Mary Tudor

Mary Tudor (1516 - 1558)

Mary I (18 February 1516 - 17 November 1558) was the queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.

Mary was born on 18 February 1516 at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, London. She was the only child of Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, to survive infancy. Her mother had many miscarriages; four previous pregnancies had resulted in a stillborn daughter and three short-lived or stillborn sons, including Henry, Duke of Cornwall. She was baptised into the Catholic faith at the Church of the Observant Friars in Greenwich three days after her birth.

Once Mary had been christened, Catherine entrusted her care to the staff of the royal nursery. Catherine carefully selected each of them: a lady mistress, Lady Margaret Bryan, formerly one of Catherine's ladies-in-waiting, headed the small establishment; a wet nurse, Catherine Pole, suckled the young princess. In 1520 her nursery had been expanded to become a more 'princely' household, reflecting her status - albeit reluctantly acknowledged - as the king's sole heir. Lady Bryan was replaced as Lady Mistress by one of the most powerful women in England: Mary's godmother, Margaret Pole, the Countess of Salisbury - one of Catherine's most trusted and long-serving confidantes, and a direct descendant of Edward IV's brother, George, Duke of Clarence.

A great part of Mary's education came from her mother, who consulted the Spanish humanist Juan Luis Vives for advice. Mary proved to be a highly accomplished child: she was able to write a letter in Latin by the age of nine; studied French, Spanish and perhaps Greek. Like her parents, she liked to hawk and to hunt and as a teenager she developed a love of gambling at cards. Mary developed her own style, loved fine clothes and jewellery and, eager to please, would dance and perform at court as foreign ambassadors sued for her hand.

When Mary was only two years old, she was promised to the Dauphin, the infant son of Francis I, but the contract was repudiated after three years. In 1522, she was contracted to marry her first cousin, the Emperor Charles V. However, the engagement was broken off within a few years by Charles with Henry's agreement. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Henry's chief adviser, then resumed marriage negotiations with the French and suggested that Mary marry Francis I himself, who was eager for an alliance with England. A treaty was signed which provided that Mary marry either Francis I or his second son Henry, Duke of Orleans, but Wolsey secured an alliance with France without the marriage.

Henry VIII, around 1520

Catherine of Aragon by Michel Sittow, around 1503-1504

Despite his affection for Mary, Henry was deeply disappointed that his marriage had produced no sons. By the time Mary was nine years old, it was apparent that Henry and Catherine would have no more children, leaving Henry without a legitimate male heir. In 1525, Henry sent Mary to the border of Wales to preside, presumably in name only, over the Council of Wales and the Marches. She was given her own court based at Ludlow Castle and many of the royal prerogatives normally reserved for the Prince of Wales. She appears to have spent three years in the Welsh Marches, making regular visits to her father's court, before returning permanently to the home counties around London in 1528.

Meanwhile, the marriage of Mary's parents was in jeopardy. Disappointed at the lack of a male heir and eager to remarry, Henry attempted to have his marriage to Catherine annulled, but Pope Clement VII refused his requests. Henry claimed, citing biblical passages, that his marriage to Catherine was unclean because she was the widow of his brother Arthur. Catherine claimed that her marriage to Arthur was never consummated and so was not a valid marriage. Indeed, her first marriage had been annulled by Julius II on that basis. Clement may have been reluctant to act because he was influenced by Charles V, Catherine's nephew and Mary's former betrothed, whose troops had surrounded and occupied Rome in the War of the League of Cognac.

From 1531, Mary was often sick with irregular menstruation and depression, although it is not clear whether this was caused by stress, puberty or a disease. She was not permitted to see her mother, who had been sent to live away from court by Henry. In early 1533, Henry married Anne Boleyn, who was pregnant with his child, and in May Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, formally declared the marriage with Catherine void and the marriage to Anne valid. Henry broke with the Roman Catholic Church and declared himself Supreme Head of the Church of England. Catherine was demoted to Dowager Princess of Wales, widow of Prince Arthur. After birth of Elizabeth, in 1533, Mary was deemed illegitimate; she was a bastard and no longer acknowledged as the king's heir. Mary's own household was dissolved; her servants (including the Countess of Salisbury) were dismissed from her service and in December 1533 she was sent to join the household of the infant Elizabeth at Hatfield, Hertfordshire.

