According to a recent survey in the UK, English citizens still view Queen Mary as one of "the most evil men and women in history."
Mary Tudor – Princess, Bastard, Queen by Anna Whitelock strives to bring a human face to Mary Tudor. Whitelock examines Mary's background, her childhood of learning and privilege, her teenage years of deprivation and humiliation as Anne Boleyn came to claim her father's heart, her adult years of constant fights over religion with Henry VIII and later with her brother Edward, and finally her few years on the throne.
Mary Tudor – Writing Style and Research
Mary Tudor - Princess, Bastard, Queen is a a hefty book, coming in at just over 400 pages. Whitelock quotes extensively from primary sources, people who knew or observed Mary as a child or an adult. She also quotes many letters written by Mary herself, from romantic childish musings to bitter protests as her brother, Edward, ordered her to ban the saying of Catholic mass from her manor.
Two things keep Whitelock's book from being overwhelming. One is Whitelock's lively style of telling tales about the royal family. She creates an aura of suspense so that even readers who are familiar with history and who know what comes next are practically compelled to turn the page.
Second, Whitelock keeps her chapters short, usually around five to seven pages, and focused on a single specific event in Mary's life.
Mary Tudor is an educational, entertaining read, and presents clear evidence that the first queen regnant of England was not always the reviled creature we think of today.
Mary Tudor Part I – A King's Daughter
Anna Whitelock spends the first 122 pages of her book describing Mary's life during the reign of her Father, Henry VIII. Mary was the only living child of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon, and was raised as a staunch Catholic.
The love affair between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn changed the course of Mary's life entirely. During her teenage years she was banished from court.
Mary eventually reconciled with her father, after her mother's death and the beheading of Anne Bolen, but she never forgot how quickly kindness could turn to cruelty.
Mary Tudor Part II – A King's Sister
Henry VIII was succeeded by his nine year old son, Edward VI. There is much dispute as to how much Edward was in control during any part of his reign, but those who surrounded him were all sympathizers with Protestant reform.
Edward and Mary spent much of Edward's reign feuding over Mary's refusal to give up hearing the Latin Mass. As Edward's health began to deteriorate, he plotted with his advisors to keep Mary away from the throne. He named his cousin, Lady Jane Grey as his successor, stating that she would support, "the religion whose fair foundation we have laid."
Mary Tudor Part III - A Queen
Unlike many books, which linger over Mary's agonies as a child and young adult and gloss over her years as queen, Whitelock's book devotes nearly half its pages to covering the Marian reign. She emphasizes that, with Edward's council so firmly backing Jane Grey's claim to the throne, it was miraculous Mary became queen at all and even more miraculous that she did so without a single death in battle.
Mary's coronation was a matter for concern. Never had a queen been crowned the sole ruler of England. Mary chose to dress in white, as a queen consort, symbolizing her marriage to England, although she was actually crowned with the symbols of power of a man, including the orb, the scepter, the sword and the crown of England.
Shortly after she ascended the throne, Mary began to roll back her brother's religious reforms. She also selected a husband, Prince Philip, son of King Charles of Spain to whom she had once, as a child, been betrothed and to whom she always turned for advice when she was being persecuted for her Catholicism.
Mary Tudor Part IV - A King's Wife
Mary had never had a chance to experience romantic love. She was soon deeply enthralled with her handsome husband. He, in turn, thought of her as an aunt, and not a particularly attractive one at that. One of Philip's followers wrote to a friend, "...It would take God himself to drink this cup."
Spurred on by the Catholic Philip and by an envoy from the pope, Mary formally reconciled England with the Catholic church. It was shortly after this triumphant moment that Mary underwent her first false pregnancy and made her decision to burn heretics alive.
Whitelock does not gloss over this portion of Mary's reign, nor does she demonize it. Her position is that Mary honestly did not expect so many people to go to the stake rather than recant their "false" religious beliefs. She also believed that a few burnings would show all the people the error of their ways. She was wrong on both counts, and the Protestant movement in England grew stronger instead of weaker.
By then, Mary's own advisors were urging her, "I do not think it well that your Majesty should allow further executions to take place unless...the offences committed have been so scandalous as to render the course justifiable in the eyes of the people." But Mary matched her father in stubbornness, and once she had decided on a course of action, she was determined to see it through. Even Philip expressed reservations about the burnings, but he made no move to stop them, so they continued.
As the bodies continued to fall, Mary became more unpopular. Her husband made his excuses and left the country, returning only to involve England in a disastrous was against France. Mary died soon after, at the age of 42.
Final Thoughts
Anna Whitelock shows readers of Tudor history many sides of Mary Tudor they may not have seen before--the joyful four-year-old princess, the proud Catholic woman who defied her brother, the King, even at the risk of execution, the courageous young monarch who stayed in England and fought Jane Grey for the crown, as well as the religious fanatic who ordered so many horrific deaths.
Whitelock never tries to justify or explain away the bloodshed during Mary's reign, but she does do a good job of showing readers that Mary, for all her faults, was much more than a caricature of evil.
Details
Book: Mary Tudor: Princess, Bastard, Queen
Author: Anna Whitelock
Publisher: Random House, New York
Copyright: 2009
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