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Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Question from Alice - "Bloody Mary"

I am in year 8 and need to do an essay on whether or not Mary the first deserves her nickname 'Bloody Mary'. I am supposed to give an argument (for and against) but can't think of any reasons or sources for against? Can you help? Do you know any good sources/reasons/websites that disagree with the nickname? It will help at lot becuase I am going to be graded. Thanks!

65 comments:

  1. HI,JUST TO SAY BLOODY MARY GOT THAT DUE TO ALL THE PEOPLE SHE EXECUTED FOR NOT BEING CATHOLIC,PLUS SHE WAS LOSSING THE PHILIP OF SPAIN BECAUSE SHE HAD PHANTOM PREGNACIES

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  2. You can read more sympathetic arguments concerning Mary's life and political policy in Jasper Ridley's biography "The Life and Times of Mary Tudor." I think he balances the opinions about her nicely. Extremely sympathetic accounts of her are given in Alison Weir's "Children of England" and Carolly Erickson's "Bloody Mary." They both attempt to build sympathy for Mary as a woman (victim of a traumatic divorce between her parents, outshone by her manipulative half-sister, abandoned by her husband and demonised by her Protestant opponents, etc.) This version of Mary is carried on in yet another of Philippa Gregory's excruciating novels - 'The Queen's Fool.'

    The only serious pro-arguments you can make concerning Mary's introduction of the Inquisiton to England are not personal, but political. Clearly, Mary's reign was ultimately a political failure and the brutality of her government as a very large factor in explaining that. However, that doesn't mean that she knew it would be a failure when she started.

    Mary came to the throne in 1553 only after crushing a plot by the leaders of the Protestant elite to place her cousin, Lady Jane Grey, on the throne, instead of her. She had promised mercy to many of the rebellion's leaders, but in 1554 there were two more disturbances against her rule. They were orchestrated by Jane Grey's father, the marquis of Dorset, and Sir Thomas Wyatt, son of a family with strong emotional ties to the Boleyns (and, thus, Elizabeth, Mary's Protestant half-sister.) This showed that there was strong Protestant sympathies against Mary and that leniency would not prevent them from rising up against her again. Thus, political brutality was called for. It was also certainly expected by Mary's chief foreign ally, Spain, who made it clear that the Jane Grey threat had to be dealt with if the Spanish-English alliance was to be maintained. So, Mary's domestic peace and foreign policy all depended on her taking a harsh line with Protestant political opponents.

    Also, in the 16th century, it was a monarch's duty to care for their subjects' spiritual souls. So, for an especially devout Roman Catholic - like Mary - it seemed only appropriate that she continue in the tradition of the Middle Ages and savagely punish those whose lives were setting a dangerous religious example (i.e. Protestants.)

    For, what it's worth, I think the arguments I've just given you are valid. But I still don't think that they excuse Mary from what she did. Politically, it made her far more enemies and destroyed her reputation. Morally, even by the standards of the 16th century, what she did was deluded and cruel. It's why I just don't buy the Weir/Erickson/Gregory school of thoughts on Mary. They just don't explain in enough detail a very important point about her - a tragic, lonely woman can still be a cruel, ineffective and bloody ruler.

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  3. The only real defense of Mary is to play up the emotionally unstable angle. Certainly her persecution of a great number of her subjects was far from politically expedient, and she did a rather poor job of implementing catholicism (her archbishop of canterbury was excommunicated because the Pope was feuding Philip).

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  4. Hi lara - its HOLLY!!!
    i didnt no u used dis syt 2!!!!
    i sed she was trying 2 help them. She believed that they were going to go to hell, and that if she didn't either change their minds, or kill them, they would make the whole of England sinners. She was also emotionally unstable!

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  5. Mary didn't execute many people. in fact she only executed a few. BUT she burned loads and loads even babiesw. she burned them if they wouldnt be catholic.

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  6. i hav to do this too! i cant think of such to say concerning whether she doesnt deserve her nickname because i think she does. So, all i say is what other people say she was emotionally unstable.
    frm ???????????

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  7. I am in year 8 and I have to do this, and i was searching for something like this! this is mine...Does Mary I deserve the nickname ‘Bloody Mary’?