Mary determinedly refused to acknowledge that Anne was the queen or that Elizabeth was the princess, further enraging Henry. Under strain and with her movements restricted, Mary was frequently ill, which the doctors attributed to her 'ill treatment'. The imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys became her close adviser and interceded, unsuccessfully, on her behalf at court. Although both she and her mother were ill, Mary was refused permission to visit Catherine. When Catherine died in January 1536, Mary was 'inconsolable'. Catherine was interred in Peterborough Cathedral while Mary grieved in seclusion at Hunsdon in Hertfordshire.

On the day of Catherine's burial, Anne Boleyn delivered a stillborn son. Four days earlier, Henry had fallen badly from his horse during a joust and Anne claimed the shock had brought on the miscarriage. Jane Seymour, the twenty-five-year-old daughter of Wiltshire gentleman, was now a focus of the king's affection. Now, with the king looking to marry once more, Thomas Cromwell sought to bring about Anne Boleyn's downfall.

Two public rows - the one between Anne and Mark Smeaton, one of the queen's musicians; the other between Anne and Henry Norris, the Chief Gentleman of the king's Privy Chamber - gave Thomas Cromwell the excuse he needed. The conversations had suggested that they were infatuated with the queen and desired the king's death. The following day Norris was sent to the Tower where Smeaton was already imprisoned. After four hours of torture Smeaton had confessed to adultery with the queen.

On 2 May Anne and her brother, George, Viscount Rochford, were taken by river to the Tower. Two days later there were further arrests of members of the Privy Chamber: William Bereton, Sir Francis Weston and Sir Richard Page, together with the poet Sir Thomas Wyatt. A grand jury indicted all the accused on charges of having committed adultery with the queen.

On 17 May the men condemned to death for high treason were executed. On 19 May Anne was led out to the scaffold on Tower Green. With one swing of the sword she was dead. She was buried in the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula within the Tower. Two days after, Thomas Cranmer pronounced her marriage with Henry to have been invalid. Elizabeth, like Mary, now became a bastard.

On the day of Anne Boleyn's death, Henry has betrothed to Jane Seymour. They were married ten days later in the queen's closet in Whitehall. On 4 June she was formally proclaimed queen.

Anne Boleyn in the Tower by Edouard Cibot, around 1835

Even before Anne's execution, Jane had, much to Henry's annoyance, begged for Mary's restoration, but Henry had resisted. He insisted that Mary recognise him as head of the Church of England, repudiate papal authority, acknowledge that the marriage between her parents was unlawful and accept her own illegitimacy. She attempted to reconcile with him by submitting to his authority as far as 'God and my conscience' permitted, but on 22 June, under threat of death, Mary signed the formal statement required of her. In one stroke she had been compelled to betray the memory of her mother and the Catholic faith of her childhood.

On 12 October 1537 Jane Seymour gave birth to a son at Hampton Court. Born on the feast of St Edward the Confessor, he was named after the royal saint. Three days after the birth, Mary stood as godmother at the front in the newly decorated Chapel Royal at Hampton Court as Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, performed the rites of baptism over the infant prince. Amid a torch-lit procession, Mary led her four-year-old sister Elizabeth back to the queen's apartments for the giving of the baptismal gifts. With the rejoicing barely over, Jane fell seriously ill, with heavy bleeding. By the evening of the 24th her condition had worsened and she died in the early hours of the morning of puerperal fever.

