Mary I of England

Dates: February 18, 1516 - November 17, 1558

Occupation: Queen of England

Known for: attempting to restore Roman Catholicism over Protestantism in England

Also known as: Bloody Mary

About Mary I of England: Mary was born in 1516, daughter of Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII of England. During her childhood, as the daughter of the King of England her value as a potential marriage partner for the ruler of another realm was high; she was promised in marriage to the dauphin, son of Francis I of France, and later to the emperor Charles V. A 1527 treaty promised Mary to Francis I or to his second son.

Soon after that treaty, however, Henry began the long process of divorcing Mary's mother. With the divorce of her parents, Mary was declared illegitimate and Elizabeth, the daughter of Anne Boleyn, Mary's mother's successor as wife of Henry VIII, was declared Princess instead. Mary refused to acknowledge this change in her status. She was then kept from seeing her mother from 1531 until her mother's death in 1536.

After Anne Boleyn was disgraced and executed, Mary finally capitulated and signed a paper accepting that her parents' marriage was unlawful. Henry then restored her to the succession.

Mary, like her mother, was a devout and committed Roman Catholic, refusing to accept Henry's religious innovations. During the reign of Mary's half-brother, Edward VI, when even more Protestant reforms were implemented, she held fast to her faith.

On Edward's death, after Protestant supporters briefly put Lady Jane Grey on the throne, Mary became Queen of England. Mary's attempts to restore Catholicism and her marriage to Philip of Spain (July 25, 1554) were unpopular. Mary supported harsher and harsher persecution of the Protestants, eventually burning more than 300 at the stake as heretics over a four year period, earning her the nickname, "Bloody Mary."

Two or three times, Mary believed herself pregnant, but she never was. Philip's absences from England grew more frequent and longer. Mary's always-frail health finally failed her and she died in 1558. Some attribute her death to influenza, some to stomach cancer (misinterpreted by Mary as pregnancy).

Mary named no heir, so Elizabeth became Queen, named by Henry as next in succession after Mary.

Places: England

Religion: Roman Catholic