Mrs. Miller
World History
9 April 2015 Queen Mary Tudor Mary Tudor was a very cruel queen during the Renaissance. Mary Tudor was the only child born to Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon to survive childhood. Over Mary’s short reign, she gained the nickname of bloody Mary. Mary Tudor was a very unpopular queen because she killed thousands of people, had a unpopular marriage and made questionable decisions. Queen Mary issued a law that she would not make any of her subjects to follow her religion but she completely turned when she took over the throne. One reason that Mary lacked the support of her people, was due to the way that she treated them. Often times, Mary would use cruel …show more content…
Many people thought that she was a illegitimate queen (Buchanan 44). Her father, Henry VIII, desperately wanted a son to carry on the Tudor reign and legacy. Therefore, he tried to divorce Mary’s mother Catherine of Aragon which the Catholic Church did not approve of. King Henry believed that he had the power to divorce and remarry as he was the head of the government and should not have to report to the church. Therefore, he divorced Catherine and remarried anyway in spite of the church’s decision. When he remarried Anne Boleyn, King Henry had a second daughter, Elizabeth. With the birth of another girl, many people of England viewed Mary as a Lady rather than a princess, due to the fact that she no longer was in direct line of succession (Loades 11). Many people did not support Mary when she inherited the throne people thought that she was not the rightful queen. Despite the disputes regarding the succession to the English throne, Mary became the Queen after the untimely death of her only half brother. Once taking the throne, Mary wanted to get married and to have children (McGurk 79). Mary did not want her sister Elizabeth to inherit the throne because Elizabeth was a faithful protestant. Mary was a strong Catholic and believed that the best interest for the country would be to maintain its strong ties to the Catholic church. Additionally, she did not want to see the country switch national religions again …show more content…
Even though Phillip thought that Mary was unattractive because she was eleven years older but he still married her for political reasons. England also acquired no part of the Spanish empire in the New World. The alliance also dragged England into a war, causing more people to be opposed to the marriage. A major part of her people and her council opposed the marriage with Philip (Pratt 14). This was because of his Catholic religion that would then merge with Mary's Catholic religion, The two of them would create a large threat to the protestant people of