History did not remember Mary Tudor fondly. Nicknamed “Bloody Mary” for the persecution of protestants during her 5 year reign, she’s been vilified ever since. And this isn’t just a footnote in the back of an obscure British history book. Bloody Mary is practically a household name. It’s a popular cocktail made of vodka and tomato juice possibly, although disputedly linked to Mary Tudor’s nickname. It’s even a childhood urban legend, remember that one? Chant Bloody Mary three times into the mirror of a dimly lit bathroom and her spectral figure will appear behind you. Yes, Mary Tudor has been, not only vilified, but trivialized, cocktails and childhood sleepover games. But when you strip away the “Bloody Mary” nickname cast upon her years later by protestant propagandists and examine the real story of her life, Mary Tudor emerges as a powerful, though tragic figure. The first ever undisputed Queen of England to rule in her own right, she seized the position, her rightful position by birth, by gathering support from her countrymen and storming London to successfully take her crown. A woman in 16th century England did this. Spooky legends aside, that startling fact alone bears further examination. Let’s fix that. 

 

Hello, I’m Shea LaFountaine and you’re listening to History Fix where I discuss lesser known true stories from history you won’t be able to stop thinking about. It is the final Sunday of Women’s History month and so I’m ending it by busting out a topic I’ve been sitting on and dancing around for a while, Mary Tudor AKA Bloody Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and the first ever queen regnant of England. I talked about Mary of course in my two parter on the six wives of Henry VIII, that was episodes 19 and 20 and then she came up again in episode 64 about Ranavalona I, Queen of Madagascar, because of the parallels between their lives and possibly unwarranted bad reputations. But Mary is still on my mind always and so deserving of her own episode because history really did Mary Tudor wrong. Sandwiched between the successes of her father, Henry VIII and of her younger half sister Elizabeth I, she’s been relegated to the nosebleeds of history and unfairly cast as a vile and despicable, villainous woman and honestly kind of a joke. But when you strip away all the biased accounts and protestant propaganda, what emerges is the story of a woman who overcame insurmountable challenges during a time when women were practically powerless. And although her reign was short, only 5 years, she rose up to rule as Queen of England, Ireland, Spain, France, Naples, Sicily, and Jerusalem as well as Archduchess of Austria, Duchess of Burgundy, Milan and Brabant (bra-bau), and Countess of Habsburg, Flanders, and Tyrol (tee-roll). Yeah you heard all that correctly, girl was straight up ruling most of Europe. But that’s not what people remember. They remember the 280 some protestants she had burned at the stake for heresy, an act that would gain her the nickname “Bloody Mary.” So why did she do it and how big of a deal was that really in the context of the time period? Does it deserve to be the only thing we remember about her? Let’s dig in shall we? 

 

Mary Tudor was born in February of 1516 as the only surviving child of King Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Quick recap, in case you missed the Six Wives episode, Catherine was a princess of Spain, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella who were responsible for sending Christopher Columbus to the Americas and were basically the leading world power at the time. So Catherine was an incredibly eligible bachelorette and really a score for a prince of England. But Henry had an older brother. He was not meant to become king. He was just the spare heir. And so Catherine actually married his brother Arthur first when they were both just 15 years old. Sadly Arthur died 4 months after their wedding of the sweating sickness that plagued England between 1485 and 1551. I’ve always been fascinated by this mysterious illness because to date no one knows for sure what it was and it seems to have affected a very small geographical area during a very specific time frame. Which is weird. But it’s believed to have been something sort of like hantavirus which is spread by mice and was actually in the news recently for causing the death of Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa. So anyway, Arthur dies and they’re left with this problem because they have this Spanish princess still that they don’t want to return the dowry for and they still kind of want to make this political alliance with Spain. Henry VII, who was Henry VIII’s father and predecessor actually considered marrying Catherine himself, because his wife had since died in childbirth but Catherine’s mother Isabella shut that down. She’s like nope… not what we signed up for. She’s not marrying an old man. And so the only option becomes for Catherine to marry Henry, the new heir to the throne, who is only 10 years old at the time. This all matters, I promise. So they give it some time cause he’s a legit child. And then Henry and Catherine get married when they are 17 and 23 years old respectively. And this happens right after the death of Henry’s father and his ascension to the throne so it’s all happening at once. They become this power couple, right, this prince of England and this princess of Spain uniting to become King and Queen. And they’re actually quite fond of each other. Henry is very charismatic and charming and chivalrous in his youth. Catherine is a bit more demure, she’s very religious, and somewhat reserved, but she is elegant and obedient and intelligent and beautiful and really everything you could ever want in a queen consort. She’s a ten. Except for one thing. Catherine and Henry struggle to have children. Before Mary was born in 1516, Catherine had had several miscarriages and at list 2 stillbirths as well as one successful birth, a boy, who had lived for only 2 months. And so they are overjoyed when Mary is born and survives, disappointed somewhat of course that she was a girl. Henry really really wanted a male heir. England had never had a queen. They had queen consorts, the wives of kings, but they didn’t do queen regnants who ruled in their own right. They had never done that and so it wasn’t even really an option for Henry. He needed a male heir to secure the Tudor line and prevent civil war from erupting basically. Stakes are high. Lives are on the line. But despite all of that, he dotes on Mary, at first, she is his pride and joy while he continues to wait for the successful delivery of a boy.

