Does Mary I Deserve The Title Bloody Mary?

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Does Mary I deserve the title Bloody Mary? In many ways Mary I deserves the title “Bloody” for her persecution and execution of Protestants. However, compared to other Tudor Kings and Queens, Mary killed far fewer of her subjects. So was she actually less “Bloody” than other Tudor leaders and therefore undeserving of being remembered by this title alone. Mary I had had a hard life before even taking the throne and as a child had seen her parents marriage declared invalid and herself branded a bastard. She had been separated from her mother and kept away from the Royal Court by the jealous actions of the Queen Anne Boleyn. Mary had also seen her mother’s religion and the religion of the whole country changed by her father and his advisers. All these circumstances shaped Mary’s character into one that was distrusting, cautious and vengeful. Mary I undoubtedly grew colder and stricter as she grew older and she clearly dealt harshly with rebellions that questioned her rule and her desire to change England to once again being aligned with the Roman Catholic Church. This was evidenced in the way that many of the rebels who took part in the Wyatt rebellion were executed mercilessly. Mary I’s marriage to Philip of Spain, a man whom she clearly loved but who did not love her in return also shaped Mary’s rule. Philip’s many affairs drove Mary, in her loneliness, to become even more extreme in her religious fervor. Her inability to bear a child also made Mary more desperate, as without a child she could not ensure the future of England as a Catholic country and she could not make her husband love her. All these factors ensured that Mary was cruel to those who questioned her beliefs. Philip’s decision to marry Mary was clearly led by his own desire to control England and his own determination to see England entirely
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