16. Maria Having passed the guards without hindrance, I went out into the street. The sun reflected by the white marble of the stairs blinded me. I crossed the roadway and hit the boulevard. My first thought was to get as far away from this building as possible. In the depths, to his right, through

Mary I Tudor went down in history as Mary the Bloody, the Catholic, the Ugly. Why was a woman awarded such unflattering nicknames? As you know, royalty are surrounded by gossip and scandals throughout their lives. But this queen earned the most hatred from her subjects.

The Queen of England did not immediately join the ranks of privileged sociopaths. Since childhood, Maria was distinguished by her lively mind and persistent character. The girl rarely cried, expressed her thoughts clearly and amazed those around her with her intelligence. Her father, King Henry VIII, initially doted on his daughter. But everything changed when he married Anne Boleyn. The father lost interest in his daughter. Mary was removed from the royal palace, she was forbidden to see her mother and was required to renounce Catholicism. But, strong in spirit, the girl never wanted to change her faith. Mary gradually became a servant to Anne Boleyn's daughter. The stepmother humiliated her stepdaughter in every possible way, trying to inject her more painfully. When Anne Boleyn was executed, a happy period of life could have begun for Mary. But this did not happen.

During the reign of Edward VI, an ardent Protestant, the persecution of the Catholic faith intensified. Maria was received with hostility and tried to deprive her of the crown. But Edward also died. Then the hour of Mary came. Jane Gray, who inherited the crown, failed, and in 1553 Mary became Queen of England. First of all, she executed sixteen-year-old Jane, her husband and father-in-law.

She was already 37 years old. The middle-aged and unattractive woman decided to keep the crown at all costs, because her half-sister Elizabeth, the same daughter of Anne Boleyn, was literally nipping at her heels. For this reason, Mary married the heir to the Spanish throne, Philip, who was much younger than her. After the first wedding night, the groom, sighing with relief, left for his homeland. He visited his wife extremely rarely and did not hide the fact that he married only for political reasons, but according to the agreement he had no right to interfere in the government of the country. The British did not like Philip, and the Spaniards were often beaten in the streets.

Queen Mary enthusiastically declared war on the Protestants. With manic persistence, she returned England to Catholicism. As if wanting to take revenge for all the persecution and humiliation experienced in childhood, Maria began reprisals. Protestantism was outlawed. Fires were burning everywhere. Heretics were executed cruelly and relentlessly. Even those of them who, under pain of death, renounced Protestantism, were still sent to the stake. In this way, several hundred people were executed. Nickname Bloody Mary received it after her death.

A woman who had wanted to have a child all her life was never able to get pregnant. The queen, who pulled her country out of poverty, earned only the hatred of her subjects. One can hardly call Queen Mary's fate a happy one. Queen Mary died, weakened by illnesses, including dropsy, in 1558. There is an opinion that the famous Bloody Mary cocktail is named after Mary I Tudor.

(1491-1547). This significant event for the country happened on April 22, and on June 11 the newly-crowned king tied himself marriage ties with Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536). This woman was the daughter of such outstanding personalities as Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. It was this couple who founded the united Kingdom of Spain, which became a powerful maritime power.

Catherine of Aragon - mother of Bloody Mary

Before her marriage to Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon was in a marital relationship with Prince Arthur, Henry's older brother. But the marriage lasted only 4.5 months. Arthur died on April 2, 1502. After this, the woman remained a widow for almost 7.5 years, until the need arose to strengthen the alliance between England and Spain. Catherine's second marriage to the new English king became the guarantor of this union.

The crowned couple lived together until January 1533. Catherine of Aragon's main task was to give birth to a son so that England would receive an heir. But the woman’s birth was extremely unsuccessful. She first became pregnant in 1509, and on January 31, 1510, gave birth to a premature stillbirth. On the first day of 1511 she gave birth to a boy. But the child lived less than 2 months and died at the end of February.