 

Mary was described as a precocious child. She was intelligent and well educated, entertaining guests on the harpsichord at the age of 4. And a lot of that was thanks to her mother Catherine. Catherine took education very seriously. She even commissioned the Spanish philosopher Juan Luis Vives to write a book called “The Education of a Christian Woman” where he slash she advocated for the education of women of all social classes. In this book, Vives argues that women are intellectually equal to men and he stresses the importance of intellectual companionship in marriage over procreation. So this is quite groundbreaking stuff for the time and it really sheds some light on the way Mary was raised by her mother. By the age of 9 she could read and write in Latin. She also studied French, Spanish, music, dance, and possibly Greek. By the time she reached adulthood, she was fluent in English, French, Spanish, and Latin and proficient in Italian. Girl ain’t dumb. But this is, you know, this is a difficult childhood as the only child of Henry VIII and born the wrong gender at that. There’s a lot of pressure on Mary from birth. When she was 2 years old she got engaged to marry Frances, Dauphine of France who was literally just a baby at the time. Like for real, they put a diamond ring on her finger and everything. When she was two. That engagement or betrothal or whatever was called off after a few years though and then when she was 6 she was betrothed again to her then 22 year old cousin Holy Roman Emperor Charles V but that also got called off a few years later. She’s very much a pawn and they’re playing her in a political chess game, even as a small child. Henry once boasted to the Venetian ambassador that Mary never cried. Like this was something to be proud of. She never cries. Umm I think it’s a major red flag that your little girl never cries. That’s a problem. 

 

By the time Mary was 9, Catherine had suffered at least one more miscarriage and then failed to become pregnant again. Henry struggled to come to terms with the fact that they would never have a son to carry on the Tudor line. It ate at him constantly and it began to sour the once loving relationship he had with Catherine. At this time, at 9 years old, Mary was sent to Wales to preside over the Council of Wales and the Marches. She was given her own court at Ludlow Castle and is essentially being treated as the Prince of Wales which is the title that would have been given to Henry’s first born son and heir. Although she’s never actually given the title Princess of Wales, he’s just sort of treating her as such. And I’m not really sure what this means. Does it mean he was resigned to let Mary take the throne after him as the first queen regnant of England? I’m not sure. He’s possibly at least playing around with the idea. It kind of seems to be the only option. But then, everything changes. 

 

Enter Anne Boleyn. Anne was one of Catherine’s maids of honor which sounds high ranking but it’s actually beneath a lady in waiting. Usually maids of honor were younger and unmarried while ladies in waiting were married. So she was a junior attendant to the queen. Henry was a party boy. He liked to have fun. He loved jousting and hosting tournaments and raucous parties and he had lots of affairs with other women in the court, these maids of honor, these unmarried women who attended to his wife. He basically had his pick of them and Catherine was just supposed to turn a blind eye. That’s just sort of how it was done. And really you have to keep that in perspective because it’s easy to demonize these women as like homewreckers or whatever, these loose women. But in reality, look at the context, this is the King of England. If the King of England is pursuing you, you can’t really say no. Except one of them does over and over again. Anne Boleyn rejects Henry’s obvious pleas for affection. She flirts with him mercilessly but she refuses to sleep with him. And rather than anger him or drive him away this completely ensnares Henry. He has to have her. He has to have Anne Boleyn. But the price he has to pay is marriage. Anne makes that very clear. The only way for Henry to have Anne is for him to marry her. And that presents an obvious problem considering he is already married and has been for over 20 years. 