It was Mary, then twenty-two-year-old, who was to be most involved in Edward's early upbringing. She would be his most frequent family visitor. She visited him in November 1537 and in March, April and May the following year. Edward was acknowledged as the heir and the rivalry between Mary and Elizabeth abated. All three siblings were now brought together under one roof.

At Nice in June 1538, Charles V and Francis I came to terms signing a ten-year truce and pledging themselves to cooperate against the enemies of Christendom. With fears of war against him, Henry was keen to secure alliances among the Lutheran princes in Germany. In January 1539, the English ambassador was sent to the Duke of Cleves to discuss the prospect of double match between Henry and the Duke's eldest sister, Anne, and between Mary and the Duke of Cleves himself. Whilst the negotiations for a marriage between Mary and William, the Duke of Cleves, came to nothing, by the autumn an alliance had been secured between Henry and Anne of Cleves.

On 17 December 1539, Anne of Cleves arrived in England. After few days, a party of six gentlemen came unannounced into Anne's chamber. All were disguised, yet one was the king. He had been scheduled to formally meet Anne at Blackheath on 3 January but curiosity had got the better of him. When the king saw Anne for the first time, he did not find her attractive but was unable, for diplomatic reasons and in the absence of a suitable pretext, to cancel the marriage. For the next six months, despite repeated efforts, the marriage remained unconsummated. By the summer, Henry had decided to sever ties with the German princes and to seek an annulment.

Jane Seymour by Hans Holbein, in 1537

Thomas Cromwell fell from favour and was arrested on 10 June 1540. His goods were seized and confiscated and he was sent to the Tower, charged with heresy and treason, and of plotting to marry Mary. Cromwell was paying the price for the failed match, for his reformist inclinations and for the rise in ascendancy of the conservative Howard family. On 25 June, the king's commissioners visited Anne of Cleves and informed her that her marriage was invalid. She consented without protest, agreeing to the divorce proceedings and confirming that the marriage had not been consummated. On 28 July, Cromwell was finally brought to the scaffold on Tower Green.

On the same day Henry married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, at Oatlands Palace in Surrey. She was the nineteen-year-old niece of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk. Relations between Mary and Catherine Howard were initially fraught. The new queen was cousin to Anne Boleyn and five years younger than Mary. Though they were too different in temperament and too similar in age to ever be close, relations began to settle down.

Unbeknown to the king, Catherine had had relationships before she was married, when she had been part of the household of her stepgrandmother the dowager Duchess of Norfolk. First in 1536, when she was fourteen, with her music teacher Henry Manox, and then two years later, Francis Dereham, a kinsman of her uncle the Duke of Norfolk. After becoming the queen, Catherine resumed her forbidden liaisons. Francis Dereham returned to court as her private secretary and Thomas Culpeper, a gentleman of the king's Privy Chamber, began regularly meeting with her in her chamber. By October 1541, Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, had learnt of Catherine's behaviour and, on 2 November, presented Henry with a written statement of allegations. In January 1542, Catherine and Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford, who had arranged illicit meetings, were declared guilty of treason. They were subsequently taken to the Tower on 10 February and three days after she was beheaded with a single stroke, as was Lady Rochford, immediately after.

On 12 July 1543, Mary and Elizabeth attended their father's wedding in the queen's privy closet at Hampton Court. Henry's bride, Catherine Parr, a former member of Mary's household, had come to the king's attention during Mary's frequent visits to court. She sought to improve relations between Mary and her father.

Catherine Howard by Hans Holbein the Younger

In February 1544, Parliament passed a new and radical Act of Succession. This new Act returned Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession, behind Edward, any potential children of his, and any potential children of Henry's.

With the succession settled, Henry looked to recapture the glories of his youth by going to war with France. On 11 July, Henry, despite his expanded girth and swollen, ulcerated legs, left Whitehall for France. In his absence, Catherine Parr was appointed Regent of England, to rule the country in the name of the king as Catherine of Aragon had done some thirty years before.