Henry VIII with his son Edward

After this, the queen could not become pregnant for several years. And only on February 18, 1516 she gave birth to a girl. They named her Mary in honor of Queen Mary Tudor of France, who was Henry VIII's sister. This is how the future Queen of England, Mary I, was born, nicknamed Bloody Mary (1516-1558).

The birth of a girl did not bring joy to the English king, since he wanted a boy, a worthy heir. Catherine became pregnant again and gave birth to a girl in November 1518. But the baby lived only a few hours and died. After this, the queen was no longer able to get pregnant, and the question of the heir to the throne hung in the air.

In 1525, Henry VIII's decision to divorce Catherine of Aragon began to mature. In 1527, the king finally decided to break off all relations with his wife and declare the marriage invalid. The basis for this was dead children, which indicated God’s curse on the crowned marriage. It couldn’t be otherwise, because the king married the wife of his late brother. And in the Third Book of Moses “Leviticus” (chapter 20 par. 21) it is said: “If a man takes his brother’s wife: this is vile; he revealed his brother's nakedness. They will bear their sin and die childless.”

The king needed to officially divorce his wife, so he brought in the church for this purpose. But the Pope categorically opposed divorce. Then Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church and declared himself the supreme head of the English Church. In January 1533, the king secretly married Anne Boleyn, who became his second wife. Henry VIII officially separated from his first wife on May 23 of the same year. Thus, Catherine of Aragon ceased to be Queen of England. This had the most deplorable effect on her daughter Mary, as she lost her right to the crown.

Her father separated her from her mother and settled her in Hatfield, one of the old royal castles. Most of the servants were dismissed, and the girl found herself as a poor relative. She did not recognize the king's decision to divorce and did not recognize new queen. In 1536, Catherine of Aragon died, and Mary took a more loyal position towards her father.

In the same year, the king's second wife, Anne Boleyn, was beheaded. Her daughter Elizabeth also fell out of favor, and Mary managed to restore her position at court. She was allocated funds for expenses, and the girl was given the opportunity to dress well and have servants. Her further life began to take place against the backdrop of a change of royal wives.

Henry VIII was extremely greedy for women and changed wives and favorites very often

In 1547, Henry VIII left this mortal coil. At the time of the king's death, the future Queen of England, Mary I, was 31 years old. By the standards of that time, she was considered mature woman, but did not have a husband. The deceased king had a son, Edward (1537-1553), from his third wife, Jane Seymour. It was he who ascended the English throne at the age of 9, becoming Edward VI.

The child's health was poor, and his regents did everything possible to remove Mary from the throne. They feared that if a woman got married, she would try to seize the throne. Edward VI was set against the second legitimate heir, and the main motive for the hostility was that Mary remained a devoted Catholic and disliked the Protestant faith. And the latter began to dominate in England after the break with the Pope.

Edward was a Protestant, and therefore he began to treat his sister coldly, which completely suited his regents. But in 1553, the young king fell ill with tuberculosis, and it became clear to everyone that he would not live long. They began to look for a replacement for the dying king. We chose Jane Gray (1537-1554), who was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII and, in terms of succession to the throne, stood after Mary and Elizabeth (daughter of Anne Boleyn). But the royal entourage ignored this fact and persuaded Edward VI to exclude both Mary and Elizabeth from contenders for the throne.

The young king died on July 6, 1553 at the age of 15. The future Queen of England, Mary I, lived at the royal residence in Hunsdon at this time. She was invited to the funeral of the late king, but someone warned the woman that she might be arrested in order to facilitate Jane Gray's rise to power. As a result of this, Maria hastily left for East Anglia, where she owned several estates.

Many adherents of the Catholic faith lived in these places. All these people expressed their readiness to support Mary and proclaim her the successor of Edward VI. Meanwhile, on July 10, 1553, Jane Gray was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland. But Mary’s supporters reacted with indignation and gathered at Framlingham Castle on July 12. There was a serious focus there military force, and most of the English nobility came over to her side.

