The Myth of 'Bloody Mary'

[Siwsan]

2. I'm reading 'Elizabeth - The Struggle for the Throne' by David Starkey

I'm at the point where Mary is married to Philip of Spain, just realized she wasn't actually pregnant, and found out her husband wasn't quite the man she had hoped he would be.

According to Starkey - and pretty much every other Tudor biography I've read (which number in the WHOLE LOTS category because it's my favorite era of history) - Mary was heir, then wasn't (the birth of Elizabeth and then Edward) then was (Henry's last will returned her and Elizabeth to the succession) then wasn't (Edward VI's will removed her and Elizabeth) so in the end she took what she felt was due her, by divine right.

Edward didn't think women could/should reign but the family line seriously lacked in males. The only other acceptable candidate, to him, was his cousin Jane Grey (granddaughter of Mary, Henry's youngest sister). He actually married off his female cousins before he died, with the hope one of them would produce a male heir before he died of consumption. Unfortunately, he died soon afterwards.

And, yes, Mary was pretty bloody, but no more than those before and after her reign. However, the one execution that, IMHO, makes the 'bloody' description appropriate was the execution of the 17 year old, '9 day Queen', Jane Grey. She was a total innocent whose fate was out of her control. The description of her execution is heartbreaking. And Elizabeth came so very close to meeting the same fate.

But, when all was said and done, the Golden Elizabethan Age began.