Veritas Temporis Filia: Part 3
England rejoiced. Great Harry's daughter was on the throne and all was as it should be. Queen Mary intended to be a mother to her people, kind and merciful and righting wrongs done to them. She understood that her rival, the Nine Days' Queen Jane Grey, was only a pawn of powerful men and an unwilling pretender to the throne; Mary did have her put to trial along with her family and in-laws and all were found guilty, but only as a formality. After having the main conspirators put to death, Mary simply let Jane and the others languish in prison. She also released Catholic prisoners incarcerated for treason and heresy (that is, beliefs that the Protestant Church of England took for heresy) during her father's and brother's reigns, including the Duke of Norfolk and Bishop Stephen Gardiner.
Mary's first Parliament overturned the religious laws instituted during her father's and brother's reigns. Upon her succession, one of the titles she inherited was "Supreme Head of the Church of England," but she refused it. In her England, the only Church was the Church of Rome; England was Catholic again, reconciled with the Pope. Parliament declared the marriage between Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon valid once more, restoring Mary's status as a true-born royal. With this firmly established, her suitability as a bride increased. At age thirty-seven, she was long past her prime for marriage (according to the standards of the day), but as a Queen, she still had a duty to marry and produce an heir. Her choice fell upon her cousin, Prince Philip of Spain (son of a former suitor of hers, her cousin Emperor Charles of the Holy Roman Empire).
But the xenophobic English were afraid of a foreigner becoming consort to their monarch--essentially King in name. Protestants also rejected the idea of that consort being another Catholic. This sparked a rebellion led by Thomas Wyatt (son and namesake of the poet Thomas Wyatt, who had been a suitor to Anne Boleyn), intending to depose Mary and place her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth on the throne. Mary rallied her supporters and quickly suppressed the uprising, imprisoning and executing the leaders. Unfortunately, one of those leaders was the father of the still-imprisoned Lady Jane Grey; this sealed her fate, even though neither Jane nor her husband actively participated in the rebellion. Both of them joined the rebels on the headsman's block in February 1554, as Mary could no longer afford to keep them alive as rallying figures for the Protestants. She also had Elizabeth imprisoned in the Tower of London and later held under house arrest at the Palace of Woodstock, though there was no concrete evidence of her complicity in the plot.
In July of the same year, thirty-eight-year-old Mary finally became a married woman, already in love with her husband (though they only met in person two days before the wedding, Mary had been smitten with the portrait of him that she had received a year prior). They spoke to each other in Spanish, French, and Latin, as Philip spoke no English. She adored him, but he returned her affection with considerably less ardor. Still, soon after the wedding, Mary began showing what appeared to be signs of pregnancy. Believing herself free from the threat of her Protestant half-sister's accession, she released Elizabeth from house arrest and commanded her to court in 1555 as all awaited the birth of Mary's heir.
But the baby never came. Nine months after the symptoms had begun, Mary's abdomen receded, containing no child after all. Most likely it was pseudocyesis (false pregnancy): Mary's overwhelming desire for motherhood may have caused her body to react and behave as if she had indeed conceived a child. After this disappointment, Prince Philip left England to join the Spanish military pursuits in Flanders. Mary was heartbroken.
With her husband gone and hope for a child gone with him, Mary threw herself more intently into governing her kingdom, especially in matters of religion. Despite initial promises to be tolerant of other faiths, she took a page from the law of Philip's country and essentially brought the Inquisition to England. She revived the laws against heresy and began relentlessly persecuting non-Catholics. Close to 300 Protestants were burned at the stake during her reign. Those who were able to flee left England, while others conformed outwardly in order to protect themselves, such as Lady Elizabeth (her illegitimacy still had never been overturned, in which case she could not be called Princess; Queen Mary never once called her by that title, always believing that it was rightfully her own). The violence of the persecutions earned the Queen her infamous moniker, "Bloody Mary."
By 1558, Mary was on the decline, in health and in popularity. On top of the religious persecution, crops were failing, and in a disastrous military campaign, England had lost its ancestral port of Calais on the northwest tip of France. Philip had returned to her only once since her phantom pregnancy, only to leave again soon after arriving. She was in pain from what is now believed to be ovarian or uterine cancer. With her hopes for a child finally dashed, she had to accept Elizabeth as her only heir, despite urgings from her staunchly Catholic councilors to name a Catholic heir: her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots. On 17 November 1558, after ruling England for only five years, Mary died at the age of forty-two. Her wish was to be buried with her beloved mother, Catherine of Aragon, in Peterborough Cathedral. Instead, Mary was buried with a funeral Mass in Westminster Abbey, in a tomb which she eventually--and ironically--shared with Elizabeth, who died in 1603 after forty-five years as Queen. The succeeding King, James I (James VI of Scotland, the Protestant son of Mary, Queen of Scots), had a Latin inscription engraved on their shared resting place: Regno consortes et urna, hic obdormimus Elizabetha et Maria sorores, in spe resurrectionis. ("Consorts in throne and grave, here rest we sisters Elizabeth and Mary, in the hope of resurrection.")