In February 1546 a plot was hatched to destroy Catherine Parr. Her evangelical beliefs and her growing influence over the king had made her enemies among the religious conservatives at court. With Henry's deteriorating health, and his temper growing ever shorter, he became increasingly irritated by Catherine's debates with him over religion. An arrest warrant was drawn up for her, but she managed to reconcile with the king after vowing that she had argued about religion with him to take his mind off the suffering caused by his ulcerous leg. The following day an armed guard who was unaware of the reconciliation tried to arrest her while she walked with the king.

Henry's obesity hastened his death at the age of fifty-five, which occurred on 28 January 1547 in the Palace of Whitehall. His will named sixteen executors, who were to act as Edward's Council until he reached the age of eighteen. The final state of Henry VIII's will has been the subject of controversy. Some historians suggest that those close to the king manipulated either him or the will itself to ensure a shareout of power to their benefit, both material and religious. The will contained an 'unfulfilled gifts' clause, added at the last minute, which allowed Henry's executors to freely distribute lands and honours to themselves and the court, particularly to Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, the new king's uncle who became Lord Protector of the Realm and Duke of Somerset.

Mary was granted lands and estates in East Anglia; most of her endowment consisted of properties in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, including Hunsdon and Beaulieu, where she had spent much of her time. She could choose now her own household personnel and surrounded herself with Catholic men local to her estates and who shared her commitment to the faith. In April 1547, Mary left Catherine Parr, with whom she had remained since her father's death, and journeyed north to her new estates. Within weeks, Catherine had rekindled her relationship with her old love, Thomas, Lord Seymour of Sudeley, and in May they were secretly married.

During 1548 England was subject to social unrest. After April 1549, a series of armed revolts broke out, fuelled by various religious and agrarian grievances. By 1 October 1549, Somerset had been alerted that his rule faced a serious threat. He issued a proclamation calling for assistance, took possession of the king's person and withdrew for safety to the fortified Windsor Castle. On 11 October, the Council had Somerset arrested and brought the king to Richmond. On 14 October, he was sent to the Tower charged with treason. In February 1550, John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, emerged as the leader of the Council and, in effect, as Somerset's successor.

For most of Edward VI's reign, Mary remained on her own estates and rarely attended the court. A plan between May and July 1550 to smuggle her out of the country to the safety of the European mainland came to nothing. The religious differences between Mary and Edward continued. By Christmas 1550, Mary had run out of excuses to avoid attending court and all Tudor siblings gathered for the reunion. Edward, now thirteen-year-old, rebuked Mary for hearing mass in her chapel. She continued to argue that he was not old enough to make up his own mind about religion. He demanded her obedience, she resisted, and both were reduced to tears. Mary repeatedly refused Edward's demands that she abandon Catholicism and Edward repeatedly refused to drop his demands.

By the winter 1552-1553 Edward was seriously ill, his body racked by a hacking cough. It was clear that the king was suffering from tuberculosis. The king's death and the succession of his Catholic half-sister Mary would jeopardise the English Reformation and Edward's Council and officers had many reasons to fear it. The Protestant Lady Jane Grey was preferred as Edward's successor to the throne.

Mary Tudor by Master John, in 1544

Edward VI by William Scrots, around 1550

The Execution of Lady Jane Grey by Paul Delaroche, around 1833

On 6 July 1553, at the age of fifteen, Edward VI died. On 10 July Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed queen by John Dudley and his supporters. By 12 July, Mary and her supporters had assembled a military force at Framlingham Castle and by 19 July, Lady Jane Grey was deposed; she and John Dudley were imprisoned in the Tower. Mary rode into London on 3 August on a wave of popular support.

One of Mary's first actions as queen was to order the release of Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, and Stephen Gardiner from imprisonment in the Tower. Mary understood that Lady Jane Grey was just a pawn in John Dudley's scheme. The Duke was tried and condemned to death on 22 August. Lady Jane Grey and her husband, Guildford Dudley, though found guilty, were kept under guard in the Tower rather than immediately executed, while Lady Jane Grey's father, Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, was released.

