Mary
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- Created by: James
- Created on: 20-05-15 18:18
Mary's accession and establishment
- Haigh: "Mary was swept to power by a revolution"
- In East Anglia, it was the lay people that first joined her cause:
- The Earl of Oxford was intimidated by house servants into proclaiming Mary
- Proclaimed Queen in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and the North
- Northumberland's squadron mutinied
- Te Deum was sung at St Paul's, rejoicing at the return of Catholic values
- Haigh: "religion may now be recognised as one of the elements of Mary's appeal"
- At Melton Mowbray, the altar was immediately rebuilt and masses said; in Yorkshire there were masses from the beginning of August 1553; even in London some parished rushed to restore Catholicism
- Parkyn: "all this came to pass without compulsion of any act, statute, proclamation or law"
- Evidence from Churchwardens' accounts suggests that parishes were wuite happy to go to the expense of re-equipping their churches, despite its drain on scarce financial resources
- Haigh: almost everywhere "there were phased and realistic programmes of restoration"; "the real hallmark of the Marian Church ... was local enthusiasm"
- Not universally accepted: trouble in Lincolnshire, Dorset, Kent and various parts of London
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Mary's accession and establishment (cont.)
- Mary faced problems: inherited a Kingdom that had fundamental religious divisions; she hadn't been brought up to rule; most of her trusted supporters (Rochester, Waldegrave, Jerningham) were not politically from the front rank and had no serious experience of government -> bound to rely on her half-brother's servants.
- Bishop Gardiner served her father and was conservative - his imprisonment under Edward put him in a good position
- Mary appointed 50 councillors during her reign leading some historians to assert this led to an inefficent government
- Supported by the fact that Mary's most important decision - to marry Philip - was never discussed in Council
- However, Mary saw it as an honorary title - working council much smaller (Gardiner, Winchester and Paget)
- Also from Cardinal Pole; lost faith with Paget over her restoration of the English Church to Rome
- Never fully trusted Gardiner, who had failed to support her mother at the time of the break with Rome
- As a result, Mary relied on Philip and Simon Renard, the Spanish ambassador of her cousin Charles V
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The Spanish marriage
- Mary, ascending the throne at 37, was keen to marry and produce a Catholic heir
- Possible marriage to Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon:
- Marriage to an Englishman brought the threat of factionalism
- Courtenay lacked courtly skills and was therefore seen as unsuitable by Mary and others
- The backing of Courtenay came from Bishop GArdiner, who felt a Spanish marriage would offend public opinion
- Mary's preference was Philip II of Spain, whose candidacy was supported on Renard's bias
- Philip was a Catholic, Spanish and politically experienced
- His father, Charles V, had always proved himself worthy of her trust as he offered guidance through Mary's years of unhappiness - Charles more keen than his son
- English public opinion proved as hostile as Gardiner had predicted
- A Parliamentary delegation had attempted unsuccessfully to dissuade Mary from the marriage
- In an attempt to allay fears of Spanish domination in England, the treaty outlined that Philip would hold the title of King but none of the power that came with it
- No foreigners were permitted to hold English offices
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Wyatt's Rebellion, January 1554
- A rebellion had been planned for November 1553, with simultaneous uprisings in Devon (led by Courtenay), Hertforshire, Leicestershire and Kent
- These plans leaked in January 1554, forcing the rebels to take action: only Kent experienced a serious rising of 3,000 men led by Sir Thomas Wyatt
- Their motives: some of them were motivated by religion, with many rebels originating from Maidstone, a Protestant stronghold
- Xenophobia - aimed to dissuade Mary from marrying Philip. If that failed, stage a coup and replace her with E
- The decline in Kent's cloth industry gave poorer rebels a chance to voice socio-economic grievances
- Attracted some gentry who had lost office within the country
- Significance: showed that, although in a minority, the Protestants' religious opinions could not be ignored
- Demonstrated the extent of popular suspicion against the Spanish marriage
- Lady Jane Grey was executed, an innocent victim of her father's support for the rebellion
- Elizabeth was arrested and confined to the tower
- Mary convinced she knew of the rebels' intentions; Wyatt did not implicate her
- Gardiner and Paget, her interrogators, had a vested interest not to find out the truth
- Wyatt had come close to success: raised and kept a large following; outmanoeuvred the aged Duke of Norfolk and come close to securing London. However, Mary behaved bravely remaining in London, with no major defections
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Wyatt's Rebellion, January 1554 (cont.)
