Mary I’s rule of England was a complete failure, how far do you agree?
Mary I came to the throne in July 1553 aged 37, the first reigning queen since the disputed Mathilda in the 12th Century. Most historians consider her reign to be unfruitful in that she was never able to fulfill her dream of reuniting England to the Roman Catholic Church. I also never had any children of her own to continue her Dynasty in England. In this essay, I will assess whether Mary I’s reign of England (1553-1558) was in fact a failure because of her religious reforms, weak relationship with the nobility/council, alliance with Spain and her persistent desire to retain English land in France...etc. being the underlying issue that established her reign as a ‘failure’
One of Mary’s most prioritized ambitions was in bringing the Roman Catholic Church faith back to England. She initially did this by rescinding the religious proclamations of Edward VI, and replacing the with old fashioned English Laws that Cromwell (Henry VIII’s close advisor) had tried to very hard in revolutionizing and moving away from. This included re-enforcing heresy against the church. In carrying out his last action, Mary earned the nickname ‘Bloody Mary’ as during her reign she had executed more than 300 persons burned on the stake for heresy. Equivalent to 400 years worth of executions in only 2-3 years. Among them, was the Archbishop of Canterbury andThomas Cranmer. This understandably was received in outrage by the public and consequently seriously affected the people’s perception of her as a ‘Queen’. Furthermore, her drastic attempt to reform a predominantly protestant England, did not settle well with the people of England nor the gentry and nobility - arguably an underlying reason to her reign being a somewhat failure., Especially given the drastic protestant reform only few years prior to her reign (Henry VIII’s 1520s).
In her drive to fin her heir to the English throne, at the age of 37, Mary wed...