI lay dying and Mary prepared to succeed, as Henry VIII had intended that she would. Her brother’s death approached and Mary prepared to return to London. Meanwhile a rebellion was mounted by a group of Protestant nobles, who feared a return to Catholicism if Mary took the throne, not least because it would greatly reduce their own power and influence. The rebellion was led by the Duke of Northumberland, who supported the candidacy of Lady Jane Grey. She was Edward VI’s cousin. She had no ambition to become Queen, but this did not deter Northumberland, who married her to his son, Lord Guildford Dudley. Northumberland made the dying King sign a new will, bequeathing the crown to Lady Jane Grey and confirming, once again, that both Mary and Elizabeth were illegitimate.
Lady Jane Grey was Queen for only nine days. A counter-rebellion to put Mary on the throne gathered momentum; most of the great barons wanted to be on the winning side. In July 1553 Mary was proclaimed Queen in London, to great rejoicing, and she entered the city in triumph. It was the high point of her reign.
Queen Mary set about getting rid of those who had acted against her. She was endangering her popularity, and her advisers proposed that she should marry in order to consolidate her position. After all, another Protestant candidate could quickly be found. Her old supporter Charles V of Spain offered her his son, Prince Philip, as a suitor. There were several problems looming. The prospective bridegroom was only 26, 11 years younger than Mary, and reported to be very virile. Mary disliked the idea of sex. She was naturally very reluctant, and feared marriage almost as much as her half-sister Elizabeth, and probably for a similar reason – the appalling example of their father’s catastrophic marriages. She finally forced herself to accept the marriage, only to find that it was extremely unpopular with the English people. The Spaniards were, after all, ‘the enemy’. There were riots. There were revolts, the most serious revolt being that of Sir Thomas Wyatt, a 23-year-old Catholic, who led an army of 15,000 to London before it was stamped out.
This experience hardened Mary’s heart, and she now moved against all of those involved in the rebellions against her. Even Lady Jane Grey was executed; although she was entirely innocent she would continue to be a focus for Protestant hopes if she remained alive.
Prince Philip of Spain arrived for the wedding in July 1554. Mary fell in love with him immediately, but he found her unattractive. He was courteous and attentive towards her in public, but privately she was a great disappointment to him, as her aversion to sex was all too apparent. Twice during their marriage Mary claimed that she was pregnant, but it turned out that she was swelling up because she had a diseased womb instead.
It was in the midst of this unhappiness that the persecution of Protestants began. A tribunal was set up in Southwark to question suspected heretics. The Bishop of London, Edmund Bonner, led a procession through London to celebrate the triumph of Rome. Bonner was quickly to gain an evil reputation as an inquisitor. He had suspected heretics to stay at his house, where he perfected the ‘nice-and-nasty’ style of interrogation. An invitation to stay at Bishop Bonner’s house was no treat.
The first victim of the persecutions was John Rogers, who was a married priest. He was burned at Smithfield in February 1555. The Bishop of
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