On 1 October 1553, Bishop of Winchester, Stephen Gardiner crowned Mary at Westminster Abbey. He also opened her first parliament and for some time was her leading councillor. He was called upon to undo not a little of the work in which he had been instrumental in his earlier years - to demonstrate the legitimacy of the queen's birth and the legality of her mother's marriage and to restore the old religion.

Upon Mary's accession there was general expectation that she would marry. It was important that she should have an heir to ensure a Catholic succession and someone to assist her in government. At thirty-seven Mary would have to wed quickly if she was to stand any chance of conceiving.

English hopes came to focus on the twenty-five-year-old Edward Courtenay, great-grandson of Edward IV. His father, the Marquess of Exeter, had been executed by Henry VIII in 1538; his mother Gertrude Blount remained one of Mary's most trusted intimates. The head among his supporters was the Lord Chancellor, Stephen Gardiner, who had spent a number of years imprisoned with Courtenay in the Tower. Although Gardiner was supported by almost all other Privy Councillors, Mary quickly made it clear that she had no intention of marrying Courtenay or any other of her own subjects.

Maximilian, the son of the Emperor's brother Ferdinand, also emerged as a possible candidate; whilst Charles V intrigued for a match between Mary and his own son Philip, Prince of Spain. Philip was twenty-six; had already been married to his cousin, Maria of Portugal, who had died in child birth in July 1545. For Mary the prospect of marriage to Philip represented her imperial destiny; a chance to join the family she had long since relied on for support and protection.

The marriage was unpopular with the English noblemen; Stephen Gardiner and his allies opposed it on the basis of patriotism, while Protestants were motivated by a fear of Catholicism. When the official marriage statement was published on 15 January 1554, Sir Thomas Wyatt and his friends joined at Allington Castle to discuss plans of resistance. The rebellion was timed for 18 March, to coincide with the start of Philip's journey to England. The scheme was backed by the French in what represented a final attempt to block the Spanish marriage. Few days later the details were revealed and the plot began to unravel. The rebels were forced into premature action, two months earlier than expected.

Wyatt led a force from Kent to depose Mary in favour of Elizabeth, as part of a wider conspiracy known as Wyatt's rebellion, which also involved the Duke of Suffolk, the father of Lady Jane Grey. On reaching London in February, Wyatt was defeated and captured. Although neither Jane or Guildford Dudley had taken part in Wyatt's rebellion, they now represented too great a threat to live. The involvement of Jane's father, the Duke of Suffolk, who was also to be executed, sealed his daughter's faith. On 12 February Guildford Dudley was beheaded on Tower Hill; an hour later, Lady Jane was collected and, dressed in black, led out to the scaffold on Tower Green.

As the executions continued, attention turned to Elizabeth, in whose name the rebels had acted. On 9 February, three councillors were sent to Elizabeth's residence at Ashridge in Hertfordshire, charged with bringing her to court. On 12 February, Edward Courtenay, the man the rebels hoped to place on the throne with Elizabeth, was brought to the Tower as a prisoner. On 16 March, Elizabeth, though protesting her innocence in the Wyatt conspiracies, was imprisoned in the Tower. Wyatt went to the block on Tower Hill on 11 April. The day after his execution, a group of councillors visited Elizabeth. Despite Wyatt's exoneration of her, pressure remained on the princess to admit her guilt. Mary refused to proceed against her sister with insufficient evidence. Finally with Elizabeth maintaining her innocence, the decision was made to move her to Woodstock, a remote country house in Oxfordshire.

The Queen Mary's Marriage Act was passed by the Parliament of England in April 1554 to regulate the future marriage and joint reign of Mary I and Philip, then Prince of Asturias. Under the terms of the marriage treaty Philip was to enjoy his wife's titles and honours as the king of England and Ireland for as long as their marriage should last. All official documents, including Acts of Parliament, were to be dated with both their names, and Parliament was to be called under the joint authority of the couple. Philip was to reign with his wife according to the Act, which nevertheless ensured that the new king would not become too powerful by prohibiting him from appointing foreigners to any offices, taking his wife or any child that might be born to them outside her realm and claiming the crown for himself should he outlive his wife.