- The marriage as a result did not take place until 25 July, with Philip putting off travelling for several months
- When he arrived on 20 July, the political situation had altered: Paget and Renard had fallen out of favour
- Philip's initial experience confirmed his prejudices: foul weather and unwelcoming English court
- He found himself marrying a woman 11 years his elder who seemed prematurely middle aged
- He resolved to spend as little time in his new Kingdom as possible
- At a political level, the marriage failed:
- Mary failed to get pregnant, despite rumours to the contrary
- England was drawn into a dynastic dispute between the Hapsburgs (Spain) and the Valois (France)
- Problem of war made worse by the election of the fiercely anti-Spanish Cardinal Carafa as Pope Paul IV in 1555
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The restoration of Catholicism
- October 1553: repeal of Edward's religious laws; restoration Henry's orders of religious services
- Autumn 1553: deprivation of married clergy
- November 1554: Arrival of Cardinal Pole as Archbishop of Canterbury and papal legate
- January 1555: restoration of heresy laws; February 1555: burning of heretics begins
- The operation of a reformed Church of England had been enshrined in statute law
- Many members of the politcal elites had benefited financially from the acquisition of monastic lands
- About 80 MPs went as far as to vote against the repeal of Edward's religious laws
- About 800 persons went into exile in centres of European Protestantism (Strasbourg, Geneva, Frankfurt)
- Initially, Mary acted cautiously, asking foreign Protestants to leave the country
- However, some of the most prominent Protestant clergy, including 7 bishops, had been deprived or imprisoned
- The legislative attack began in October 1553, repealing Edwardian ecclesiastical laws. Did not alter status of the CofE
- To rely on parliamentary legislation to reverse royal supremacy would require Mary to acknowledge the superiority of statute law over divine law
- Over a quarter of parish clergy in London and Norwich were deprived- some reinstated after giving up their wives
- This exacerbated the existing man power shortage during Edward's reign
- The Third Parliament resolved the issue of Church lands now in private hands
- Renard had told Charles more land belonged to Catholics than Protestants
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The restoration of Catholicism (cont.)
- Gardiner insisted that on arrival, Pole must bring confirmation of the continued ownership of secular lands
- Both were aware the failure to do so might result in parliamentary blocking of the return to Catholics
- It also reversed Henry's Act of Attainder passed against Pole - he argued with councillors over Church lands, who felt a foreigner should have no influence over English policy
- Mary sympathised with Pole, threatening to abdicate - bluffing due to the fact a Protestant would succeed her
- In the end a compromise was reached: absolution granted from the Pope, giving the statute of repeal greater legal force. Parliament's request for absolution of conscience for monastic property owners was rejected
- The Act of Repeal passed in January 1555, along with the restoration of the heresy laws
- Mary had to acknowledge the jurisdiction of statute law in matters involving religion
- In 1555, Pope Julius died and was succeeded by the anti-Spanish Pope Paul IV
- Hostile towards Mary and Philip as well as Pole, who he regarded as a heretic
- When war broke out the same year, Mary, too, was at war with the papacy
- In 1557, Pope Paul withdrew Pole's legatine commission- blow to Pole's prestige; no longer acted on Pope's behalf
- In June, the Pope formally named Pole as a heresy suspect - Mary refused to let him travel to Rome
- Paul named a new legate, William Peto, but Mary remained with Pole, refusing to acknowledge the Papal authority that placed Peto in a higher position than the Archbishop of Canterbury
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The treatment of heretics
- Foxe's 'Book of Martyrs', first published in 1563, extensively documented the burning and treatment of heretics
- 289 Protestants burned at stake: included Cranmer, Hooper, Ridley, Latimer & the Bishop of Winchester
- There were 60 burnings in London, reflective of the extent of Protestantism there - also Kent, Sussex and Essex
- No burnings in the diocese of Durham
- Tittler: "the popular sympathy evoked by those early burnings, marked by frequent popular demonstrations"; "The effect of the martyrdoms ... undermined the government's efforts at uniformity"
- The result of burning John Rogers and Rowland Taylor - both misfired rather than bringing "uniformity"
- The bulk of the sufferers were humble lay people, strengthening the impact of their martyrdom
- The extent of this led to the COuncil banning servants, apprentices and the young from attending burnings
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Other religious policies
- Mary's religious policy was not purely repressive:
- Pole saw his role in pastoral terms, restoring the Church that had been eroded for the past 20 years
- Both the quality and quantity of priests needed to be improved
- Most of the new bishops appointed took their pastoral responsibilities seriously and in a Catholic manner
- Pole's legatine synod of 1556-57 outlined his expectations:
- Bishops were to reside in their dioceses, to preach there and oversee the religious life of their parishes