 

But one night, while Henry is reading his bible, he stumbles upon one verse in particular, Leviticus 20:21 which says quote “if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.” And Henry realizes, this is exactly what has happened to him. Catherine was his brother’s wife. Their marriage is unclean. They are childless. Except not really but I guess girl children don’t count. And he realizes that he can use this to dissolve their marriage, just cancel the whole thing, and marry Anne instead. At this time, England is a Catholic country, just like Spain, just like all of the western world. If you are a Christian, you are Catholic. It’s the only thing. So Henry goes to the Pope and he’s like “look at this dude. Look at this bible verse. It says my marriage is unclean. I need a divorce.” But the Pope ain’t having it. He is currently a pawn of Charles V, King of Spain who happens to be Catherine’s nephew. So the Pope’s hands are pretty well tied but he does allow a sort of trial to take place to hear Henry out at least for show. Henry’s going on about the unclean marriage because of the brother thing. Catherine claims she and Arthur never consummated their marriage so it was never official, who knows. Ultimately, the Pope refuses to grant Henry the divorce, unsurprisingly. But Henry’s not taking no for an answer. He decides to take drastic action and he splits with the Catholic Church and creates his own church, the Church of England of which he is the head and can do whatever he wants. Henry was not the first to come up with this idea. The protestant reformation started back in 1517 in what is now Germany based on the ideas of a disgruntled monk named Martin Luther. So Henry is just jumping on the protestant reformation bandwagon here but not because of like strong religious convictions or anything. Just cause he like still really wants that divorce. 

 

Anyway, splits with the Catholic Church, creates his own church, makes everybody in his whole country switch over to the new church that he is boss man of, goes ahead and grants himself his own divorce from Catherine in 1533. Actually this timeline is rather scandalous so let me break it down for you. Henry marries Anne Boleyn in January of 1533 and then divorces Catherine of Aragon in May of 1533. Okay, not sure that’s legal. Then, Anne gives birth to the future Queen Elizabeth in September of 1533 which is only 7 months after their wedding. But then they’re like “oh we actually secretly got married in November of last year, exactly 9 months before Elizabeth was born so it’s fine. She’s legit.” I don’t know y’all. Timeline’s not adding up to me. The man has two wives, a secret wedding, a questionably legitimate baby. All that, all that, and it’s still a freaking girl. Can you imagine? Serves him right. 

 

But let’s look at all this from Mary’s perspective now. She is 17 years old when all this goes down. Her father divorces her mother, his wife of almost 24 years and downgrades her from queen consort to dowager Princess of Wales which is what her title would have been if she had never married Henry, if she had remained just Arthur’s widow. He ships her off, banishes her from court, and she lives in relative isolation at Kimbolton Castle which is about 65 miles north of London. She is forbidden from ever seeing her daughter Mary again and she dies 3 years later. Mary is downgraded from Princess Mary to Lady Mary and made illegitimate. She’s an illegitimate child of Henry now, as if she had been born to one of his mistresses and not the actual Queen of England. Because she is now illegitimate, she is no longer in line to inherit the throne and that goes instead to the newborn Princess Elizabeth. To add insult to injury, Mary’s household is dissolved and she is sent to serve as lady in waiting to Elizabeth, who is a baby. 

 

Mary is beside herself. She flat out refused to acknowledge that Anne was the Queen or that Elizabeth was a princess and this of course enraged Henry. Their relationship falls apart and they reportedly did not even speak to each other for 3 years, the whole time he was married to Anne. During this time, this 3 years, remember, Catherine is locked away in Kimbolton Castle in poor conditions dying, and Mary’s health is suffering too and they are not allowed to see each other. Mary always sort of had health problems, many of which have been attributed to stress. According to Tudor Extra quote “Mary Tudor’s complex medical history confounded both physicians and apothecaries of the Tudor age. At the onset of puberty, Mary began to experience irregular and painful menstrual cycles and was diagnosed with a ‘strangulation of the womb’, a condition involving menstrual blood retention, initiating a distressing array of symptoms through her teenage years. These included chest and stomach pains, episodes of depression, breathing difficulties, migraines, sporadic fainting, and abdominal swelling. Affected by the strained atmosphere of her households following King Henry VIII’s rift with Rome, Mary fell victim to severe, often seasonal illnesses and depressions that would plague her for the remainder of her life. In 1531, a Venetian ambassador reported that the King’s daughter was ‘very ill from what the physicians call hysteria’. This report lends credence to the possibility that Mary’s symptoms might have been at least partially psychosomatic, potentially stemming from the overwhelming stress induced by her father’s cruel behaviour and her mother’s banishment from court,” end quote. In 1534, she became very sick and it must have been quite serious because, although she and her father were not on speaking terms, he sent his own personal physician to attend to her. Mary remained in bad health for the next several years, which was worsened even more by the death of her mother in 1536 after which Mary was said to have been inconsolable. 

