Queen Mary I

Queen Mary I. Bloody Mary Tudor was born on February 18, 1516. She was the only surviving child of King Henry VIIIs first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

Henry doted on Princess Mary when she was little, she received an excellent education. The year 1527 started off well for Princess Mary. But Henry VIIIs attitude toward Mary and her mother had started to change. He had decided that God disapproved of his marriage to Catherine why else had the queen failed to produce healthy male children And he was in love with the woman who was to become his second wife Anne Boleyn. Soon Mary learned that Henry wanted to annul his marriage to her mother.

For this, the king needed the popes permission. Henry grew increasingly angry with Catherine for resisting his attempt to end their marriage. Finally, in 1531, he sent Catherine away from court. After being shuffled between various castles and palaces, the queen ended up a prisoner at Kimbolton Castle, near Huntingdon. Mary was now officially a bastard, called the lady Mary, but, like her mother, she refused to accept her change in status. Henry was infuriated by his daughters defiance and threatened to have her executed if she did not stop referring to herself as a princess.

Catherine and Mary were not permitted to visit each other, and Catherine died in 1536 without seeing her daughter again. Now Mary was alone With Anne gone, Henry treated his eldest daughter somewhat more kindly. At first she got along well with the kings other children. After Henrys death in 1547, Marys nine-year-old half-brother became King Edward VI, then for 9 daysLady Jane Grey. After a lifetime of sorrow and danger, the 37-year-old Mary Tudor was now the most powerful person in England. 2. Soon after her accession, Mary began considering the possibility of marrying Prince Philip of Spain, the son of her former fiancй, Emperor Charles V. It worried her that Philip was 11 years her junior. With difficulty the emperors envoy convinced her that Philip was a stable, mature adult who would help protect her kingdom.

Marys subjects were alarmed to learn of her engagement to the Spanish prince, fearing that England would become part of Spain. The queen, however, had no intention of turning the country over to Philip.

He arrived in England on July 20, 1554, and met Mary for the first time on July 23. Mary liked Philip from the start, and he treated her kindly, although he probably found her unattractive. The wedding took place two days later. Two months later, Marys doctors told her that she was pregnant. In December a law was passed that allowed bishops of the Church of England to convict heretics and sentence them to death by burning.

Almost 300 people were burned alive during Marys reign with Marys full approval, earning her the nickname Bloody Mary. By the summer of 1555 it became obvious that Mary was no longer pregnant, if she had ever been. Mary was bitterly disappointed. Philip left England that August, promising Mary that he would soon return. Mary missed him desperately. Philip didnt return to England until March of 1557. During his absence he had become the king of Spain. After a few months in England he left to go to war Mary never saw him again.

She became depressed and paranoid. Tortured by loneliness and unhappiness, Queen Mary fell ill. She died on November 17, 1558 and was succeeded by her half-sister, Queen Elizabeth I. QUEEN ELISABETH I. 1. Elizabeth I was born on September 7, 1533 at Greenwich Palace near London. Elizabeth had an older half-sister, Mary, who was the daughter of the kings first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

King Henry had moved heaven and earth to marry Anne Boleyn. Anne was executed, and two weeks later the king married Jane Seymour. In 1537 Queen Jane died after giving birth to a son, Edward. Elizabeth and Mary participated in his christening ceremony. When Elizabeth was four, Katherine Champernowne became her governess. Elizabeth was an excellent student. In 1540 Elizabeths father married Anne of Cleves. Queen Katherine was beheaded in 1542, when Elizabeth was seven years old. Katherine Howards violent death seems to have had a lasting impact on Elizabeth. 2. In 1543 Elizabeth gained yet another stepmother when Henry married his sixth and final wife, Katherine Parr. If Mary died without heirs, Elizabeth would become queen.

Soon after Henrys death, Elizabeth received a marriage proposal from handsome Thomas Seymour, who was Englands Lord Admiral and the brother of the late Queen Jane. Thomas Seymour still had designs on pretty red-haired Elizabeth.

Concerned, the queen questioned Elizabeth, who cried and insisted it wasnt true. Understandably upset, Katherine banished Elizabeth from the Old Manor House. A few months later Katherine died after childbirth and Seymour resumed plotting to marry Elizabeth. In 1549 Seymour was arrested on charges of conspiring to marry Elizabeth and take over the government. Kat Ashley was also arrested, along with another of Elizabeths employees, and Elizabeth herself was closely interrogated. 3. Elizabeth continued to get along well with her brother, King Edward, but in 1553 Edward died. Meanwhile, Henry VIIIs daughter Mary was proclaimed queen by her supporters. Elizabeth obediently attended one Mass, but complained the whole time of feeling ill. Because this and Elizabeths popularity with the English people, Mary grew wary of her half sister.

When Sir Thomas Wyatt led an uprising against Mary, the queen suspected that Elizabeth was involved. Elizabeth was taken to London and confined at Whitehall Palace.

Mary refused to see her, but Marys new husband Philip of Spain met with Elizabeth and fell under her spell. At his encouragement Mary finally reconciled with Elizabeth. Finally, on November 17, 1558, Mary died and Elizabeths years of peril came to an end. She was now the queen of England.4. Elizabeths advisors urged the twenty-five-year old queen to quickly marry some foreign prince and produce heirs so that the throne would not pass to Henry VIIIs great-niece, Mary Stuart, the queen of Scotland.

Elizabeth stood by her early decision never to marry. With the help of fine clothes, jewels and cosmetics, the vain queen maintained a glamorous image despite her advancing age. In her mid-fifties she fell in love with Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, son of Lettice Knollys. Essex was in his early twenties, good-looking, and extremely arrogant. Although he reigned as the queens favourite for many years, he did not always show Elizabeth the deference she demanded.

Once, when Elizabeth slapped him during an argument, Essex threatened to draw his sword on her. Elizabeth sent him to Ireland to quell a rebellion while there, Essex ignored the queens orders and pursued his own agenda. When he defied her by returning to England without permission, Elizabeth placed him under house arrest. After his release Essex attempted to lead an uprising against the queen, and the heartbroken Elizabeth had no choice but to sentence him to death.

Essex was executed in 1601. Two years later Elizabeth became very ill. Perhaps she did not want to live without Essex when her doctors offered her medicine, she refused to take it. She died on March 24, 1603 at the age of 69. Elizabeth was glorified by poets and artists as Gloriana, the Virgin Queen. CONCLUSION. During this period from 1485 to 1603, England developed into one of the leading European colonial powers, with men such as Sir Walter Raleigh taking part in the conquest of the New World. Nearer to home, campaigns in Ireland brought the country under strict English control.

Culturally and socially, the Tudor period saw many changes. The Tudor court played a prominent part in the cultural Renaissance taking place in Europe, nurturing all-round individuals such as William Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser and Cardinal Wolsey. The Tudor period also saw the turbulence of two changes of official religion, resulting in the martyrdom of many innocent believers of both Protestantism and Roman Catholicism.

The fear of Roman Catholicism induced by the Reformation was to last for several centuries and to play an influential role in the history of the Succession.