Mary I., queen of England, daughter of Henry VIII. by his first wife, Catharine of Aragon, was born at Greenwich on 18th February 1516. She was in her youth a great favourite with her father, and at the age of seven was betrothed to the Emperor Charles V. In her tenth year she was sent with certain commissioners and a species of viceregal court to the marches of Wales to carry out measures for the better government of the country. She was well educated, a good linguist, and fond of music. She was virtuous and pious, devoted to her mother, and devoted to her church.
With the divorce of her mother her troubles began. Henry treated her with great harshness, and even forced her to sign a declaration that he was supreme head of the church, and that her mother's marriage had been 'by God's laws and man's law incestuous and unlawful.' During the reign of her half-brother Edward she lived in retirement, and no threats could induce her to conform to the new religion. On the death of Edward (6th July 1553), she became entitled to the crown by her father's testament and the parliamentary settlement. The Duke of Northumberland had, however, induced Edward and his council to set Henry's will aside in favour of Lady Jane Grey, to whom the duke had married his son Guildford Dudley. Lady Jane was proclaimed on 10th July, but the whole country suspected Northumberland and favoured Mary, who, supported by her friends, was able without bloodshed to enter London on 3d August in triumph. The queen now showed remarkable leniency towards her opponents. Northumberland and two others were executed as traitors, but Lady Jane and her husband were, for the present, spared. She had promised the mayor of London that she would not strain consciences, and she proceeded very gradually and cautiously to bring back the old religion. She reinstated the Catholic bishops and imprisoned some of the leading Reformers, but dared not restore the pope's supremacy, and she herself retained, under the advice of Gardiner, the title of supreme head of the church. Cardinal Pole was immediately on her accession designated papal legate, but prudence and the counsel of the emperor prevented his entering England. The question of the hour upon which all turned was the queen's marriage. Some thought of Courtenay, Earl of Devon; others of Cardinal Pole, then only in deacon's orders; but the queen, in the face of the fears and protests of the nation, obstinately and morbidly set her heart on Philip of Spain. The unpopularity of the proposal brought about the rebellion of Wyatt and an attack upon London. The rebellion was quelled mainly through the courage and coolness of the queen, but the consequences of her easy triumph were fatal to her. The hapless Lady Jane, who had seemingly been detained as a hostage for the good-behaviour of her friends, was with her husband and father brought to the block. The Princess Elizabeth was suspected, but without proof, of complicity in the treason, and was committed to the Tower. Injunctions were sent to the bishops to restore ecclesiastical laws to their state under Henry VIII. In July 1554, twelve months after her accession, Philip landed and was married to Mary at Winchester. In the November following Pole entered England, and parliament, having made it sure that restitution would not be exacted from the owners of the confiscated church property, consented to petition for reconciliation to the holy see, and the realm was solemnly absolved from the papal censures. Soon after, the savage persecution which gave to the queen the name of 'Bloody Mary' began. In 1555 Ridley, Latimer, and other martyrs were brought to the stake. Cranmer was burned in March 1556, and Pole was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury in his place. In August 1555 Philip had left England, to return only once more for a few weeks, and Gardiner died in November of the same year. Pole was now left supreme in the councils of the queen, and still the persecution raged; during the last three years of her reign some 300 victims perished in the flames. How far Mary herself was responsible for the cruelties practised is doubtful. During this period she was rendered almost helpless with ill-health. She was constantly deluded with the belief that she was about to become a mother. Broken down with sickness, with grief at her husband's heart- lessness, and with disappointment at her childlessness, she became a prey to the deepest melancholy. Finally the evils which the nation predicted from the Spanish alliance came about. The queen was induced by Philip to enter upon war with France. The consequence was the loss of Calais to England. Mary died 17th November 1558.
See the histories of Lingard and Froude; England under the reigns of Edward VI. and Mary, by P. F. Tytler; Privy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary, with a memoir by Sir F. Madden; and other books cited at HENRY VIII., ELIZABETH, GREY (LADY JANE).