MARY. 1553 - 1558
Born, 1516. - Married Philip, Philip of Spain, Burgundy, and the Netherlands, son of the Emperor: - no children. ( Philip and Mary, July 25, 1554 - 1558 ). Began to reign, 1553. - Reigned 5 years. - Died 1558.
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DOMINIONS
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Mary I. Queen of England, daughter of Henry VIII.. by Catharine of Aragon, was born in 1516. After her mother's death she was declared illegitimate, but was restored to her rights when the succession was finally settled in 1544. She was bred up by her mother in the Roman Catholic faith, on which account she was treated with rigour under Edward VI. She ascended the throne in 1553, after an abortive attempt to set her aside in favour of Lady Jane Grey. One of her first measures was the reinstatement of the Roman Catholic prelates who had been superseded in the late reign. Her marriage to Philip II. of Spain, united as it was with, complete restoration of the Catholic worship, produced much discontent. Insurrections broke out under Cave in Devonshire, and Wyat in Kent which, although suppressed, formed sufficient excuses for the imprisonment of the Princess Elizabeth in the Tower, and the exemption of Lady Jane Grey and her husband Lord Guildford Dudley. England was now formally declared to be reconciled to the pope; the sanguinary laws against heretics were revived, and nearly 300 perished at the stake, including Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley. Under Philip's influence a war began with France, which ended in the loss of Calais in 1558, after it had been in the hands of the English for above 200 years. This disgrace, and the aversion alike of her subjects and of her husband, told acutely upon Mary's already disordered health, and she died in 1558 after a reign of five years.
WARS
In 1554 Sir Thomas Wyatt raised an insurrection
in Kent against the Queen's intended marriage with Philip, which if successful must have ended in her deposition.
He was joined by some Londoners, but his forces were dispersed after failing to fight their way into London, Feb.
7, 1551.
In 1557 England joined with Philip in the war against France, Scotland, and the Pope, Paul IV. On August 10, the
Spaniards and the Netherlanders with the assistance of a small English contingent defeated the French at St. Quentin.
On Jan. 7, 1558, Calais surrendered to the Duke of Guise. On July 13 the French were defeated at Gravelines by
the Spaniards and Netherlanders , with the assistance of an English fleet .
OFFICIALS
Archbishops - Thomas Cranmer, 1553 - 1555; Reginald Pole,1556 - 1558.
Chancellors - Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, 1553 - 1555; Nicholas Heath, Archbishop of York, 1556 - 1558.
Lord High Treasurer. - Marquis of Winchester, 1553-1558.
ACTS AND DOCUMENTS
From the Accession of Mary to the Settlement of
Religion under Elizabeth.
The attempt to tamper with Henry's arrangement for the succession failed, and Mary's reign is dated from the day
of Edward's death, July 6th, 1553.
She styles herself, "Mary, by the Grace of God, Queen of England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith,
and of the Church of England, and also of Ireland, in earth the Supreme Head." ( Rolls of Parliament ) .
The last clause of the title was dropped after the first year of her reign, but it was not a mere form, for on
Sept. 28, 1553, the Queen, by her own authority, restored to the see of Exeter John Voysey, who had resigned in
1551, cum omnibus Juribus tam spiritualibus quam temporalibus ad eundem Episcopatum pertinentibus. (Rymer, xv.,
340,)
Mary 1, sees. 2, c. 2. An Act repealing the late ecclesiastical changes, the appointment of bishops by letters
patent the act abolishing images, that allowing the marriage of priests, Edward's Acts of Uniformity, &c. Setting
up such services as were commonly used in the last year of King Henry.
This Act was passed simply by Parliament without any ecclesiastical co.-operation whatever, except the votes of
a very limited number of bishops in the House of Lords. Not even Papal sanction was asked or given for it. (Printed
in the Statutes.)
1554, March 13 - 15. The Bishops of Bristol, Chester, St. David's, Gloucester, Hereford, Lincoln, and the Archbishop
of York deprived. (Rymer xv. 370.)
Mary 1, seas. 3, c. 2. The marriage treaty between the queen and Philip of Spain confirmed, vesting all royal power
in the queen as fully after her marriage as before . All royal instruments are to be drawn in the names of Philip
and Mary, but are to be invalid without the Queen's sign manual. The treaty itself provided that any male heir
born of the marriage was to succeed in the Netherlands and Burgundy as well as in England, and any female heir
likewise if she should marry with the consent of her half-brother, Don Carlos, and his council. (Statutes and Rymer,
xv. 393.)
Philip and Mary 1 and 2, a 6. An Act for punishment of heresy, reviving the Lollard Statutes, Richard II. 5, c.
5;Henry IV. 2, c. 15; and Henry V. 2, c. 7. (Printed in the Statutes.)
Philip and Mary l and 2,c.8. An Act for repealing all acts against the See of Rome since the 20th of Henry VIII.,
saving all prerogatives, jurisdictions, and authorities, &c. of the Crown existing prior to that year, and
in the same Act confirming the possession of ecclesiastical lands to their present lay possessors. (Printed in
the Statutes.)