Mary's first Parliament overturned the religious laws instituted during her father's and brother's reigns. Upon her succession, one of the titles she inherited was "Supreme Head of the Church of England," but she refused it. In her England, the only Church was the Church of Rome; England was Catholic again, reconciled with the Pope. Parliament declared the marriage between Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon valid once more, restoring Mary's status as a true-born royal. With this firmly established, her suitability as a bride increased. At age thirty-seven, she was long past her prime for marriage (according to the standards of the day), but as a Queen, she still had a duty to marry and produce an heir. Her choice fell upon her cousin, Prince Philip of Spain (son of a former suitor of hers, her cousin Emperor Charles of the Holy Roman Empire).
But the xenophobic English were afraid of a foreigner becoming consort to their monarch--essentially King in name. Protestants also rejected the idea of that consort being another Catholic. This sparked a rebellion led by Thomas Wyatt (son and namesake of the poet Thomas Wyatt, who had been a suitor to Anne Boleyn), intending to depose Mary and place her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth on the throne. Mary rallied her supporters and quickly suppressed the uprising, imprisoning and executing the leaders. Unfortunately, one of those leaders was the father of the still-imprisoned Lady Jane Grey; this sealed her fate, even though neither Jane nor her husband actively participated in the rebellion. Both of them joined the rebels on the headsman's block in February 1554, as Mary could no longer afford to keep them alive as rallying figures for the Protestants. She also had Elizabeth imprisoned in the Tower of London and later held under house arrest at the Palace of Woodstock, though there was no concrete evidence of her complicity in the plot.
In July of the same year, thirty-eight-year-old Mary finally became a married woman, already in love with her husband (though they only met in person two days before the wedding, Mary had been smitten with the portrait of him that she had received a year prior). They spoke to each other in Spanish, French, and Latin, as Philip spoke no English. She adored him, but he returned her affection with considerably less ardor. Still, soon after the wedding, Mary began showing what appeared to be signs of pregnancy. Believing herself free from the threat of her Protestant half-sister's accession, she released Elizabeth from house arrest and commanded her to court in 1555 as all awaited the birth of Mary's heir.
But the baby never came. Nine months after the symptoms had begun, Mary's abdomen receded, containing no child after all. Most likely it was pseudocyesis (false pregnancy): Mary's overwhelming desire for motherhood may have caused her body to react and behave as if she had indeed conceived a child. After this disappointment, Prince Philip left England to join the Spanish military pursuits in Flanders. Mary was heartbroken.
With her husband gone and hope for a child gone with him, Mary threw herself more intently into governing her kingdom, especially in matters of religion. Despite initial promises to be tolerant of other faiths, she took a page from the law of Philip's country and essentially brought the Inquisition to England. She revived the laws against heresy and began relentlessly persecuting non-Catholics. Close to 300 Protestants were burned at the stake during her reign. Those who were able to flee left England, while others conformed outwardly in order to protect themselves, such as Lady Elizabeth (her illegitimacy still had never been overturned, in which case she could not be called Princess; Queen Mary never once called her by that title, always believing that it was rightfully her own). The violence of the persecutions earned the Queen her infamous moniker, "Bloody Mary."
By 1558, Mary was on the decline, in health and in popularity. On top of the religious persecution, crops were failing, and in a disastrous military campaign, England had lost its ancestral port of Calais on the northwest tip of France. Philip had returned to her only once since her phantom pregnancy, only to leave again soon after arriving. She was in pain from what is now believed to be ovarian or uterine cancer. With her hopes for a child finally dashed, she had to accept Elizabeth as her only heir, despite urgings from her staunchly Catholic councilors to name a Catholic heir: her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots. On 17 November 1558, after ruling England for only five years, Mary died at the age of forty-two. Her wish was to be buried with her beloved mother, Catherine of Aragon, in Peterborough Cathedral. Instead, Mary was buried with a funeral Mass in Westminster Abbey, in a tomb which she eventually--and ironically--shared with Elizabeth, who died in 1603 after forty-five years as Queen. The succeeding King, James I (James VI of Scotland, the Protestant son of Mary, Queen of Scots), had a Latin inscription engraved on their shared resting place: Regno consortes et urna, hic obdormimus Elizabetha et Maria sorores, in spe resurrectionis. ("Consorts in throne and grave, here rest we sisters Elizabeth and Mary, in the hope of resurrection.")
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