This is a detailed summary of all of Mary I created using the 'Oxford AQA History Textbook for A Level: The Tudors: England ' by Sally Waller, 'Access to History: The Early Tudors: Henry VII to Mary I, Second Edition' by Roger Turvey, as well as lesson notes from an Oxford-educated history teacher...
Royal authority
Although Mary I was illegitimate in the technical sense given that her status according to the 1553 Act of
Succession was never reversed, Henry VIII’s 1544 Succession Act gave her a clear legitimate claim to the
throne which contributed to her popularity in the beginning of her reign.
- Henry VIII also put in place a statue in 1544 passed by Parliament that declared queenship would
be equal to that of a king.
- Nonetheless, Mary I’s gender led to questions about the quality of her reign and her ability
to exert royal authority.
Mary I’s status as a pious Catholic would have potentially led to the discontent of Protestants who were
not an insignificant minority.
Mary I had not been brought up to rule and had little political instinct to help her cope with the challenges
with which she was confronted.
- Had experience in running her own household and managing finance as she had her own servants
and expenses.
Mary I’s loyal and trusted supporters, such as Robert Rochester and Edward Waldegrave, had no serious
experience in government.
Mary I would have to rely on those who had served Edward VI and were implicated in the introduction of
Protestant reform that was distasteful to her, such as Lord Paget.
Unpopularity due to failure to produce an heir to consolidate her position, image as ‘Bloody Mary’, the war
with France and declining economic position
The emergence of the popular image of ‘Bloody Mary’ who burned Protestants and lost Calais to the
French because of her infatuation for Philip of Spain led to Mary I’s unpopularity.
- Elizabethan propagandists were keen to depict Mary I as a weak and unsuccessful pro-Spanish
monarch in order to highlight Elizabeth’s achievements.
- The Habsburg ambassador said Mary I was ‘easily influenced, inexpert in worldly matters and a
novice all round’. -> was not respected on the European world stage either.
However, historians have suggested that Mary I showed masterly political inactivity and pretended
weakness so that she could win greater concessions from the papacy and Habsburg. Mary I also showed
skill and resolution in defeating Northumberland’s attempted coup d’etat.
Management of government
Priorities
- To restore England to Catholicism
- To have her own children to consolidate the Catholic revival after her death
- However, she was 37 and unmarried without children when she came to the throne.
- War with France
The relationship between Mary I and Parliament tended to be one of cautious cooperation.
- Parliament’s concern for property rights, which was motivated by self-interest in many cases,
ensured that ex-monastic property would not be restored to the Church, and Mary I did not press
the point.
- Debates and criticism of policy in Parliament were generally constructive, with both the houses
seeming to cooperate with Mary I’s administration.
- However, a substantial minority of about 80 MPs opposed the reversal of the Edwardian
religious legislation, and a 1555 bill to allow the seizure of the property of Protestant exiles
was defeated by Parliament.
, Privy Council
The system of central and local government remained fundamentally unchanged.
- The Privy Council continued to be the centre of administration that the centralisation of power in
government remained.
Mary I was never at ease with her key councillors.
- Lost confidence in Lord Paget after his opposition to her religious programme.
- Never fully trusted Bishop Gardiner who had failed to support her mother, Catherine of Aragon, at
the time of the break with Rome, even though she regarded him as indispensable.
Ineffective
- Contained too many members who had no political ability or administrative experience.
- Appointed 50 councillors–a large number that hindered the Council’s decision-making processes
by making it difficult to organise a meeting with all present.
- The large number of councillors led to an inefficient and faction-ridden government and her
marriage to Philip of Spain not being discussed in Council.
- However, the working council board was much smaller and dominated by experienced
men, such as Bishop Gardiner who had been Henry VIII’s secretary and William Paget who
had served under Edward VI.
Mary I potentially alienated councillors as she relied on the advice of two foreigners, Philip of Spain and
the Habsburg ambassador Siman Renard, after Bishop Gardener’s death in 1555.
- She did not consult the Privy Council until she had already decided matters of policy in
consultation with Renard, which demonstrates her lack of political assertiveness in the Privy
Council.
Problems of succession
The potential marriage alliance with Edward Courtenay the Earl of Devon, who Gardiner favoured
potentially to prevent a foreign marriage, brought the threat of factional rivalry since the husband’s family
would inevitably become more influential.
- Courtenay also lacked courtly skills and was thus seen as an unsuitable candidate by many,
including Mary who never took him seriously as a potential husband.
Mary I quarrelled with Parliament over the issue of succession.
- Parliament rejected a 1554 bill that would specifically have included Philip of Spain along with
Mary I in a proposed new law on treason.
- In 1555, Parliament prevented Philip of Spain’s coronation as king due to his identity as a foreign,
Catholic king.
Drew up a detailed marriage treaty to allay fears over her marriage alliance with Philip of Spain which took
place in 1554
- Philip of Spain was to be given the title of king, but was to exercise none of the power that went
with the title.
- No foreigners were to be permitted to hold English offices.
- Philip of Spain would have no claim on the English Crown if he was predeceased by Mary I.
- These prevented England from becoming part of the Spanish Empire.
Philip still played a role in England’s domestic affairs in the early months of his time in England.
- Matters of state that required the approval of the sovereign carried the signatures of both Philip
and Mary I.
- Philip regularly attended Privy Council meetings around twice a week, and a summary of each
meeting was later produced in both Latin and Spanish.
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