- There was a proposal, not implemented, that each cathedral should have a seminary attached for the training of new recruits to the priesthood
- However, there was a wide variation on the extent of implementation: strong in north, weaker in London
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The extent to which Mary had transformed the relig
- Given time and more resources, Pole and Mary might have properly reinstated Catholicism
- Nevertheless, more could have been achieved:
- The delay in restoring the Church's institutional structure and the divisions between Crown and papacy did not help
- Shortcomings of Philip:
- Had no first-hand experience of English sentiment before his marriage in 1554
- Tittler:"took England to be as he remembered it rather than how it was"
- Shortcomings of the Marian Church:
- Tittler:"appeared not to capitalise in the strength of the native English spiritual or intellectual traditions"
- Too dependent on a repressive approach derived from the Counter-Reformation
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Mary and Parliament
- About 80 MPs opposed the reversal of Edwardian religious legislation, a subsatntial minority that also opposed other Crown policies
- Dominated by self-interest in the defense of ex-monastic lands led to MAry not pressing the point
- A bill in 1555 to allow the seizure of property of Protestant exiles was defeated
- In 1554, parliament rejected a bill that would have involved Philip in the protective clauses of a proposed new law on treason
- Refused Philip's coronation as King
- It refused to exclude Elizabeth from the succession following Wyatt's rebellion
- Whilst these represented defeats for Mary, she was sufficiently politically astute not to press her opinions on parliament
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Reforms under Mary
- A.F. Pollard: "sterile" nature of Mary's reign
- Writing within a Protestant historical framework
- Revisionists find this inaccurate as Mary did see some successes, but the chief beneficiary was Elizabeth
Financial reforms
- Progress made in revenue administration:
- Northumberland sought to improve administration of Crown finances by setting up a commission to investigate its shortcomings - his fall from power prevented any implementation
- Some changes implemented under Mildmay in 1554, despite sisupicion over his religious grounds
- The Court of Exchequer took over the Court of First Fruits and Tenths and the Court of Augmentation
- Mary made a mistake in remitting the final part of Edward's last subsidy, which only bought cheap popularity
- The level of royal indebtedness rose:
- Didn't do so dramatically considering the war with France; Penry Williams:"at least adequate"
- Long term security of Crown finances boosted by plans of recoinage but were only implemented under Elizabeth
- It was the thoroughness of preparation under Mary that enabled effective implementation by E
- Reaped the benefit of a new Book of Rates in 1558, which raised customs revenue dramatically
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Reforms under Mary (cont.)
Naval and militia reforms
- Complete reorganisation of administration and finance of the navy
- Six new ships were built, many others repaired; allocated an annual peacetime allocation of £14,000 to the navy
- The system worked effectively with the highly efficient Treasurer of the Navy now directly answerable to Lord Treasurer Wincheste. All laid the basis for E's victory over the Armada
- Also reformed the methods for raising troops - important as, unlike Spain, it lacked a standing army
- John Guy:"a landmark in English military organisation"
Reforms for towns
- Tittler: the "conscious support" offered to corporate towns; "a relatively urban outlook"
- Issued Charters of incorporation confirming existing rights or conferring new rights
- Included a move towards a more uniform standard for the structure and powers of town councils
- Poor relief: from 1556-58, the country faced an influenza outbreak, harvest failures and increaed taxation for war
- Particular emphasis was placed on the enforcement of laws against grain hoarders
- Strong encouragement to convert pasture land to tillage
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Was there a nid-Tudor crisis?
- In the comparison between the 'little' Tudors and the 'big' Tudors, Edward and Mary have been seen as unproductive
- A.F. Pollard and S.T. Bindoff hold this view; concept made explicit through W.R.D. Jones' Book 'The Mid-Tudor Crisis'. Loades: historians have become "rather too fond of inventing crises"
- Henry and Elizabeth's reigns appealed to historians writing within Protestant and Anglican traditions
- Edward and Mary seen as the reigns of a sickly child manipulated by protectors and the sterile reign of a simple woman
- Dale Hoak, in 'Rehabilitating the DoN', gave much force to the importance of his period of dominance
- Similarly, Tittler and Loades' work suggests that the reign of Mary contained much worthy of credit
- Duffy and Haigh have gone further, demonstrating the extent to which Mary was working with the grain of public opinion
- Even the religious policy at the start of Edward's reign - castigated by Guy - has been rehabilitated by MacCullloch who argued it made perfect sense given the Crown's religious priorities
- Even the less favorable periods of rebellion, challenges to religious policy and social dislocation were all as apparent in Henry and E's reign
- Loades sees this view as "unhelpful", although it does sell books.
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