    When Mary was born, her mother thought the princess would be the next monarch of England. But in 1527, her father, Henry VIII, had found a new woman, Anne Boleyn. Now, Mary was out of favour for the throne, as well as her mother Catherine. If her mother and Henry were to be divorced, Mary would be claimed illegitimate. A few years later in 1536 Mary’s mother died, in Kimbloton. A few months later Mary thought everything would go back to normal as Anne Boleyn was executed at the Tower of London. But she was very badly wrong, as Henry VIII made her sign documents that said that he and Catherine of Aragon had never been married. Mary signed the documents, pretending that she was always illegitimate. When Henry VIII died, Mary was welcomed back, but not long after that her brother, Edward VI came to the throne in 1547. Mary thought that Edward was not old enough to decide for himself about his own religion, so she made her Catholic beliefs very clear. As Edward got older he made his own Protestant rules, and he didn’t want to give the throne to his sister, Mary. After a while, Edward wrote Mary out of succession and the throne was given to their cousin, Lady Jane Grey, a protestant. When Mary was finally crowned queen, she was very popular with her people. This was why Lady Jane Grey got taken off the throne. Because of Mary’s religious beliefs, her popularity did no longer exist. Mary did the opposite of what Edward did with the church. Because everyone was so used to Edwards rules, they didn’t agree with Mary and all wanted to remain being Protestants. The Tudor family was still respected; they just didn’t accept the rules. If anyone refused to follow these rules, they would be burned at the stake. Mary burned more than 300 people. This is why people started to call her ‘Bloody Mary’.
    In many ways, Mary does deserve the nickname ‘Bloody Mary’. For instance, between 1553 and 1558 Mary burned 284 people as punishment for the minor crime of heresy. That’s double the number of people burned by all the other monarchs who have ruled Britain put together; by comparison, Edward VI only burned 2 between 1547 and 1553. These burnings began in 1555. It was mostly men that were burned on Mary’s bonfire, 220 to be precise. Mary burned 60 women. Mary Tudor was the only Tudor monarch who punished heresy harshly, because some other monarchs were more tolerant. Henry VIII executed many people during his reign, although he didn’t burn heretics that often, about 2 in his whole reign. During the Tudor reign, about 16 people were hung for theft each year. Mary is remembered as the cruellest of the monarchs. The queen’s husband, Philip was alarmed when he found out that his wife had been killing all the people, her people. Philip predicted that Mary’s ways would alienate the crown. Many of the martyrs that Mary burned were quite young members of the new generation. They were simple people; cloth workers, chandlers, and cutlers. One old blind lady, Joan Waist of Derby, saved up for quite a while and when she finally had enough money to buy a New Testament, she paid people to read it to her. Another illiterate person that wanted to read the Bible was Rawlings White, a poor fisherman who saved up for his child to go to school, so he could learn to read and then come home and read it to his father after dinner. These martyrs might have made Mary feel threatened, and a threat to her position on the throne. This shows that many people were not going to let Mary change their beliefs, whatever Mary did. This also proves that Mary burned illiterate people, old people and poor people, this does not support Mary’s nickname, ‘Bloody Mary’. Mary thought that burning people would show other Protestants what would happen if they disobeyed her. To get themselves burnt, heretics had to refuse that the Pope was the head of the church, reading the English bible. Also if you refused that the bread and wine was Jesus’ body and blood then you were in danger of being executed. A few years after she started her reign she married Philip II of Spain. At this time many people feared Spain, because it was so powerful. Mary only married Philip II because she wanted the two powerful countries to join together. Many saw Spain as an archenemy of England. Mary’s reign was awful, her foreign affairs were failing. Philip encouraged Mary to help Spain in a war against France. In the result of this Mary lost Calais, which was the only land that England ruled in France. Philip II was also a very strong Catholic, so Mary hoped that marrying him would help make her country more Catholic. Because Mary was a Catholic and was very supportive of the Pope and the Church, so her people weren’t that kind to her, and so she didn’t have their support. When she got married to Philip II of Spain many people were very suspicious of her, because before this England hated Spain. All of this lead to Mary being very unpopular with her own people. Mary’s plan was not a good one, as the couple barely saw each other, as Philip spent much of his time in Spain and they had no children. Philip deserted Mary in 1558. Mary had no heir to the throne as she had had no children. She was forced to accept her sister, Elizabeth, a protestant as the next Queen. Mary attempted to make her sister turn to Catholicism, but failed, as Elizabeth turned in to Queen Elizabeth I. Soon after in November Mary died, childless and depressed. In Spain at this time, burning people who disobeyed there monarchs was very popular, in fact, this method was used throughout Europe. In this time burning was thought to cleanse the soul, which was very important for people who had done wrong. Other forms of torture would take place at the Tower of London. One form was called ‘The Rack’. This meant that heretic’s hands and feet were tied in ropes on to beds of wood, and stretched by treadmill devices.
    On the other hand, in some ways Mary didn’t deserve the nickname ‘Bloody Mary’.