 

Also around this time, 1536, Henry started to turn on Anne Boleyn. She too had failed to produce a male heir, having three miscarriages after Elizabeth. But this turn, this shift in Henry was most likely helped along by a very serious jousting accident that same year 1536 after which he was said to have been unconscious for several hours. This suggests a pretty serious traumatic brain injury and changes in Henry’s behavior and temperament afterwards were likely caused by it because we now know that that’s a thing. So Anne has her third miscarriage, Henry’s brain gets all addled in the jousting accident, long story short he accuses Anne of adultery and incest and has her beheaded for treason, conspiring against him, all likely false claims. He marries his third wife, Jane Seymour two weeks later, already has her picked out, proposes to her literally on the day Anne is beheaded. This guy is a psychopath. Anyway, Jane is sort of alright and she’s actually the one who convinces Henry to reconcile with Mary. Jane wants everybody to be one big happy dysfunctional family. But in order to do this, in order to reconcile with her father, rejoin the court, and avoid possible execution for treason or heresy herself, Mary has to finally acknowledge all that has happened. She is bullied into finally recognizing her father as the head of the Church of England and denying the authority of the Pope which is a big ask because Mary is still staunchly Catholic. She has to acknowledge that her parent's marriage was unlawful and accept that she is an illegitimate child. And she does this begrudgingly to get back into her father’s good graces but also, you know, out of self preservation. He just chopped off Anne’s head for much much much less and he really liked Anne. So she’s sort of forced to play his game at this point. 

 

She gets to rejoin court. She gets her household back, her servants and whatnot and she gets an allowance which includes money for fine clothing and gambling at cards which was apparently one of her favorite pastimes. So things are looking up for Mary but she did have to basically sell her soul for it and I’m sure that eats at her. The very next year, 1537, Jane dies of an infection after delivering Henry his only surviving son, Edward. Mary is made Edward’s godmother and serves as chief mourner at Jane’s funeral suggesting that she had very much been reaccepted into the family at this point but it continues to be dysfunctional as hell and Mary’s days are marred by constant trauma because her father is straight up mentally ill and everyone is pretending he’s fine. In 1541, Mary’s old governess and godmother, a woman she admired greatly, the Countess of Salisbury is executed on suspicions of being involved in a Catholic plot that her son may or may not have even been part of. According to contemporary reports, her execution was particularly gruesome as her executioner was a quote “wretched and blundering youth" who "literally hacked her head and shoulders to pieces,” end quote. So that happened. Then the next year, Henry had his 5th wife, Catherine Howard, beheaded who was 8 years younger than Mary, a child bride. And after that he throws a Christmas party. Not kidding, he chops off his teenaged wife’s head and then hosts quote “Christmas festivities” where he asks Mary to serve as hostess, a role that would have normally fallen to his wife except he just killed her. Y’all it’s so messed up. Can you imagine being Mary at this Christmas party like welcoming guests. “The Tudor family welcomes you. Make sure you still have your head when you leave. Oh yeah, Merry Christmas.” Like, what? 

 

Henry’s sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr convinces Henry to return Mary and Elizabeth, who had also been declared illegitimate, of course, to the line of succession. So it would go Henry, Edward, Mary, Elizabeth. And so that’s the plan after Henry died in 1547. Edward takes the throne. He’s only 9 years old so he has regents that help him rule. He’s super protestant. He’s all for the Church of England that his father created, or at least his regents are, what does a 9 year old boy know really? They are determined to keep England protestant. Mary is still very Catholic. She continued to defiantly attend mass in her own private chapel and so she disagrees with her brother on this and mostly stays away from his court. In 1550 she reunited with Edward and Elizabeth for Christmas, more dysfunctional Christmas festivities, in which a now 13 year old Edward embarrassed 34 year old Mary over the protestant/catholic issue, reducing them both to tears in front of the court. Once again, Merry Christmas, the Tudor family welcomes you. 

