Mary I and her ministers

• Mary I

  Queen of England
• Mary became popular due to high opposition to Lady Jane Grey's reign
• Christopher Haigh: '"Mary was swept to power by a revolution"'
• Devyse

  Attempt to interfere with the legitimate succession due to Northumberland's connection to Lady Jane Grey, seemed like a sordid attempt to retain power
• The Devyse was patently illegal
• Mary's response to the Devyse

  1. Gathered Catholic supporters, including members of the nobility, in Norfolk

  2. Northumberland summoned troops and sent a naval squadron to wait off the coast by Great Yarmouth to intercept Mary should she try to set sail

  3. Little support for Northumberland in Norfolk because of the cruelty with which he'd put down Kett's Rebellion and the ships he sent proved disloyal to him and declared allegiance to Mary

  4. Members of the Council proclaimed Mary queen on 19th July 1553

  5. Northumberland realised his plan had failed and proclaimed Mary queen in the marketplace at Cambridge on 20th July
• Mary's accession was greeted favourably by the English people
• Mary's accession was supported by the legitimate succession or Catholicism
• Problems Mary inherited

  • Fundamental religious divisions in the kingdom
  • She was a Catholic in England which had a substantial Protestant minority
  • Hadn't been brought up to rule therefore she had no political instinct
  • Her trusted supporters had no serious experience in government
  • She would have to rely on those who served her half-brother and were therefore implicated in the introduction of religious reforms that were distasteful to her
• New councillors appointed by Mary

  • Bishop Stephen Gardiner, her father's secretary and steadfast upholder of religious conservatism during Edward's reign
  • Other churchmen who had been excluded from influence during Edward's reign
  • Some of the more conservative councillors who had at various times served Edward, most importantly Lord Paget
• Mary appointed 50 councillors overall which indicates an inefficient and faction-ridden government
• Mary's decision to marry Phillip of Spain wasn't formally discussed in Council
• Mary seemed to have regarded the title of "councillor" as honorary
• Working council board

  Much smaller and dominated by such experienced figures as Stephen Gardiner (Bishop of Winchester) and William Paget
• Mary's trusted group of advisors

  Included Cardinal Pole who was never a member of the Privy Council
• Problems between Mary and the Council

  • Lost confidence in Paget due to his opposition to her religious programme
  • She never fully trusted Gardiner who had failed to support her mother, Catherine during the break with Rome; she did regard him as indispensable, and his death in 1555 left a gap in government that was never satisfactorily filled, particularly as Cardinal Pole distanced himself from secular issues
• Due to problems with the Council

  Mary sought advice from her husband Philip of Spain, and Simon Renard, the ambassador of her cousin and father-in-law, Charles V
• Relationship between Mary and Parliament

  One of cautious co-operation
• About 80 MPs opposed the reversal of the Edwardian religious legislation
• Concern for property rights ensured that ex-monastic property would be restored to the Church and Mary did not press this point
• A bill in 1555 to allow the seizure of property of Protestant exiles was defeated
• Mary quarrelled with Parliament

  Over the issue of the succession
• Spanish marriage 1554

  • Mary was anxious to get married and thus produce a Catholic heir
  • Her age (37) heightened this anxiety
  • English suitor- Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon, Gardiner's choice to prevent a foreign marriage, brought the threat of factionalism, as the husband's family would inevitably become more influential, Courtenay lacked courtly skills so Mary saw him as unsuitable
  • Mary's personal preference- Philip of Spain, her view was reinforced by Renard, a Spanish subject, Catholic, and politically experienced, Philip's father, Charles V, had offered advice, guidance and moral support for Mary and was very encouraging, Philip was merely prepared to "do his duty"
  • English public opinion was hostile and a detailed marriage treaty was drawn up to dissuade Mary from the marriage, Philip would have the title of king with none of the power, No foreigners were to hold English office, If Mary predeceased Philip then he would have no claim to the English Crown
• Marriage took place in 1554 but Phillip resolved to spend as little time as possible in England
• Parliament rejected a bill in 1554 that would specifically have included Philip along with Mary in a proposed new law on treason and in 1555, it prevented Philip's coronation as king
• Plans for the succession

  • Mary's overthrow of Northumberland and Edward's Devyse, restored VIII's will, as established under the Succession Act of 1544
  • Mary would be succeeded by Elizabeth, should she die childless; issue for Mary, Elizabeth Protestant and thus was likely move religious policy back in a Protestant direction, but to deny her the right of succession would require either Parliamentary legislation to overturn the 1544 Act or Elizabeth's disqualification through treason
  • Attempts to change the succession through Act of Parliament came to nothing, Mary was thus forced to accept Elizabeth as successor, formally naming her as such on 6th November 1558
• Mary's foreign policy aims

  • Restore England to papal supremacy
  • Marry Philip
• Events in Mary's foreign policy

  1. January 1554- Marriage treaty between Mary and Philip drawn up; Wyatt's Rebellion against the Spanish marriage

  2. July 1554- Marriage between Mary and Philip

  3. May 1555- Election as Pope of the fiercely anti-Spanish Paul IV, Mary found herself effectively at war with the papacy

  4. April 1557- Scarborough raid followed by England declaring war against France, Mary was placed under pressure by Philip to declare war on France, unlike Northumberland's diplomacy and placed England back in traditional anti-French foreign policy, many members of the nobility were enthusiastic about the prospect of war as it offered those who had been in disfavour due to their links with Edward's regime to regain some credit with the Crown

  5. January 1558- humiliating loss of Calais, had been English territory for centuries, no attempt to recapture, a full-scale attack on the port of Brest in the summer of 1558 failed dismally