    And thats how far i have gotten!

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  8. i dont think she did deserve it cus her dad dun wayyyyy morr ;),.. ive got to do an essay on " bloody mary did she deserve her reputation" mt gordons hw,.. bilton highh :) xx ly

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  9. I am also doing a paper on this exact subject- I have decided that my angle is going to be that she did not deserve the nickname "Bloody Mary". I am claiming that we cannot judge with a 21st century mind - the actions of people in the 1500's. Religion was the driving force in peoples lives in those times and this cannot be overstated. Many people went calmly to their (horrible) death rather than renounce their religion. Comparatively, for the times, the 274-300 people she had executed, was a relatively small number of people. Especially if you look at some of the other monarchs of the time. Some sources claim as many as 72,000 executions under Henry VIII - not to mention his wives.
    Check some of the others. One of Henry VIII's nicknames is "Great Harry", not bloody Harry. So my final conclusion is going to be
    that it would be justified to call Mary Tudor "bloody" - only AFTER "Bloody Henry VIII, and the other examples I'll use.
    (Queen Mary I of England)

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  10. Anonymous says that Henry VIII executed a lot more than 300 people (during his much longer reign). But this isn't to compare like with like. 300 is not the number of people that Mary executed. Rather, it is a conservative estimate of the number of people that her regime *burned*. Burning is one specific form of execution and was used for heretics. Other forms of execution existed and were used under all monarchs, possibly for heretics but also of course for traitors, for common criminals, and so on.

    Another Anonymous says that we can't judge mary by 21st century standards. But we don't need to: in the 16th century she was already regarded as cruel and bloody. This is not a uniquely modern perspective. Foxe's Book of Martyrs was published in 1563.

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  11. i think that your thing is really cool and i go on this all of the time!!!
    ime doing the same thing, basically this is what i think of her having the nickname "Bloody Mary"

    she killed (executed and burned) alot of people even if they were babies, she would only kill them if they wasn't going to grow up as Christians because she wanted everyone to follow her rules even if some people didn't want to follow them.
    she was actually trying to help some of the people because she thought that is they wasn't Chritians then they was going to go to hell so she either made them change there mind or she would kill them, she thought that if they didn't become Chritians then they will turn the wole of England into Sinners!!!

    I hope this helps you alot
    From Jessica Massey oxoxox

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  12. I have just finished this assignment. Just to say - don't even consider comparing Mary to Hitler, everyone who did got an immediate fail as History teachers are very hot on things like that. You could suggest that Hitler deserves the nickname "Bloody Adolph" but thats as far as you can take it. Even though she was pressurised into her decisions, that is no excuse for the damage she caused.

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  13. hi, i have to do this too, i am also in year 8, i have too write page and a half !!
    i have searched and found out ___
    that she did kind of deserve it as she killed people just coz they didnt want to follow the catholic religion, which i personaly think is stupid

    also i have found out they some historians have said that she didnt deserve to be called bloody mary because she had a traumatic childhood and she lost her love of her life

    hope i can help

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  14. I have to do this exact essay too! A lot of the evidence for her being bloody is from Foxe's book of Martyrs, which was heavily biaed seing as he was a protestant priest. So we cannot really trust that as evidence. She really did think that by burning peopl she was saving them. Tudor society was very violent, so we cannot judge her properly.

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  15. i am doing this to!!!!!!!!!!!
    I have found all posts very useful, thanks!

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  16. hey! i have to do an essay too! i think john foxe (google hime or the book of martyrs) who was a protestant was really mean to mary cos she didnt deserve it, the other tudors killed way more people than mary EVER did! GO MARY!

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  17. I am doing this essay now but i have to write in both view. like.. In some ways she did deserve her nickname and in some ways she did'nt I need help!

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  18. im doin the same subject at school
    btw... she dosent deserve da nickname caus her sister killed more people than she did and she didnt get a nickname
    Anonymous ... lol

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    1. yes but even that that makes other people bad it doesnt make her innocent

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  19. Im also doing the same subject and i think in some ways she does deserve her nickname bloody Mary because she burnt 283 Protestant and she burned the most compared to other Kings and Queens!

