by John, Judith
The medieval method of burning heretics at the stake was such a savage death that it angered many. Mary and her agents of death were also taking away much-loved churchmen who were known to be pious, loyal and charitable. The persecutions had the opposite effect than they were meant to have. Mary truly thought that by sacrificing a few bodies to the flames on earth, she would be saving countless souls from the fires of hell. But her sacrifice of the Englishmen and women she professed to love so much left her universally hated and many people turning to Protestantism in response to the horrific burnings done in the name of Catholicism. Now dubbed the Marian Martyrs, the first man executed was John Rogers, a clergyman at St Paul’s Cathedral, on 4 February 1555. The final recorded burnings occurred just days before Mary’s death on 17 November 1558 and would have continued if she had not died.
The medieval method of burning heretics at the stake was such a savage death that it angered many. … taking away much-loved churchmen who were known to be pious, loyal and charitable.
Philip’s forces beat the French in Picardy in the Battle of Saint Quentin. Mary sent English troops to support the Spanish, even though this went against the terms of her marriage treaty.
It could be said that Mary felt the high price of lives was worth paying if it meant that the majority of English souls would be saved. Unfortunately, the persecutions backfired badly. Watching martyrs burn for their faith caused a Protestant backlash that could not be controlled. By the time of Mary’s death, the prisons were bursting with believers who refused to renounce their faith. Mary had failed.
Mary: The Woman
Mary had long been eager to have children, both to secure the legacy of her throne and for Philip and her to become parents. In September 1554, only two months after their marriage, Mary began exhibiting signs of being with child. Soon the whole court believed her to be carrying a child. Her periods stopped, she put on weight and experienced nausea in the mornings. Unwisely, Mary even let the gathered crowds see her bump during a public appearance. Soon the whole country knew that a royal baby was on its way. Celebrations took place and plans were made. At the age of 38, with health problems behind her, no chances could be taken. If Mary died in childbirth, Philip was to be made Regent of their child.
Edmund ‘Bloody’ Bonner is shown here enjoying his work punishing heretics. This illustration comes from the Book of Martyrs by John Foxe. While Bonner has a reputation for severity, he is seen by some as merely an official doing the bidding of his Queen.
… Mary’s enlarged abdomen began to recede. There were no signs of a child ever having been present. Mary was devastated …
Towards the end of the pregnancy, Elizabeth was reconciled to her sister and returned to court to witness the birth, which was expected around May of 1555. However, the months passed and there was no sign of a child. Rumours spread around the court that Mary was not actually pregnant. These were quashed, but in July 1555, Mary’s enlarged abdomen began to recede. There were no signs of a child ever having been present. Mary was devastated and her reputation was damaged further. Her belief may have come from the idea that God would grant them children who would continue her work in His name, despite her advancing years.
Philip soon left England for Flanders, where he waged war against France. Mary was left to face her country alone. The depression that had dogged her younger years returned and she could not be consoled. She also feared that her false pregnancy had been God’s punishment for her ‘lenient’ treatment of heretics. The Queen whom everyone had such confidence in was now a damaged woman, Mary never having found it easy to reconcile being a good wife with her role as supreme ruler (an issue Elizabeth, with all of her mother’s sexuality and craftiness, would not suffer from).
BURNED AT THE STAKE
POSSIBLY FOLLOWING THE example of the Spanish Inquisition (which dispatched 2000 people using this technique), the method of execution for heretics was death by burning.
This was no clean, quick death like beheading. Being burned at the stake could take hours, leaving the unfortunate victim suffering intense agony. A tall metal stake would be placed in the ground, to which the victim would be chained. Some sort of flammable material would be packed around the stake, then set alight. Resin or pitch would often be poured over the victim to encourage the burning. There was a risk of the victim dying from shock or carbon monoxide poisoning before they burned to death. These were the lucky ones. If the fire was smaller, it would first burn the legs and arms before travelling up the torso, chest and head.
