Bloody Mary

The terrible change in character of Mary Tudor, from a mischievous, high-spirited young girl to a thoughtful and repressed teenager to a murderous, cold-hearted tyrant is a study in how one individual and the events of that life can have such a profound effect on a whole nation.

She restored the Navy, renewed the coinage and increased crown revenue. She also established new hospitals, improved the education of the clergy and increased the authority of local government.’5 The most important of these was the changes she made to the revenue of the country

she was suffering from ovarian or cervical cancer

suffered from severe headaches and fevers that lanced into her withered body and confined her to her bed.1

This time, however, it was more than simply a phantom pregnancy, wish fulfilment at its extreme; this time it was not just a psychological problem; this time there was physical illness as well

The trial of Archbishop Cranmer

Margaret Polley was the first woman martyr of Mary’s reign, burned at Tunbridge Wells in 1555.

All of this was a backdrop to the real drama that was taking place in Mary’s life. In November 1554 she stopped menstruating and gained weight, afflicted by morning sickness. Mary was delighted. She was clearly pregnant, something that her doctors quickly confirmed. She did not need their opinions; she had felt the baby move inside her. Her desire to have a child was all-consuming and her belief that she was pregnant was unshakeable. She was not alone in that belief

The burning of heretics at the stake was a fairly common form of ritual punishment in the sixteenth century, one

She instigated, she drove; she was the architect of what quickly became a reign of terror