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  20. I would have to say that I found so much of your information useful!
    I think that the view that we can't judge her on 21st century grounds is great and I totally agree. Someone said that Elizabeth Killed more people than her but I would have to disagree. Elizabeth executed 4 people in a 45 year reign and mary close to 300 in five years.

    Thanks for all your useful ifo!

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  21. i had 2 do this 2, and i wanna say that these comments were very help full!!thanks

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  22. i think that she deserved it coz she burnt more people in the shortest reign, only in 5 years
    in comparison, edward VI only burnt 2 people in 7 years
    BIIIIGGG DIFFERENCE!!
    BTW, ELIZABETH HUNG APPROX. 300 PPL, SO WHY ISN'T SHE CALLED BLOODY ELIZABETH?????

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  23. I am doing an essay as well. We had to do 750 words!

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  24. I think every one has do it.....including mee!

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  25. we have to do the same essay and it is pretty hard that is when i have level 7 history.
    I liked some comments bt Alisa's was just awful
    Far too biased

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  26. i have to doooo this too came in great help, thnx... ^-^

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  27. to be exact if it helps any more she burned 287 protestants

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  28. she didnt deserve the nickname bloodymary because even though she sounded quite evil she wasn't she had a very unhappy child hood due to henry... she aslo made mary sign a document stating that her fathers marriage to cathrine was illegal!

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  29. edward didnt killl a lot through his reign of bewing king..... mary killed 284 protestants !!!
    p.s the information on here is soo good !!! thanks :)

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  30. I'm in yr8 and i have to do this 2 but its not a essay. Also i couldnt find any useful websites sorry. But i do no that in all her reign she only burnt 1 person in the north of england and devon and cornwall,3 in wales ,oxford and hertfordshire.So i would'nt think she was called bloody mary in all of england.most people were burnt in london(46),kent(59) and essex(52) because she lived near there.on the other hand elizebeth 1 hung over 300 people and mary burnt 284.

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  31. hi! U have the exaxt same homework and this is what I have so far:


    I think Mary I did deserve her nickname as Bloody Mary. I have arguments for and against her nickname but I agree that the nickname suited her.

    I think Mary I didn’t deserve to be called Bloody Mary because although she killed many people, she believed that she was helping God by getting rid of Protestants as Roman Catholics believe that by worshipping in the wrong way (like they thought Protestants did) was a way of helping or following Satan and offending God. Also, by making England Catholic she was stopping wars between the religions and so she was, in a way, helping her country. Thirdly, by killing lots of Protestants she was keeping Catholics happy and stopping them rioting or starting a rebellion against her and so she was doing it for her own life. Lastly, Mary was not as bad as her father Henry VIII as he killed 57,000 people but he wasn’t called Bloody Henry or any other nickname like this but ‘Great Harry’.

    I think Mary I did deserve her nickname as Bloody Mary because she killed 287 Protestants in her reign. Also, the way Mary killed the Protestants was a reason for her nickname because she made them burn in pain for a long time. Thirdly, Mary let lots of people watch the Protestants be killed for entertainment. Lastly, Mary had these Protestants burned just for being a rival religion to her and she even had babies killed or tortured if the mother refused.

    I think Mary I did deserve her nickname Bloody Mary as it was much harder to think of reasons why she doesn't deserve it than why she does. Secondly, I agree with the reason why she did deserve her nickname. Mary was very judgemental and killed people just because they were a different religion and although she may have had her reasons and there are some reasons why she didn't deserve to be called Bloody Mary I still think Mary deserved it as my reasons state.

    PLEASE POST 'HEY EMU I PICKED YOU' IF YOU USED MY HOMEWORK! THANKS! X BTW THIS SITE IS GOOD: http://www.the-tudors.org.uk/why-was-queen-mary-tudor-known-as-bloody-mary.htm

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  32. She does deseve it and she doen't . Does because she burned 300 protestants ,The whole country lived in fear of mary , mary's choice to burn people. Don't mary got influenced by her husband philip of spain ,people had three chances to repent and she was mentaly ill . im doing an assesment to hope this helps :D

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  33. she does and doesn't cause she burned over 300 people but she did have a kind side have a look on wikipedia that's where I looked :)




    have fun!! :L
    xxxxxxxx
    <3

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  34. I've got to do the exact same essay and this is what I've written so far:
    In this essay I will be looking into whether Bloody Mary should be pitied of cursed. She was the first child of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. She was born 18th February 1516 and she became Queen after Edward died.