Philip was unhappy at the conditions imposed, but he was ready to agree for the sake of securing the marriage. He had no amorous feelings toward Mary and sought the marriage for its political and strategic gains.

To elevate his son to Mary's rank, Charles V ceded the crown of Naples, as well as his claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Therefore, Mary became queen of Naples and titular queen of Jerusalem upon marriage. Their marriage at Winchester Cathedral on 25 July 1554 took place just two days after their first meeting. Philip could not speak English and so they spoke in a mixture of Spanish, French and Latin.

In September 1554, Mary stopped menstruating; she gained weight and felt nauseous in the mornings. Virtually the whole court, including her doctors, thought she was pregnant. Because of the dangers of childbirth, provision was made in the event of Mary's death for Philip to be made guardian of the realm during the minority of the expected child. He would still be confined within the limits of the marriage treaty and could not call Parliament, declare war, or arrange for a marriage of his heir without the consent of a council.

Finally, at the beginning of April, the king and the queen moved to Hampton Court in advance of Mary's confinement. While Mary prepared for the birth, Elizabeth was summoned to court from Woodstock. It was over two years since the sisters had seen one another, but after arriving at court Elizabeth was kept waiting three weeks before Mary agreed to see her. As sisters were finally reconciled, the country held its breath for the birth of its heir.

On 30 April, bells rang out the news that Mary had safely delivered. Reports quickly spread to courts across Europe. The bells were soon silenced and the bonfires extinguished; the rumours were false. Through May and June, the apparent delay in delivery fed gossip that Mary was not pregnant. Mary grew more and more reclusive, sitting in one place for hours at a time, wrestling with depression and anxiety, not leaving her chambers or giving audience to anyone. Mary continued to exhibit signs of pregnancy until July 1555, when her abdomen receded. It was most likely a false pregnancy, perhaps induced by Mary's overwhelming desire to have a child.

In August, with no immediate prospect of an heir, Philip prepared to depart England for Flanders. He left England with the Catholic restoration achieved and the enforcement of Catholic obedience under way. With the rising threat of disorder and rebellion, the restoration of Catholicism was to take on a cruel edge: heretics were to be burnt alive.

The first executions occurred over a period of five days in early February 1555: John Rogers on 4 February, Laurence Saunders on 8 February, and Rowland Taylor and John Hooper on 9 February. On 16 October 1555 the imprisoned Thomas Cranmer was forced to watch Bishops Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer being burned at the stake. Cranmer recanted, repudiated Protestant theology and rejoined the Catholic faith. Under the normal process of the law, he should have been absolved as a repentant. However, Mary was informed of his recantations but chose to ignore them; she was determined to be rid of the man who had caused her and her mother so much suffering. On the day of his burning (21 March 1556), he dramatically withdrew his recantation.

In October 1555, Charles V resigned the lordship of the Netherlands to Philip and in January 1556 the crowns of Aragon and Castile. Philip now desired power in England in his own right, not simply as a regent for an heir. He began to put pressure on Mary to allow him to be crowned and even suggested this might be a condition of his return to England. However, Mary hesitated to propose his coronation.

In March 1556, led by Sir Henry Dudley, the second cousin of John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland, and with the complicity of the French ambassador Antoine de Noailles, the conspiracy sought to break the Spanish alliance and replace Mary with Elizabeth. The plot was betrayed and on 4 April, Henry Dudley and most of his fellow conspirators were declared traitors, although by remaining in France Dudley escaped arrest. Their common cause, as with Wyatt's rebellion, was the unpopularity of the Spanish marriage, added to which was the new fear that Philip might be crowned king of England.