 

So anyway, by the time he’s 15, Edward is in bad health. He’s always been in bad health. He was a very sickly child. And they start to get really concerned about what’s going to happen when Edward dies. Because it becomes clear that he isn’t going to make it to adulthood. He’s actively dying, probably of tuberculosis, and next in line for the throne is Mary who is still Catholic. And they just know Mary is going to reverse everything that Edward and Henry did to make England a protestant country and they can’t have that. So in his final moments, Edward excludes Mary from the line of succession. But, according to his advisers, he could not exclude Mary without excluding Elizabeth too so he does, he excludes Mary and Elizabeth from the line of succession and names a distant cousin, the granddaughter of his father’s youngest sister, Lady Jane Gray as his successor instead. And then he dies. 

 

Now, just before Edward died, when he was plotting all of this, kicking Mary and Elizabeth to the curb and plotting to put Jane Gray on the throne, he summoned Mary to court. “Come see me, I’m dying. Come say goodbye to your dying brother.” But before she goes, Mary is warned that this might actually be a trap. Edward may be planning to have Mary captured, kidnapped, locked away during this visit to ensure that Jane Gray ascends to the throne without Mary intervening. So Mary doesn’t go. She doesn’t go to say goodbye to her dying brother. She’s like screw you and she goes instead to East Anglia where she owned a few estates. But she’s not just like hiding out, burying her head in a hole, she’s gathering supporters. A big Catholic rebellion had recently been put down in East Anglia and there are still a lot of angry Catholics there. She gathers their support and sends a servant to London to deliver a letter to the privy council proclaiming herself as Edward’s successor. That very same day, the day the letter arrives, they put protestant Lady Jane Gray on the throne, just as they had planned. But Mary’s not going down without a fight and neither is Elizabeth because her succession is on the line too. Mary gathers these Catholic supporters, these countrymen, a military force really, plus 800 noblemen and gentlemen, popular support and, with Elizabeth by her side, she storms into London on horseback, triumphantly and she takes what is rightfully hers. And it actually works, which is really crazy. I get chills thinking about this moment. People are cheering for her in the streets, their rightful queen. They’re like “Lady Jane who? She doesn’t even go here.” And she is removed from the throne after only 9 days and imprisoned in the Tower of London while Mary assumes her rightful position as the only, in my opinion, the only legitimate child of Henry VIII and the first queen regnant of England. The first queen to rule in her own right. 

 

Mary was 37 years old when she took the throne which is advanced maternal age, very advanced for the time period especially. But she is determined to produce a Catholic Tudor heir. She doesn’t want to die childless and have the throne pass to Elizabeth. Elizabeth is protestant. And so her first priority is marriage. After lots of back and forth and considerable controversy, she marries Prince Philip of Spain who was Spanish and therefore Catholic but also a Hapsburg which was a big deal as far as European nobility goes. So this is a big diplomatic marriage, this union of ruling European factions. It’s a big deal and it’s risky for England. They’ve never had a queen regnant before. What happens when she marries this Spanish guy? Does he become their king? They can’t have a Spanish king. A Spanish guy can’t rule England. How does this even work? And Philip was very Spanish. He didn’t even speak English. Which like come on dude, Mary’s over here speaking 5 languages fluently and you couldn’t bother to learn English? But Mary was determined to marry Philip, this very unpopular marriage, so much so that actual insurrections broke out over it. One group of rebels rose up and attempted to kick Mary off the throne and replace her with Elizabeth. This rebellion was quickly put down but it did have serious consequences. Elizabeth probably had nothing to do with it herself but it cast suspicion on her and she was actually imprisoned in the Tower of London for two months and then placed on essentially house arrest after that. The rebellion did seem to involve Lady Jane Gray’s father though and, up until now, Jane had just been imprisoned in the Tower of London, she hadn’t been executed. Mary realized that she was just a pawn in a much larger scheme that was outside of her control when she was put on the throne and so she hadn’t made plans to execute Jane. But after it came out that her father was involved in that rebellion, Jane was beheaded. 

