Random Fatcs About Bloody Mary, Who Is Remembered As A Murderer, But Rest Of Her Family Was Far Worse (12 items)

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  (#11) She Already Had The Nickname "Bloody Mary" By The 17th Century

  Mary was vilified by her contemporaries, notably John Knox in The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstruous Regiment of Women, which attacked female monarchs. According to Knox, "It is a thing most repugnant to nature that women rule and govern over men." Knox, a Protestant, had even more reason to dislike Mary, given her fervent support of Catholicism. He went further with Mary though, calling her "unworthy by reason of her bloody tyranny of the name of a woman."

  Overall, Queen Mary was portrayed as a bad queen, a failure in domestic and foreign policy, and, ultimately, unsuccessful in restoring Catholicism. Her efforts - resulting in the deaths of almost 300 people - were for naught. She's overshadowed by the reign of her sister, who came to the throne when Mary died in 1558, and is remembered for ushering in a Golden Age for England.
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  (#3) Mary Became Queen After Her Brother's Death And The Reign Of A Nine-Day Interloper

  Mary Tudor became queen after her brother, Edward VI, died in 1553. Edward VI became king when his father died in 1547 but he was only 10 years old. Regents ruled in his stead, and when he died, a religious power struggle broke out. Catholic factions favored Mary while Protestants called for Elizabeth to be queen. There was a brief interlude during which their royal cousin, Lady Jane Grey, was made queen by Edward VI's former regents, but after nine days, she was arrested - and later executed - and Mary took the throne.
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  (#6) Mary Was In Tight With The Spanish Which Wasn't Appreciated In England

  Mary's marriage to Philip II didn't go over well in England. The Spanish and the English were rivals at sea and in trade and there was fear about a foreigner being let into the British royal family. In 1554, 3,000 Englishmen, led by Thomas Wyatt, staged a protest against the marriage, marching from Rochester to London. The rebellion was short-lived and Wyatt's movement was put down by Royal troops. Wyatt was executed for treason but his actions reflected larger sentiments of the time.

  Philip had also convinced Mary to support the Spanish in their war with France. This led to the loss of Calais in 1558, the lone English possession on the Continent, an utter failure in foreign policy on Mary's part.
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  (#5) Mary Took Her Popularity To Mean All Her Subjects Wanted To Be Catholic Like Her

  Despite everything that had happened to her, Mary was a staunch Catholic. During her father's and brother's reigns, Catholicism had been forced underground but Mary never stopped attending Mass and feeling as though she had committed religious treason by acknowledging them as the head of the Church of England. The enthusiasm that surrounded her accession to the throne was, to Mary, an endorsement of her desire to restore England to a Catholic country.

  Mary set out to do just that. She married the Catholic King of Spain, Philip II, in 1554, to strengthen her cause. This would also, hopefully, produce an heir, which would prevent her sister, the Protestant Elizabeth, from taking the throne. She repealed Henry VIII's and Edward VI's religious laws, passing her own, and in 1555, she passed heresy laws that forbade the practice of Protestantism in England.
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  (#2) Mary Had To Compromise Her Beliefs To Be An Heir To The English Throne

  When Henry VIII declared his marriage to Catherine of Aragon null and void, Mary was officially deemed a bastard. After Anne Boleyn gave birth to her own daughter, Elizabeth, she had Mary declared illegitimate, knocking her out of the line of succession. This was just one of the many grievances Mary would bear towards her step-mother, reviling her long after she was executed by Henry. Once Anne was dramatically and violently removed from court and her father married Jane Seymour, he reinstated Mary but only after she acknowledged him as head of the Church of England. For Mary, as a devout Catholic, this was a bitter pill to swallow.
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  (#9) Henry VIII Killed Thousands Of People, According To Some Sources

  Even more people died during Henry VIII's reign, including several of his wives. The estimates for executions while Henry VIII was king vary from 57,000 to 72,000 people but the exact number will never be known. There's no doubt that Henry VIII had his rivals and enemies - real or perceived - assassinated. Some of his closest advisors, including Thomas More, met their end because they opposed his royal supremacy while his heresy laws resulted in mass persecution as well.

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