Mary I

What was Mary I’s aims in terms of religious reformation?

• determined to restore Roman Catholicism

  • believed her initial popularity was because people wanted to restore the faith (over the rightful heir)

what were the Political implications of restoring Catholicism?

• concerns from advisors

  • Stephen Gardiner unenthusiastic about returning to royal supremacy

  • Imperial ambassador had property concerns

  • Pope and Charles V felt too radical change might cause unrest

• Cardinal pole (papal legate) didn’t arrive to England until a year after Mary’s reign

  • adamant that former church had to be restored if catholicism restored → concerns over the secularised lands

What were the Early moves towards Catholicism?

• removal of Bishops

  • 7 removed

  • 4 imprisoned

  • 3 forced to face debates against Catholic theologist → Cranmer behaved badly, Ridley performed well

  • bishops ordered to restore holy days

• removal of married clergy

  • ¼ clergy deprived of their livings

  • emigration of foreign Protestants = shortage of manpower in church

What Parliamentary measures did Mary I take to restore Catholicism?

• First Statute of Repeal (October 1553)

  • repealed most Edwardian legislation

  • declared her parents' marriage valid

• April 1554 - Marriage to Phillip II of Spain approved

• Nov 1554 - return to Papal authority

• 1554 - restoration of Heresy laws

  • allowed for the persecution and punishment of Protestants who refused to convert to Catholicism

• clerical celibacy reinstated

Who did Mary I newly appoint?

• Gardiner

• Turnstall

• Bonner

• all Henry VIII bishops

What were some of Mary’s efforts to re-catholicise England?

• appointment of Catholic Bishops

  • urging bishops to take regular visitations

• attempts to overhaul church finance

• discipline of the clergy → issued the 12 decrees on clerical discipline

• clerical education → 14 seminaries set up

• new publications → Catholic New Testament

• features of catholic worship re-established in churches → altars, vestments

• censorship

Who was the Papal Legate?

• Papal legate = Sir Cardinal Pole

Why was Mary’s attempts of re-introducing Catholicism ineffective?

• Unpopularity of her Policies

  • Spanish marriage

  • South-west persecution of protestants

• advisors

  • not good debater like protestants

  • Pole didn’t know England well enough to develop successful strategy

• Overhaul of Church finances = long + cumbersome

• Propoganda ineffective

  • most printers protestant + gone into exile - less propaganda

  • protestant writing outweighed Marian

  • pre-existence of 19,000 of Prayer book

• Mary's Untimely Death

  • reforms were not fully implemented

  • half-sister Elizabeth, (Protestant) succeeded her 

When were the heresy laws restored?

• December 1554 → executions began

who was the first protestant to be burned at the stake?

• John Rogers

• biblical translator

• burned on 4th Feb 1555

When was Cranmer burned at the stake?

March 1556

How many executions were there during Mary’s reign?

• 274 religious execution in 1st three years

• 60 women

• 2 welsh heretics

• exceeding the number in any Catholic European country

how effective were the burnings of Mary I?

• earned her the nickname "Bloody Mary"

• generated widespread resentment and strengthened Protestant resistance

  • victims of the burnings (Cranmer) seen as martyrs

  • John Foxe's "Book of Martyrs" → powerful piece of propaganda

How many protestants went into exile?

• 800 protestants → exiled abroad to escape persecution

where did protestant exiles go to?

Strasburg, Geneva, Frankfurt

What was the protestant underground?

• private congregations of around 200 listened to preachers

  • mainly in London inns

  • some in Sussex, Kent and Lancashire

  • Preachers = Scrambler, Fowle, and Bentham

How were Mary I religious reforms significant?

• reintroduced Catholic practices

  • Latin Mass,

  • Catholic alters

  • stained-glass windows

  • restored the Pope's authority over the English Church

• Marian Persecutions

  • ‘Bloody Mary”

  • presented her reign as a time of religious turmoil

How were Mary I religious reforms limited in significance?

• short reign and unpopularity

• Resistance to Monastic Land Return

• Unsuccessful Counter-Reformation → mainly reversed by Elizabeth