The Burning of ten protestant martyrs in Lewes, Sussex, 1557. The victims depicted are Richard Woodman, George Stevens, Alexander Hosman, William Mainard, Thomasina Wood, Margery Morris, James Morris, Denis Burges, Ann Ashton and Mary Groves.
HERE LIES MARY
WESTMINSTER ABBEY HOLDS the spectacular Lady Chapel, build by Henry VII for his family. As well as his wife, mother and his own tombs, it holds the tomb of Elizabeth and Mary, two sisters united in death. Mary was interred in December 1558. For a long time her remains lay under a pile of smashed altar stones. On Elizabeth I’s death, James I (her successor) built a magnificent tomb for both sisters to rest together. It is striking that only Elizabeth’s image is depicted on the tomb. Mary, in death as in life, was pushed aside in favour of her more celebrated relatives.
It is possible that her phantom pregnancies and abdominal swelling were caused by ovarian cancer … Mary was now sure she was with child and amended her will to take her issue into account.
Shortly before her death in November, Mary again thought herself to be pregnant. She was now 42 years old and nearing the end of her life. It is possible that her phantom pregnancies and abdominal swelling were caused by ovarian cancer, which may have eventually killed her had she not contracted influenza. However, Mary was now sure she was with child and amended her will to take her issue into account. When this second pregnancy came to nothing, this was amended once more to include a codicil naming her ‘next heir and successor’ following Henry VIII’s will. It is thought that she couldn’t bring herself to name Elizabeth as her successor in writing. Mary pleaded with Elizabeth to uphold the Catholic faith she had reintroduced during her violent reign. She died knowing that the likelihood of everything she had worked for would come to nothing. Mary had faced rejection from first her father, then her brother. Her husband was abroad – as he had been for most of their marriage – and she left no child to carry on the legacy. Is it any wonder that she turned to God?
‘Queen … and by the same title a King’
The many issues that combined under Mary’s have led to her five years as Queen of England to be seen as a failure, a waste of time and life. England was no better off because of Mary. In fact many were worse off. Those who had fled or suffered during the persecutions and rebellions; those whose livelihood had suffered and those who had once again been affected by about-turns in religious doctrine were all united in welcoming Elizabeth. Crowds cheered at Mary’s death and welcomed the accession of Elizabeth. The realm was eager to put the horrors of the last few years behind them and embrace a monarch who would be more tolerant of the needs of her people.
For a long time, Mary’s unpopular decisions were highlighted, as well as the futility of the persecutions in her name. From around the seventeenth century she was abhorred as Bloody Mary and blamed for everything that had gone wrong in England during her reign, including the bad weather and famines that actually begun under Edward’s reign. Heralded as proof of her failures were the Persecutions, the loss of Calais and her lack of heir. With Protestantism gaining in popularity, she became a figurehead of the corruption of the Catholic Church. John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, which recorded every person to be executed under the Marian Persecutions, would become the most widely read book in England after the Bible. The graphic illustrations depicting such gruesome events still send a chill down the spine. Her acts may well have caused many to turn away from Catholicism in disgust. Certainly after her reign there wa
s more indifference, perhaps due to so many years of religious discord.
The tomb of Mary and Elizabeth in Westminster Abbey bears a Latin inscription that reads: ‘Consorts in realm and tomb, here we sleep, Elizabeth and Mary, sisters, in hope of resurrection’.
This portrait of Mary I in later life shows a saddened woman whose childless condition weighed on her mind. Mary lived in hope of a child right up to 1558, the final year of her life. Now widely reviled, the death of the first Queen of England would be celebrated.
There is the argument that Mary just didn’t have enough time to implement the good policies she introduced – which included halting the debasement of the currency, and naval expansion and exploration that continued under Elizabeth – but who knows how far Bloody Mary would have taken the religious persecutions? Mary’s time of tyranny was over and she had left a country in turmoil, eager for stability and peace.
Her acts may well have caused many to turn away from Catholicism in disgust.
