To what extent was Mary Tudor’s reign () a period of religious and political upheaval in England?
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Mary 1st
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AQA
a 25/25 marked essay on the question ''To what extent was Mary Tudor’s reign () a period of religious and political upheaval in England? ''
Not written in timed conditions but still a solid piece none the less!
To what extent was Mary Tudor’s reign (1553-1558) a period of religious and political upheaval in
England?
Although there are some compelling arguments that goes to suggest that the reign of Mary Tudor (1553-
1558) was not a period of religious and political upheaval in England, it is rather evident however to see
that this is not the case and that Mary’s overall reign could be argued to have contained both religious
and political upheaval. This can be seen through religious legislation and the political issue of both
factionalism and the 1554 Wyatt rebellion.
A compelling argument in which to argue that the reign of Mary Tudor was not in fact one of political
upheaval throughout her reign of 1553-1558 can be seen with how England was in fact in favour of the
reign of Mary Tudor. This can be reflected with England’s overall support for Mary in 1553 following the
devise created by Edward VII and the Earl of Northumberland, John Dudley. This devise overall showing
no political upheaval regarding Mary Tudor as Mary was able to gather an army of 10,000 in Norfolk to
storm London against the crowning of the protestant Lady Jane Grey. This goes to show that the reign of
Mary Tudor did not contain political upheaval as England was quite supportive of Mary Tudor being
crowned, with the English Navy even participating in a mutiny to show their support for Mary Tudor.
Moreover, Princess Elizabeth accompanied Mary upon her accession into London and thus showing that
Elizabeth accepted Mary as Queen, despite being a protestant. Therefore, an argument arises to state
that the reign of Mary Tudor did not in fact contain political upheaval due to the support that Mary
gained upon claiming the English throne. Moreover, another point to argue that the reign of Mary Tudor
did not contain political upheaval can be seen with Mary’s resolvent of political threats. This can be seen
with the beheading of the Earl of Northumberland in August 1553, with this being significant as
Northumberland orchestrated the devise in an attempt to bring himself more political power seeing as
how he had arranged the marriage between Lady Jane Grey to his son, Guilford Dudley. In addition to
this, both Lady Jane Grey and Guilford Dudley were beheaded in February 1554 following the
unsuccessful Wyatts rebellion, with the aftermath of this rebellion also leading to the death of Wyatt and
the imprisonment of Elizabeth in March 1554. This therefore going to show that events created in the
reign of Mary Tudor led to the removal of political upheaval and thus opposes the overall question of
Mary’s reign being a period of political upheaval. Furthermore, another point to show that there was no
political upheaval in England during Mary’s reign can be seen through the role of Parliament. This can be
seen with the fact that Mary was able to achieve compromises with her parliament with this being
reflected with the compromise of the monastic lands in exchange for the legislation of the Heresy laws in
1554. Therefore, it can be concluded that the reign of Mary was not a period of Political upheaval due to
the support that Mary received as a result of the devise, the beheading and imprisonment of political
threats and Mary’s ability to make compromises with her parliament.
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