 

Mary marries Philip despite all the controversy and they put some safeguards in place. Philip became King of England in name but only for Mary’s lifetime and he couldn’t act without her consent. Also, England could not be obliged to offer military aid to Spain which is what most people were worried about anyway. Mary actually really seems to like Philip. He’s obviously and openly just married her for the political alliance but she seems quite smitten with him. And, despite being 37 years old, she gets pregnant right away, they think. I mean all signs pointed to her being pregnant. She stopped getting her period. She experienced morning sickness, her belly grew and swelled like that of a pregnant woman. They didn’t have like hormonal pregnancy tests or ultrasounds or anything at this point to verify but, I mean, if it looks like duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck right? So they’re all excited. They jubilantly announce this pregnancy to all of England and as the estimated due date approaches, six weeks before the due date, Mary goes into confinement which was a thing that pregnant women did at this time. I talked about it in my childbirth episode. They like shut themselves in a dark room to mimic the womb and only women were allowed to enter. Elizabeth is actually called out of her house arrest to attend to Mary during her confinement. Remember Elizabeth was on house arrest after that rebellion that she probably had nothing to do with. Now Mary’s like “nevermind that just get in here, I need you.” 

 

The due date comes, the due date goes. All of London rejoices, lighting bonfires, as a rumor is spread that Mary has delivered a healthy baby boy. But days go by, weeks, months and there’s no mention of this baby. It’s just crickets. Finally people are forced to acknowledge, there was no baby. There never was a baby. And you might be wondering, as was I, how is that possible? I mean I’ve heard of people not knowing they were pregnant until they popped out a baby in a public bathroom or something but I had never heard of someone knowing they were pregnant and then not being pregnant. So what the heck was this? Well apparently it’s a thing. According to Tudor Extra, it’s now believed that Mary suffered from something called pseudocyesis or phantom pregnancy which is a disorder that causes a woman’s body to mimic signs of pregnancy. It’s a psychosomatic thing. Psychosomatic conditions are actual real physical symptoms or illnesses that are caused by psychological factors like stress, anxiety, and trauma. And we already know that, throughout her life, Mary has been susceptible to psychosomatic illnesses, what was once called hysteria, understandably considering how traumatic her life was. Pseudocyesis, this phantom pregnancy thing is super rare today especially because we can easily prove or disprove a pregnancy now with certainty but it was apparently more common during this period of history because of the extreme importance put on producing a male heir. It’s suspected that both Mary’s mother Catherine and Anne Boleyn experienced phantom pregnancies in their relentless attempts to bear Henry a living son. The mind is a very powerful thing. 

 

So Mary is heartbroken of course and probably ashamed, embarrassed, I mean how do you come back from that? How do you explain to the whole country that you thought you were pregnant and you actually weren’t? And so, she just focuses on running the country. Right after she took the throne, she issued a proclamation that she would not force anyone to follow her religion, to be Catholic. Protestants could keep being protestants. That was fine. She herself had been a victim of religious persecution for much of her life. She understood what that was like and she didn’t want to do that to people, to force them to worship in secret, that sort of thing. But this position shifted rather quickly and, if you think about it, she had a very Catholic husband and she had placed a lot of high ranking Catholic dudes in her council her parliament whatever. Right so the people who are helping make decisions really really wanted to return England to Catholicism. And so this tolerance that Mary initially showed towards protestants does not last very long at all. Her parliament declares her parent’s marriage legal again, legitimizing her, did away with the religious laws boy king Edward had passed, and rejected the break with Rome, making England once again a Catholic country. At this point, around 800 noblemen who were protestants fled into exile realizing that this was no longer a safe place for them. And those who stayed and continued to proclaim their beliefs publicly were technically committing heresy and so were punished for it. Heresy is basically illegally going against a religion. You know, nowadays we have freedom of religion so heresy isn’t really a thing but back then if you didn’t practice the religion of the country, you were committing heresy and that was punishable by death in Tudor England, specifically punishable by being burnt at the stake. And so during Mary’s 5 year reign as queen, some 280 protestants were executed for heresy. And this was wildly unpopular even at the time but to us now it seems downright evil, right, you can’t kill people because they want to follow your religion. And it wasn’t even a different religion. They’re all Christians, they just want to do it slightly differently, worship differently. That’s crazy! But if you keep this in context, it’s not that crazy at all. According to Meilan Solly writing for Smithsonian Magazine quote “Such a death was an undoubtedly horrific sentence. But in Tudor England, bloody punishments were the norm, with execution methods ranging from beheading to boiling to being hanged, drawn and quartered… During the early modern period, Catholics and Protestants alike believed heresy warranted the heavy sentence it carried. Mary’s most famous victim, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, was preparing to enact similar policies targeting Catholics before being sidelined by Edward’s death,” end quote. Solly explains that Mary and her advisers had hoped these early executions would shock people into returning to the Catholic faith but quote “Mary had grossly underestimated Protestants’ tenacity—and their willingness to die for the cause,” end quote. 

