Joshua Barnett

Dr. Thomas Ridgedell

History 369
October 22, 2014
Mary Tudor whole reign as often been characterized by her nickname which is Bloody
Mary. This name as always been associated with her and that nobody ever looks at the she did
during her other years of reign. She always get the bad rap that she was just a queen that killed
people that went against her religion of Catholicism. This is true when you read about John
Foxes and his accounts about how the reign of Mary Tudors rule. Then you have Judith M.
Richards who wrote about what Queen Mary done while she was ruler over the country of
England. Richards also shows more than the burning at the stakes side of Mary Tudor because
she felt like there were good things that came out of her reign than it being all about the bad
things that happened.
In Judith Richardss book, she tells the life story of Queen Mary Tudor and what how she
tried to restore the Catholic Church like it once was when her father first started to rule. The
queen wanted to make sure that during her reign that the Catholic Church was restored. Richards
said in her book that Queen Mary wanted to get it back as quick as possible but she knew that
she would not be able to get it over night. Queen Mary knew that the people of England were
confused on what they could and could not do in the Henry VIII and Edward VI reigns. So

Queen Mary wanted to make it easier for them to know and that is why she wanted to change the
religion to just one religion being allowed and that would be the Catholic faith. Then it was made
even more serious about how she wanted the Catholic faith back in England in that she married
Phillip of Spain. Phillip of Spain was also in the royal blood line to the Spanish King. He was
also a Catholic and he wanted England to convert back to the Catholic faith. Together Queen
Mary and Phillip of Spain tried and they were successful of getting Pope as the head of the
religion in England. This process took a little while but the Queen was able to persuade the
parliament to do so.
Judith Richards also said that Queen Mary was a gracious queen to the poor. Judith also
said that she would go out in the public and give alms to the poor. The queen would be dressed as
a lady but she would not dress like she was the Queen of England. Queen Mary did not want to
bring attention to herself but she wanted to give money and food to the poor so that she could
help them survive. Richards also said that the queen kept the hospitals that Edward VI created to
help the poor with open and she also gave money to keep the places running. Another thing that
the queen gave money to keep going was to the universities of England. She wanted people to be
able to get a good education from the university. Another reason why was because the queen was
a very smart lady. She loved Erasmian humanist and she was influenced by humanist Juan Vives.
The queen was able to speak many different languages including Latin. The queen also gave
money to people that was going to be priest, she also gave money to the poor men and women of
England, and she gave money to religious foundations that she founded. She did all of this while
she was on her death bed. Queen Mary wanted to give back to her kingdom and so she

tried to give some of her riches back to people of England. Mary also gave all of her jewelry to
her step-sister Elizabeth. She did this even though her and Elizabeth did not get along because of
religious views. She also did not change the royal succession line even though she did want to
find someone else to reign after her. She decided to go with her dads wishes and let Elizabeth be
the next Queen of England.
Queen Mary also believed in peace, she did not want to go to war against anyone even
when her husband wanted the help of England to defeat their rivals the French. Judith Richard
said that the Queen was just like her mother in that she wanted Universal Peace with everyone
in Europe. Queen Mary did not want to go to war with anybody during her reign. She even was
skeptical about going to war with her husband Phillip of Spain against the French in Italy. She
always tried to negotiate peace treaties than to have to fight in a war. Queen Mary agreed with
Erasmus that she wanted to have peace with all of the European countries.
In John Foxe account of the reign of Mary Tudor is different view of what Judith
Richardss account was. John Foxe was a writer during the time of Queen Marys reign and he
seen firsthand of what went on during her reign. Foxe account of Queen Mary was that she was
the bloodiest and was violent to the people that had different views of religion than her own.
John wrote a lot of accounts of the people that were burned at the stake during the Queens reign
in England. He compiled all of the accounts of the three hundred people that lost their lives
because of their religious views. A law that all kings and queens had was the law of heresy
against the religion or faith in the king and queen. If a person broke these laws then they were

either hanged but majority of the time they were burned at the stake in front of everybody so that
they could see what the punishment was if you go against what the king or queen ordered. In
Foxe accounts he puts all of the blame upon Queen Mary for all three hundred people that died
while they were burning at the stakes. He blames her because of the queens heresy law. He
thinks that they should not be burn at the stakes so that you might be able to convert them to the
religion that you want them to be a part of. Foxe also thinks that the Queen should offer them the
chance to be able worship the way that they want to because that is all the know sense the reign
of her father and step-brother. Since Foxe had a firsthand account of the brutal punishment of the
protestant faith, he blames Queen Mary for everything.
The book Mary Tudor and the excerpts of John Foxe did not agree with one another. John
Foxes account of the reign of Mary Tudor was one that was very bloody and that you could not
believe in any faith besides the queens Catholic faith. Foxe also put the blame and points his
finger that Queen Mary did nothing but kill three hundred people over their faith in God through
the protestant faith. Foxes account was one that gave many historians the nickname for Queen
Mary and that is Bloody Mary. In Judith Richardss book, she gave Queen Mary a total
different outlook of her monarch. Richards told us that she was able to restore the Catholic
Church to the main religion in England. Judith also showed that Queen Mary was a giving queen
in that she gave money to the poor and to the universities. Queen Mary was also a queen that
wanted peace throughout Europe and in her own kingdom.