Queen Mary I, Bloody Mary
Composed by D. A.
Sharpe
Mary, of the House of Tudor, was
born February 18, 1516 at the Palace of Placentia, Greenwich, England. She was known as Bloody Mary. Mary is the daughter of English King Henry VIII and the first
of his six wives, Catarina de Aragon.
She is my 20th cousin, 13 times
removed. The ancestors in common
with us are Eystein Glumra Ivarsson and his wife, Aseda Rognvaldsdatter. Eystein and Aseda were 9th Century Vikings
of Norway, being Elizabeth's 19th great grandparents and my 32nd great
grandparents. Described in a closer manner, Mary is the 4th cousin, four times removed from Edward
Carleton, the husband of Ellen
Newton, the stepdaughter of Danette Abney, my 6th great grand
uncle.
"Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII
and Catherine of Aragon, was born in 1516, and suffered through a terrible
childhood of neglect, intolerance, and ill-health. She was a staunch Roman Catholic from
birth, constantly resisting pressure from others to renounce her faith, a
request she steadfastly refused. She
married Philip II of Spain
in1555, but that marriage did not produce a child.
"Mary began her tumultuous
reign at 37 years of age, arriving in London amid a scene of great rejoicing.
Following the disarray created by passing of the succession to Lady Jane Grey
(Jane lasted only nine days), Mary's first act was to repeal the Protestant
legislation of her brother, Edward VI, hurling England
into a phase of severe religious persecution. Her major goal was the
re-establishment of Catholicism in England, a goal to which she was strongly
committed. Persecution came more
from a desire for purity in faith than from vengeance, yet the fact remains
that over 500 people (including former Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer and many of the most prominent members of society)
were burned at the stake for heresy, earning Mary the nickname, 'Bloody Mary.'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_I_of_England
̉Mary's marriage to the militant
Catholic Philip was designed to enforce Roman Catholicism on the realm. Unfortunately for Mary, two factors
compelled opposition to her plans: the
English people hated foreigners - especially the Spanish - and twenty years of
Protestantism had soured the English on Popery. She met with resistance at every
level of society, and, unlike her father and brother, failed to conform society
into one ideological Pattern. Philip
II, cold and indifferent both to Mary and her realm, remained in England for
only a short time. He coerced
Mary to go to war with France, resulting in defeat and the loss of the last
English continental possession, Calais.
With the retirement of his father, Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, Philip returned to Spain; Mary died a mere ten months later, on
November 17, 1558, at age 42. She
died at St. James Palace in London, and was buried December 14, 1558 in
Westminster Abbey, London, England.
"England suffered during the
reign of Mary I: the economy was
in ruin, religious dissent reached a zenith and England lost her last
continental territory. Jane
Austen wrote this rather scathing
commentary about Mary: 'This
woman had the good luck of being advanced to the throne of England, in spite of the superior pretensions, merit and beauty of
her cousins, Mary Queen of Scotland and Jane Grey. Nor can I pity the Kingdom for the
misfortunes they experienced during her reign, since they fully deserved
them...' "
Source:http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon44.html
On Mary's 30th birthday, Martin
Luther, leader of the Protestant
Reformation in Germany, died.
Source:http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09438b.htm
On May 21,1554, Queen Mary I by a Royal Charter, and in return for a payment of £260 13s 4d, granted
the Corporation of Derby
School in the English
Midlands, several properties and endowments which had belonged to Darley Abbey,
the College of All Saints, St Michael's Church, and some other suppressed
chantries and gilds, for the foundation of "a Free Grammar School, for the
instruction and education of boys and youths in the said town of Derby for ever
to be maintained by the Bailiffs and Burgesses of the same town."
The Derby School originally began in 1160. This re-founding by Royal Charter of
the new Free Grammar School was established in a purpose-built building, now
called the Old Grammar School, next to St Peter's Church. The school remained at this site until 
around 1860 it moved temporarily to a
property occupied by the then Headmaster, Dr. Thomas Humphreys Leary, in Friargate. Research is being undertaken in December 2016 to
determine the property concerned. Due to the generosity of Edward Strutt, then the owner who had his property up for sale the
school was allowed to move into St Helen's House in
King Street, Derby in 1861 for a period of two years rent free. In the late
20th century, this building was for some time part of the Derby Heritage Centre
and is now a ladies' hairdresser's.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derby_School
"In March of 1558, Mary made
her will, but did not name Elizabeth as her heir. Elizabeth was her sister, a daughter
as well out of Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn. She did consider marriage
for Elizabeth, by Philip's suggestion, to Emmanuel Philibert, the Prince of Savoy, but nothing definite was ever
developed. Mary now admitted
that she was mistaken in her second pregnancy. She fell into depression and would
not leave her room. All the
hopes of her life were unfulfilled and it seemed the child of the woman who had
so injured her mother was to succeed her.
She suffered a fever through the summer, but insisted on returning to
London from the country. Philip
was sent many update reports of her condition, but he did not return. She was at St. James
Palace when, in October, she made a
codicil to her will in which she stated that her husband should have no further
government or rule within England. She
also instructed him to be a father, brother and friend to the next sovereign.
Because Mary had not specifically named Elizabeth heir, Elizabeth was preparing,
in case she had to fight for the throne.
On November 6, the Counselors visited Mary in her bed chamber, and urged
her to name Elizabeth as heir. She
did give in, with the hopes that Elizabeth would continue to uphold the
Catholic religion.
"By November 14, Mary was near
the end. She was fading in and out of consciousness and awoke to find her
ladies weeping. She told them
not to fret, because she had dreams of many little children, like angles, play
before her, singing pleasing notes, giving her comfort. When she was conscious she spent much time crying and when asked if it was because her
husband was away, she answered that was one reason, but most of all that
"when I am dead, you will find Calais lying in my heart." On November 16, the will was read
aloud in Mary's bed chamber. By
dawn the next morning Mary knew her time had come and ordered mass celebrated
in her room. At the end of the
service, her ladies thought she had fallen asleep, but she had died peacefully. The betrothal ring was removed from
her finger and carried to Hatfield. Mary
was 42 years old. She was buried
in Westminster Abbey in a grave that laid unadorned throughout Elizabeth's reign. Elizabeth was interred in the same
grave, and a lavish monument was built for her. On the side of the monument, it
states that the two sisters are buried together."
Source:http://home.earthlink.net/~elisale/philip.html
Compiled by:
805 Derting Road East
Aurora, TX 76078-3712
Here I am with our
first grandson,
John (Jack) David
Westmoreland (born summer 2000)