 

She also explains that, while Mary was the only one villainized for these actions, these 280 some deaths, they actually paled in comparison to what her father and siblings had done. She writes quote “Consider, however, the following: Even though Mary’s father, Henry, only had 81 people burned at the stake over the course of his 38-year reign, heresy was far from the sole charge that warranted execution in Tudor England. Estimates suggest Henry ordered the deaths of as many as 57,000 to 72,000 of his subjects—including two of his wives—though it’s worth noting these figures are probably exaggerated. Mary’s brother, Edward, had two radical Protestant Anabaptists burned at the stake during his six-year reign; in 1549, he sanctioned the suppression of the Prayer Book Rebellion, resulting in the deaths of up to 5,500 Catholics. Mary’s successor, Elizabeth, burned five Anabaptists at the stake during her 45-year reign; ordered the executions of around 800 Catholic rebels implicated in the 1569 Rising of the North; and had at least 183 Catholics, the majority of whom were Jesuit missionaries, hanged, drawn and quartered as traitors,” end quote. So why is Mary the only bloody one? Well, because of the Catholic thing. Because of the reason for the executions. Look at Elizabeth. She ordered the executions of around 800 Catholic rebels and had at least 183 Catholics hanged, drawn and quartered as traitors. As traitors not as heretics. They were heretics. That was the real reason. They were Catholic. But she didn’t execute them for heresy. She executed them for treason. And that was strategic. Everyone could get on board with treason. He’s a traitor? Kill him of course. We’re all English. A traitor to England is an enemy to all of us. Kill him. Treason unites the people. Heresy wasn’t so cut and dry. Differing religious preferences left room for opinions there. He’s a Catholic? He’s a protestant? Well I’m a Catholic. I’m a Protestant. Don’t kill him. He’s just trying to practice his religion. He hasn’t done anything wrong. Elizabeth did the same thing. She killed way more people for heresy. She just called it treason. 

 

So Mary’s executions were unpopular at the time and that was due in large part to her ties to Spain, this Spanish marriage, and Spain was Catholic and England was distrustful of Spain and is this really Spain acting through the queen, burning Englishmen, burning protestants. There are anti-Catholic and anti-Spain sentiments behind Mary being cast as “Bloody Mary.” And what really cemented this bad reputation was a book written 5 years after her death by a protestant named John Foxe. This book contained a detailed account of each protestant martyr, because they were seen as martyrs, that was killed, burned, by the Catholic Church and this included illustrations showing super gruesome deaths, torture, people burning alive. It’s very visceral and he’s trying to elicit a response from people, he’s trying to shock people, to stir up emotions and sympathy for these martyrs. And of the 57 illustrations in this book, 30 of them depicted people who had been executed during Mary’s reign. And this really helped to solidify her infamy, this book which can only be described as protestant propaganda. 

 

But let's go back to 1557, three years after Mary’s first phantom pregnancy, she once again believes she is pregnant. She is now 41 years old and so when this was announced to the country people weren't really excited like they were last time. They were skeptical. And with good reason as this turns out to be yet another phantom pregnancy, pseudocyesis. Yes this happens to her twice. And it’s heartbreaking. The nursery was prepared, a wet nurse was hired, and Mary waited and she waited and she waited until her due date came and went and she was forced to accept once again that she was not and had never been pregnant and likely would never be pregnant now in her early 40s. By the following spring, Mary had fallen chronically ill, suffering from depression, insomnia, and dropsy which is swelling caused by trapped fluid in body tissue. Later that year, in November of 1558, she died of what was believed to be influenza, her quote “frail body racked with fever, headaches, loss of vision, paroxysms, and long periods of confusion and unconsciousness,” according to Tudor Extra. There are a lot of differing opinions out there about what actually killed Mary Tudor. Some sources say ovarian cancer, some say stomach cancer, but most experts think it was actually the flu following chronic mostly psychosomatic health problems brought on by a life of stress and trauma. 