Philip and Mary 2 and 3, c. 4. An Act restoring first fruits to the Church. (Printed in the Statutes.)
Philip and Mary 2 and 3, c. 5. An Act for relieving the impotent and poor in their parishes by voluntary charitable
offerings every week. (Printed in the Statutes.)
ACTS AND DOCUMENTS of 1559 - 1563
By Eliz. 1, c. 1, "The ancient Jurisdiction
over the Estate Ecclesiastical and Spiritual" was restored to the Crown, and "all foreign powers repugnant
to the same" abolished. The Act Philip and Mary 1 and 2, c. 8, restoring the Papal Supremacy was repealed
by this act but the statutes of Henry VIII and Ed. VI repealed by Philip and Mary I and 2, e. 8, were not all re-enacted
by this statute. An oath acknowledging the Royal Supremacy, however, was required by this act from all office holders,
civil and ecclesiastical. By clause 18 of the act it was enacted that " the Queen may assign Commissioners
to exercise Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction." By clause 36 such Commissioners, or other persons, were not to adjudge
any matter to be heresy, "but only such as heretofore have been determined, ordered, or adjudged to be heresy
by the authority of the Canonical Scriptures, or by the first four General Councils, or by any of them, or by any
other General Council wherein the same was declared heresy by the express and plain words of the said Canonical
Scriptures, or such as hereafter shall be ordered, judged, or determined to be heresy by the High Court of Parliament
of this Realm, with the assent of the clergy in their Convocation " ( Printed in the Statutes.)
By an Admonition in 1559 the Queen explained that no authority was challenged by this act save what was of ancient
time due to the Imperial Crown of this Realm; that is. under God, to have the sovereignty and rule over all manner
of persona born within these her realms ... of what estate ecclesiastical or temporal so ever they be, as no other
foreign power shall or ought to have any superiority over them." (Printed in Cardwel, Documentary i. Annals,
i. 199.) This Admonition was confirmed by Eliz. 5,c. 1.
In 1559 a Commission had been issued for imposing the Oath of Supremacy upon the clergy. (Rymer, xv. 518.)
From 189 to 243 (variously estimated) persons refused it and were deprived or resigned. Subsequently a large number
of parochial clergy who had been intruded upon livings in succession to the married clergy deprived under Queen
Mary, were removed to make room for the former incumbents.
Elizabeth 1, c. 2. An Act of Uniformity restoring the second Prayer Book of Edward VI., with certain modifications,
expunging a petition against "the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities," combining the presentation
sentences in the Communion Service of the Books of 1549 and 1552, and restoring " the ornaments of the church
and of the ministers thereof " as they were in 1549. (Printed in the Statutes.)
The purely civil Act of Mary 1, sess 2, c. 2, vide supra, was repealed by a similar civil Act
In 1562 - 63 the Articles of King Edward were re-cast by Convocation into Thirty-nine.
THE MARIAN PERSECUTION
The persecution was set on foot at the beginning of 1555, and continued to the end of the reign. With the exception
of a few Church dignitaries the great majority of the sufferers belonged to the poorer classes; some were foreigners
settled in England, many persons living in or near the ports trading with the Netherlands. Foxe, the martyrologist.,
has collected the names of 277, whose local distribution is most marked.
In the diocese of London there were 112
In the diocese of Canterbury there were 56
In the diocese of Norwich there were 34
In the diocese of Chichester. there were 23
In the diocese of Coventry and Lichfield there were 7
In the diocese of Bristol there were 6
In the diocese of Rochester there were 6
In the diocese of Salisbury there were 6
In the diocese of Gloucester. there were 5
In the diocese of Oxford there were 4
In the diocese of Chester there were 3
In the diocese of Ely there were 3
In the diocese of Peterborough there were 3
In the diocese of Winchester there were 3
In the diocese of St. David's. there were 2
In the diocese of Lincoln there were 2
In the diocese of Exeter there were 1
In the diocese of Llandaff there were 1
In the Eastern and South-Eastern counties, in Canterbury, Rochester, Chichester, London, Ely, Norwich, and Winchester,
there were 237, or about six-sevenths of the whole. Of the three in Winchester two belonged to Southwark, and the
other was a native of the coast of Sussex. Of the four who suffered in Oxfordshire three were the Bishops, who
did not represent a local opinion. The one in St. David's was the Bishop, Ferrar.
No martyrs are recorded in the dioceses of York, Carlisle, Durham, Sodor and Man, Worcester, Hereford, Bath and
Wells, Bangor, St. Asaph .
The three first-named dioceses, with Chester and Lincoln, had been almost universally in rebellion against the
reforming government of Henry VIII Cornwall, Devonshire, and Somersetshire, with one martyr between them, were
the counties which had been in arms against the religious reforms of Edward VI. Middlesex with 59 martyrs, and
Kent with 58, were the only counties where any effective rebellion was raised against Mary's Spanish marriage.
Though Foxe's lists are probably not quite complete nor accurate the inference is plain, that doctrinal Protestantism,
of a complexion sufficiently pronounced to cause its adherents to actively dissent from the laws in religion laid
down by government was practically confined to certain clergy, and to the counties trading with the Netherlands.