A mother and her two daughters burned for heresy in 1556, became known as the Guernsey Martyrs. One daughter was heavily pregnant and her baby burst forth into the fire. Foxe records that the attending bailiff ordered the baby to be burned with its mother.
Princess Elizabeth is shown here looking every inch the future monarch. While she was of more use to her family as a potential political alliance through matrimony, Elizabeth I would never condone a marriage that gave anyone power over her country and person.
VI
TUDORS
ELIZABETH:
CULT OF THE VIRGIN QUEEN
Overshadowing every Tudor monarch – save perhaps her flagrantly infamous father – Elizabeth I elevated herself above the mistakes of her siblings to achieve venerated status, which saw advances in culture and overseas trade, the end of decades of religious turmoil and the crushing defeat of the Spanish Armada. Becoming so notorious for refusing to marry that her Virgin Queen status created cults and legends, Elizabeth I both inspired and infuriated – but she always did it her way.
‘I will have but one mistress and no master.’ – ELIZABETH I
Born in 1533, shortly after Anne Boleyn, her mother, had married Henry VIII and caused him to break with the Catholic Church, Elizabeth would spend her entire childhood in a reforming country with all the confusion and unrest that comes with it. With Anne Boleyn executed before Elizabeth’s third birthday – leaving the young princess discarded and removed from succession – the shadow of bad blood hung over Elizabeth for many years. Nevertheless, any child of Henry VIII’s was due a certain level of care and Elizabeth (as well as her sister Mary) would find herself in and out of favour depending on Henry’s mood and marital status. Useful in forming alliances with foreign countries, Elizabeth was a highly prized potential wife, so she had to be well educated and able to act like the princess she believed herself to be.
Elizabeth’s education was first-rate and she excelled at languages. Intelligent, articulate and open-minded, by a combination of her schooling and family circumstances, Elizabeth grew up quickly. Her maturation would take a darker turn when her brother, Edward VI, became King of England in 1547. Catherine Parr, Henry’s widow, married Thomas Seymour soon after Henry’s death. Elizabeth – now reinstated as Edward’s successor under the terms of Henry’s will – was under the care of Catherine Parr and living in her household. It was here at the age of 14 that Elizabeth first attracted male attention.
Thomas engaged in horseplay with the teenage princess, entering her room at night and tickling and embracing her.
Thomas Seymour, whose brother Edward was Lord Protector of England during Edward’s minority, engaged in inappropriate behaviour with his wife’s stepdaughter. Thomas was an attractive man in his late thirties at this stage. He was angry at being unable to secure the powerful position awarded his brother and sought to gain control in a much more underhanded and ominous way. Thomas engaged in horseplay with the teenage princess, entering her room at night and tickling and embracing her.
When Catherine Parr first discovered this, Thomas used his hold over his wife to assure her that the games were innocent. Catherine even joined in occasionally, holding the girl down while Thomas tickled or teased her. Perhaps Catherine thought that her presence would curtail the activities from going any further than they should. It was only when Catherine found the two alone together in an embrace that she put a stop to things. Elizabeth was sent away in May 1548, and she soon had her own household and trusted attendants.
Now safe from Thomas’ attentions, Elizabeth was able to put these unsavoury events behind her for a short time. However, after Catherine Parr’s death in September 1548, Thomas Seymour tried to renew his relationship with Elizabeth, this time needing no subterfuge. He sought to marry the princess and secure his authority. Thomas was also working to undermine his brother’s position of power over Edward VI. Then nearly 11 years old, Edward was regularly visited by Thomas, who gave him gifts of money and dripped poison in his ear, subtly suggesting that Edward Seymour was usurping the young King’s authority. This combination of deceit was to be his undoing. Thomas was arrested in 1549, his attentions towards Elizabeth and plots to overthrow his brother leading to his execution that same year.