 

But, as sad as that is, there are some signs that she was at peace in her final moments. According to Tudor Extra quote “She described to her ladies the joyous dreams she’d been experiencing, witnessing children playing and singing like ‘angels’ around her. The one thing she had craved for most of her life — children, a loving family — had comforted her in her last days on earth. The reign of Catherine of Aragon’s resolute, unflinching daughter had slipped away in the presence of her devoted gentlewomen, gently and unconsciously,” end quote. At her funeral service, the Bishop of Winchester praised her saying quote “She was a king's daughter; she was a king's sister; she was a king's wife. She was a queen, and by the same title a king also,” end quote. And we know she wasn’t seen as the evil villain she has since come to be known as because 45 years later, when Elizabeth I dies, she chooses to be buried with Mary, with her sister. They didn’t always see eye to eye but they were sisters after all. And their shared tomb reads quote “Partners both in throne and grave, here rest we two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary, in the hope of the Resurrection.” But ever since, Mary has been viewed out of context by people alive centuries later who couldn’t possibly understand her life or the choices she made. Since then, she has been Bloody Mary, cast as one of the most evil reviled women in history. Solly says of this quote “if numbers are the main reasoning behind such sobriquets as “Bloody Mary,” then why aren’t Mary’s family members dubbed “Bloody Henry,” “Bloody Edward” and “Bloody Bess”? Why has the myth of “Bloody Mary” persisted in Great Britain’s collective imagination for so long? And what did Mary do that was so different from not only other Tudor monarchs but also other kings and queens across early modern Europe? These questions are complex and predictably fraught. But several recurring themes persist. As England’s first queen regnant, Mary faced the same challenge experienced by female rulers across the continent—namely, her councilors’ and subjects’ lack of faith in women’s ability to govern, a dilemma best summarized by contemporary Mary of Hungary: quote “A woman is never feared or respected as a man is, whatever her rank. … All she can do is shoulder the responsibility for the mistakes committed by others,” end quote. It’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. Historian Lucy Wooding says in that Smithsonian Magazine article quote, “she’s simultaneously being lambasted for being vindictive and fierce” and “spineless and weak,” end quote. 

 

And we’re back to my revelation from the Aspasia of Miletus episode from a few weeks ago, why the western world hates powerful women. Why the first queen regnant of England was destined to go down in history as a vile and despised character no matter what she did. A successful queen? Can’t have that. Because powerful women are a threat to the patriarchal social order we inherited from ancient Athens, a social order we continue to resolutely protect, then and now. I’ll leave you with Solly’s final thoughts which I think sum it all up nicely. She says quote “The myth of “Bloody Mary” is one mired in misconception. England’s first queen regnant was not a vindictive, violent woman, nor a pathetic, lovestruck wife who would have been better off as a nun. She was stubborn, inflexible and undoubtedly flawed, but she was also the product of her time, as incomprehensible to modern minds as our world would be to hers. She paved the way for her sister’s reign, setting precedents Elizabeth never acknowledged stemmed from her predecessor, and accomplished much in the arenas of fiscal policy, religious education and the arts… This is the story of how a heroic underdog became a monarch who was then mythologized as a violent despot, despite being no bloodier than her father, Henry VIII, or many other English monarchs. It’s a tale of sexism, shifting national identity and good old-fashioned propaganda, all of which coalesced to create the image of an unchecked tyrant that endures today.”

 

Thank you all so very much for listening to History Fix, I hope you found this story interesting and maybe you even learned something new. Be sure to follow my instagram @historyfixpodcast to see some images that go along with this episode and to stay on top of new episodes as they drop. I’d also really appreciate it if you’d rate and follow History Fix on whatever app you’re using to listen, and help me spread the word by telling a few friends about it. That’ll make it much easier to get your next fix. 

 

Information used in this episode was sourced from Smithsonian Magazine, Tudor Extra, the Fitzwilliam Museum, History.com, History Extra, Royal Museums Greenwich, and Wikipedia. As always, links to these sources can be found in the show notes.