The conspiracy left the queen in a state of profound distress. Mary no longer appeared in public, living instead in the state of seclusion, the palace full of armed men, and the queen so afraid that she did not dare to sleep more than three hours a night. Increasingly she became frustrated with Philip, and was reported 'scratching portraits of her husband which she keeps in her room'. Finally, she wrote to the Emperor once more, pleading that he hasten his son's return and arguing that it was for the safety of the realm.

On 20 March 1557, Philip finally returned to England. The following day, the bells of London rang out in celebration. Yet despite the festivities, there was little disguising the true purpose of Philip's visit. The king had returned for money and an English declaration of war against France, a prospect very few Englishmen were happy with.

On 1 April, Mary summoned the councillors to her and, in Philip's presence, made a speech outlining the reasons for war. The Council asked for time to deliberate and returned two days later to deliver their verdict. They would approve financial and naval support to Philip, but would not promise troops or declare against France. The realm, they maintained, was in no condition to wage war: food was scarce, the coffers were empty and the people resentful. It would be disastrous to cut off England's trade with France because neither Spain nor Flanders could supply all that was needed. Finally, they stated that the marriage treaty forbade Philip to draw England into his struggle with France.

On 23 April 1557, Thomas Stafford, an English Protestant exile, landed on the Yorkshire coast at Scarborough with two French ships and a force of up to a hundred English and French rebels and seized Scarborough Castle. His aim was to depose Mary, an 'unrightful and unworthy queen', who had 'forfeited the right by her marriage with a Spaniard'. The government reacted quickly. Within five days the Earl of Westmoreland had retaken the castle and on 30 April a proclamation was issued in London announcing Stafford's capture. He was tried, condemned and executed for treason at Tyburn a month later.

The rebellion provided the catalyst for the declaration of war with France on 7 June 1557. Within weeks of England's entry into the war, Philip left England. Mary accompanied him to Dover from where he set sail on 6 July. They would never see one another again.

In the beginning of January 1558, French forces took Calais, England's sole remaining possession on the European mainland. As the last remnant of the English claim to the continental monarchy, Calais had a extremely symbolic value, arguably outweighing its economic and military importance. However, neither the Council nor Parliament was prepared to sanction the granting of funds to send forces to recover Calais.

After Philip's visit in 1557, Mary thought herself pregnant again with a baby due in March 1558. But by May, Mary's health had deteriorated: she suffered intermittent fevers, insomnia, headaches and loss of vision. It was clear that there was no pregnancy. Over the summer Mary grew progressiveley weaker. In August she caught influenza, then endemic in the country, and was moved from Hampton Court to St James's Palace.

The first few days of November saw some alleviation in the queen's condition and the Council petitioned her to make 'certain declaration in favour of the Lady Elizabeth concerning the succession'. On 6 November, Mary bowed to the inevitable: she 'consented' and accepted Elizabeth as her heir. It was what she had fought to avoid for most of her life, but now, realising death was near, she had no choice. Mary asked that Elizabeth pay her debts and keep the Catholic religion as it had been established. She knew it was a futile plea.

Just before midnight on 16 November 1558, Mary received the last rites in her chamber at St James's Palace. A few hours later she died, aged forty-two. Just six hours after Mary's death, Elizabeth had been proclaimed queen.

Although Mary's will stated that she wished to be buried next to her mother, she was interred in Westminster Abbey on 14 December in a tomb she would eventually share with Elizabeth.

Mary I was the first woman to successfully claim the throne of England, despite competing claims and determined opposition, and enjoyed popular support and sympathy during the earliest parts of her reign, especially from the Roman Catholic population. However, her marriage to Philip of Spain was unpopular among her subjects and her religious policies resulted in deep seated resentment. The military losses in France, poor weather and failed harvests increased public discontent. Philip spent most of his time abroad, while his wife remained in England, leaving her depressed at his absence and undermined by their inability to have children.