As a result of this, Jane Gray lasted only 9 days in power. She went down in history as the “queen of 9 days.” Mary's supporters overthrew her on July 19 and imprisoned her in the Tower of London. The legitimate heir to the royal throne herself triumphantly entered London on August 3, 1553. She was followed by a huge retinue of 800 representatives of the most noble English families. Sister Elizabeth was among them. She behaved modestly and quietly, and no one paid attention to the inconspicuous young girl. Thus began the reign of Bloody Mary.

Queen Mary I of England (Bloody Mary)

Maria I reigned for just over 5 years. She officially ascended the throne on July 19, 1553, and died on November 17, 1558. What is remarkable about the years of her reign, and why was this woman dubbed the terrible nickname Bloody Mary? As a child, she received an excellent education. She knew Latin perfectly and could read and write fluently. ancient language. She spoke French, Spanish and Greek. She was well versed in music and danced beautifully. Outwardly, she was pretty and had red hair.

Henry VIII was attached to his daughter in his own way and more than once told others that she was very attractive. At the age of 6, the girl was engaged to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. He was 16 years older than Mary, and few believed in the prospect of such a marriage. And indeed, in 1527 the engagement was terminated. But this did not upset the girl at all. She was more concerned about the relationship between her father and mother, which ended in divorce.

Queen Mary I of England, nicknamed Bloody Mary

By her character, Maria was not at all a bloodthirsty and tough woman. When she became queen, the question immediately arose of what to do with Jane Gray and her husband Guilford Dudley. At first, Her Majesty decided to hold a formal trial and pardon young people who had not yet turned 20 years old. These young creatures turned out to be just puppets in the experienced hands of nobles. But in January 1554, Thomas Wyatt's rebellion began. His goal was to overthrow Mary from the throne.

The uprising was suppressed, and Jane Gray and her wife were executed, thereby eliminating dangerous contenders for the English throne. Several other conspirators were also beheaded, but Queen Mary I of England forgave most of the rebels. She even brought some former enemies closer to her so that they would help her in governing the country. But as for Elizabeth’s sister, she was sent to Woodstock Palace, where the girl was actually under house arrest.

As a Catholic, Mary I freed the Catholics languishing in the Tower of London and began rebuilding those destroyed under Henry VIII Catholic churches. But the queen needed to strengthen her position and win over as many Catholics as possible to her side. The most the best option was to find a husband in a Catholic country. At the age of 37, the ruler of England married the son of Charles V (Holy Roman Emperor and Spanish king) Philip.

Philip II - husband of Bloody Mary

The husband was 12 years younger than his wife. In addition, he was distinguished by extreme arrogance and arrogance. His retinue matched Philip. The British did not like these people, and the English parliament did not recognize the queen's husband as the English king. The wedding of the crowned persons took place on July 25, 1554 at Winchester Cathedral. It is noteworthy that Philip did not speak a word of English. Therefore, the spouses communicated in a mixture of 3 languages ​​- Spanish, French and Latin.

When the queen first came to the throne, she stated that she would not force anyone to follow Catholicism. But a couple of months passed, and the main Protestant churchmen found themselves in prison. In October 1553, the church doctrine that existed in the country before Henry VIII's break with the Pope was restored. Accordingly, all of Henry's religious laws were repealed and the English Church came under Roman jurisdiction.

But most importantly, the Acts of Heresy were revived. In accordance with this, mass executions of Protestants began. The first of them took place in February 1555. Heretics who did not want to convert to Catholicism began to be burned at the stake. In total, with the blessing of Mary I, 283 Protestants were destroyed, according to other sources a little more. For this, the English queen received her nickname Bloody Mary.

This policy did not bring the queen popularity among the people. The situation was aggravated by rains and floods, which led to famine. Tax collection remained at the medieval level, and commercial relations were limited to the African coast. The English did not dare to venture into other lands, since the Spaniards ruled there, and their king was Mary’s husband. Philip became King Philip II of Spain in January 1556 and, naturally, defended the interests of his kingdom in all foreign policy matters.