Elizabeth wrote many letters to her step-mother Catherine Parr, with whom she remained close after her removal from the household. It was Catherine who advised Elizabeth to guard her actions as she may one day be Queen, advice that Elizabeth would follow closely.
After marrying Catherine Parr, Henry VIII’s widow and one of the wealthiest women in England, Thomas Seymour was prepared to seduce his step-daughter in order to marry a potential Queen! When this failed, Thomas sought power by manipulating Edward VI.
Lust for Power
A seductive and charismatic man, it was only when Thomas’ jealousy and lust for power became too overt that he ended up destroying himself. An interesting note is that when Elizabeth was interrogated to build a case against the would-be usurper, she refused to say anything that might incriminate Thomas (her own self-preservation instincts were learned early). While her silence was not enough to save Thomas, the whole experience affected Elizabeth and may have influenced her decision never to marry. The idea that she may have been privy to Thomas’ intentions to marry her and ensure she became Queen over her brother and sister is unsubstantiated but intriguing, as is the level of power Elizabeth would have awarded Thomas were this to happen.
… by the age of 15 she had seen and experienced enough damaging relationships …
All in all, Elizabeth had to mature quickly and, by the age of 15 she had seen and experienced enough damaging relationships to remain circumspect with her reputation. This dangerous brush with treason would not be her last and even Elizabeth’s excellent skills of talking herself out of trouble would soon be tested to their limits.
THE VIRGIN QUEEN
HAVING SEEN FOR herself how destructive marriage could be (with her own mother executed before Elizabeth’s third birthday), Elizabeth was in no hurry to wed. Add to this her sister Mary’s ill-advised foreign union, phantom pregnancies and lovelorn misery, plus the fact that any man the Queen married would be in a position of authority at least equal to her, meant that Elizabeth was understandably cagey when it came to making such a commitment. Whatever her reasons, the Virgin Queen status saw Elizabeth idolized as an icon or even a goddess, which she herself cultivated and encouraged. This status raised her above most people and was part of the legend that became Gloriana.
‘Princess Elizabeth at the Tower’ (oil on canvas) by artist Robert Alexander Hillingford (1825–1904).
A King’s Sister
As Edward VI’s sister, Elizabeth caused little trouble, especially compared to Mary who openly flouted the King’s orders by having Catholic masses said in Latin, to which she invited all and sundry. The siblings were close when they were children, but their father’s various intrigues meant that the shadow of suspicion would always blight the family. No one
was completely secure on the throne while the others were part of the family, no matter what precautions were set down. This would be demonstrated after Edward’s death. It was when Edward was very ill in 1553 that he chose to go against the wishes of Henry VIII and disinherit both his sisters. Edward’s main issue was with Mary, whose Catholic beliefs meant that all Edward’s attempts in forming a secure Protestant religion in England would come to nothing. But in order to disinherit Mary, Edward would also have to disinherit Elizabeth. This he did in favour of Lady Jane Grey. Jane’s infamous nine-day rule gave Elizabeth another glimpse at how tenuous the life of a monarch could be, and she learned just how dangerous being named as a successor could be.
It was when Edward was very ill in 1553 that he chose to go against the wishes of Henry VIII and disinherit both his sisters … in favour of Lady Jane Grey.
A Queen’s Sister
With Edward dead, Mary quickly took the throne to avid public support. Life changed dramatically once again for Elizabeth, now living at court with her sister. Mary’s position was secure at first, with her decision to reinstate the Catholic faith initially popular. However, the rapid alteration yet again – this time from a reformed Protestant faith back to traditional Catholicism – was too much for many. Rumblings grew to rebellion and in 1554 Thomas Wyatt led a revolt against Mary. Their initial aim was to avoid a union with Spain and a potential foreign King. But things quickly spiralled. Elizabeth became a figurehead of reason and enlightenment, in stark comparison to the tyrannical, irrational Bloody Mary. A new plot arose, by which Mary would be deposed in favour of Elizabeth, who would then marry Edward Courtenay, a previous suitor.