In a word, Queen Mary I of England, after 5 years of her reign, began to rapidly lose popularity among her subjects. It is not known how all this would have ended, but circumstances intervened. The Queen felt weak and ill in May 1558. There is a version that she had uterine cancer, from which she died on November 17, 1558.

According to another version, a viral fever that swept through Europe in 1557 was to blame. This disease had a sluggish form, and the outcome was both negative and positive. In the summer of 1558, the queen's maid fell ill, and when she recovered, Maria I herself fell ill. Unlike the maid, she was unlucky.

The Queen felt the end approaching and wrote her will at the end of October. In it, she transferred royal power to her sister Elizabeth. She ascended the throne after the death of Mary I. This woman went down in history as Queen Elizabeth I of England. Under her, the country reached prosperity, power and became a great maritime power.

Queen Mary I of England, also known as Bloody Mary, wanted to be buried next to her mother. But the body was interred only on December 14, 1558 in the chapel of Westminster Abbey. Elizabeth I died in 1603. In 1606, her coffin was buried next to Mary’s, and the two sisters ended up with one tombstone next to each other.

A sculpture of Elizabeth was installed on it, and under it they wrote an epitaph in Latin: “Companions in the kingdom and in the grave, we sisters Elizabeth and Mary lie here in the hope of resurrection.” In this way, descendants paid tribute to two outstanding women who played an important political role in the 16th century.

Mary I Tudor ruled England for only 5 years from 1553 to 1558.

she is infamously known as Mary the Catholic or Bloody Mary. The day of her death, which simultaneously marked the accession to the throne of Elizabeth I, was celebrated by the British as a national holiday. The name of Maria is now associated only with bloody massacres, but the fate of this woman turned out in the most sad way.

Maria was a daughter Henry VIII And Catherine of Aragon.

She was great as a child played the harpsichord, was a calm child, and already at the age of 9 she amazed ambassadors when she answered them in Latin. But her happiness did not last long. After Henry annulled his 18-year marriage to Catherine, Mary was separated from her mother and banished from court.

Henry's new passion Ann Bolein, immediately disliked Mary and banished her to the Hatfield estate, where she made the princess a servant to her newborn daughter, Elizabeth. Only after Boleyn herself lost her life on the scaffold due to treason against the king did Mary gain access to the royal court. At the same time, she was forced to recognize her father as the head of the newly founded Church of England.

Now the life of young Maria depended on the relationship she had with her constantly changing stepmothers. Jane Seymour, one of Henry's wives, bore him an heir. Edward VI ascended the throne at the age of 9 and was set up by the regents against his sister. So, he signed a will, which indicated the future heir to the English throne - the eldest daughter of the Duke of Suffolk, Jane Gray. Maria and Elizabeth were automatically excluded from the list of applicants.

After Edward's death at the age of 16, Jane Gray ascended to the throne. However, the people quickly rebelled, and a month later she became queen. 37-year-old Maria. She inherited a treasury plundered by Edward's associates and a country torn apart by religious strife.

Maria, being by nature not inclined to cruelty, at first even wanted to pardon Jane Gray and her family, realizing that she was just a political pawn. But Gray's fate was sealed by Thomas Wyatt's rebellion in 1554. In the same year, Mary marries the heir to the Spanish throne Philippa, who was 12 years younger than her. According to the contract drawn up, Philip was not supposed to interfere in state affairs, and therefore the husband did not live long in England. Meanwhile, Maria loved her husband dearly, but was never able to have children.

Maria begins the restoration of the Catholic faith in the country and the reconstruction of almost destroyed monasteries throughout England. Since 1555, ardent Protestants and church hierarchs who carried out the Reformation and split the country into two warring camps have been executed at the stake. Mary did not spare even those who agreed to convert to Catholicism before the fire. Subsequently, during the reign of the Protestant Elizabeth, Mary received her bloody nickname.

Queen of England since 1553, daughter of Henry VIII Tudor and Catherine of Aragon. Mary Tudor's accession to the throne was accompanied by the restoration of Catholicism (1554) and brutal repressions against supporters of the Reformation (hence her nicknames - Mary the Catholic, Mary the Bloody). In 1554, she married the heir to the Spanish throne, Philip of Habsburg (from 1556 King Philip II), which led to a rapprochement between England and Catholic Spain and the papacy. During the war against France (1557-1559), which the queen began in alliance with Spain, England at the beginning of 1558 lost Calais, the last possession of the English kings in France. Mary Tudor's policies, which went against national interests England, caused discontent among the new nobility and the emerging bourgeoisie.

Mary's life was sad from birth to death, although nothing at first foreshadowed such a fate. For children her age, she was serious, self-possessed, rarely cried, and played the harpsichord beautifully. When she was nine years old, merchants from Flanders who spoke to her in Latin were surprised by her answers in their native language. At first my father loved his eldest daughter and was delighted with many traits of her character. But everything changed after Henry entered into a second marriage with Anne Boleyn. Mary was removed from the palace, torn away from her mother, and finally demanded that she renounce the Catholic faith. However, despite his young age, Maria flatly refused. Then she was subjected to many humiliations: the retinue assigned to the princess was disbanded, she herself, banished to the Hatfield estate, became a servant to Anne Boleyn’s daughter, little Elizabeth. Her stepmother pulled her ears. I had to fear for her very life. Maria's condition worsened, but her mother was forbidden to see her. Only the execution of Anne Boleyn brought Mary some relief, especially after she, having made an effort, recognized her father as the “Supreme Head of the Church of England.” Her retinue was returned to her, and she again gained access to the royal court.

Mary I Tudor the Bloody" >

The persecution resumed when Mary's younger brother, Edward VI, who fanatically held on to the throne, ascended the throne. Protestant faith. At one time she seriously thought about fleeing England, especially when they began to put obstacles in her way and were not allowed to celebrate mass. Edward eventually dethroned his sister and bequeathed the English crown to Henry VII's great-granddaughter Jane Gray. Maria did not recognize this will. Upon learning of her brother's death, she immediately moved to London. The army and navy went over to her side. The Privy Council declared Mary queen. Nine days after her accession to the throne, Lady Gray was deposed and ended her life on the scaffold. But in order to secure the throne for her offspring and not allow the Protestant Elizabeth to take it, Mary had to marry. In July 1554, she married the heir to the Spanish throne, Philip, although she knew that the British did not like him very much. She married him at the age of 38, already middle-aged and ugly. The groom was twelve years younger than her and agreed to the marriage only for political reasons. After the wedding night, Philip remarked: “You have to be God to drink this cup!” He, however, did not live long in England, visiting his wife only occasionally. Meanwhile, Maria loved her husband very much, missed him and wrote him long letters, staying up late at night.

She ruled herself, and her reign in many respects turned out to be extremely unhappy for England. The queen, with feminine stubbornness, wanted to return the country to the shadow of the Roman Church. She herself did not find pleasure in tormenting and tormenting people who disagreed with her in the faith; but she unleashed upon them the lawyers and theologians who had suffered during the previous reign. The terrible statutes issued against heretics by Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V were directed against Protestants. From February 1555, bonfires burned throughout England, where “heretics” perished. In total, about three hundred people were burned, among them church hierarchs - Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer and others. It was ordered not to spare even those who, finding themselves in front of the fire, agreed to convert to Catholicism. All these cruelties earned the queen the nickname “Bloody.”

Who knows - if Mary had a child, she might not have been so cruel. She passionately wanted to give birth to an heir. But this happiness was denied to her. A few months after the wedding, it seemed to the queen that she was showing signs of pregnancy, which she did not fail to notify her subjects about. But what was initially mistaken for a fetus turned out to be a tumor. Soon the queen developed dropsy. Weakened by illness, she died of a cold while still not an old woman.