    Mary Tudor burnt lots of Protestants because they wouldn’t become Catholics. I think she could have been cursed for doing this because the Protestants were only trying to stand up for what they believed in. On the other hand she could have been pitied because she was only wanted everyone else to believe the same religion as she did because she though it was right. Overall I think she should be cursed for doing this because you shouldn’t burn people for being true to themselves.

    Here are some useful websites:
    www.historylearningsite.co.uk
    www.sparticus.schoolnet.co.uk
    www.schoolhistory.co.uk
    www.historyonthenet.co.uk


    By the way if anyone can help me get some information I would be grateful and for once I would like to get a better mark than my best friend. My target is a 6C. Please email me on chloewyon@hotmail.co.uk.

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  35. heyaa um i have the same homework and tbh my brain is goin into a freeze! :( i have not a clue what to have for any evidence for 'for and against' and i like need my essay to be in by thursday :S plz help xxxx :)

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  36. I had to do the same and I watched Lady Jane (1986). Ap rt from the fact it is a really good film, the second hakf helps with this essay! xx

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  37. Did bloody mary ever kill anyone

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  38. bloody mary was misunderstood it was the local atority that kiled most of the people and blamed it on her

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  39. Mary did not deserve the nickname ‘Bloody Mary’ because she asked protestants if they wanted to change religion. Mary was treated badly as a child, neglected by her father (Henry VIII) and wasn't allowed to see her mother (Catherine of Aragon). Elizabeth took to the throne when Mary died and gave Mary the nickname Bloody Mary. Elizabeth killed more people than Mary did anyway and we don’t call her Bloody Elizabeth. Mary believed she was doing it for god. Henry VIII killed many more people, (57,000) not always for a certain reason, so he deserved to have been called ‘Bloody Henry’ more than Mary, who only killed less than that. Many people believed that the only way to purify a body and give it a chance to go to heaven was if it got burned at the stake after treason. The soul would then be released at God’s mercy, so she was actually trying to send all her subjects to Heaven. She kept on having phantom pregnancies, so would be angered by that, for not being able to produce a male air.

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  40. She deserved the nickname. Although allowed to practice her outlawed catholic faith during the reigns of her father and brother, whe could not extend the same graciousness to protestants when she came to the throne. Her reasoning was "well, I'm right, you're wrong". Except for Bishops Latimer Ridley and --especially--Cramner, great protestants all, she kept her hands pretty much off the gentry and upper class merchants who were protestants, and instead focused on the poor and illiterate-- shame! Many of those people could not recite the lord's prayer or name the catholic sacraments. Guess what? Such people never could, for hundreds of years past. In the 12th century, they were just as ignorant of their faith. The poor/illiterate had a very faint notion of what religion was, and the mass was in Latin.
    Such biased burnings of poor wretches, @ 300 in her 5 year reign. Her 1st year she burnt few. It wasn't until her 3rd year as Queen she really got going. Burnings, then on, almost every day, many several people a day. The wood was wetted, so the fire was poor and the agony of these poor people longer.

    Henry reigned @ 30 yrs. Elizabeth @ 50. Compare the rates of executions/hangings/burnings per year, and Mary comes out smelling like--smoke. And compare those poor illiterates killed by Mary to the educated traitors Elizabeth had to deal with. It makes a difference.

    So don't argue "it was the times", as those who ruled before and after her were never so cruel. She is, and was, Bloody Mary.

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  41. I think that Mary Does and doesn't because she believed that if someone wasn't Catholic, then they would go to hell but she didn't have to kill people because of that,she could of just told them and try to persuade them and then kill them :)

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  42. Apparently Henry VIII killed 72000 people so that is just unfair to call her 'Bloody Mary' just because she killed around 300 people

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  43. Mary didn't really deserve it because yes everyone else burned less heretics but that was only because she had more heretics to burn in that situation. Also she wasn't really that sane so that didn't help either.she only did it to clean their souls. Her childhood was not that great either and her religion was the only stable thing left in her life so she wanted to spread out to everyone.

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  44. exact same as you, got some homework. she did and she didn't deserve her title. she burnt her citizens at Stake. what kind of queen does that?!? she killed people that didn't believe in her faith and religion. even though she has reasons. she doesn't as well. her father neglected her. he demanded her not to see her mother. she couldn't get pregnant and when she though she did. it was just a terrible disease/illness. her husband left her and thought her unattractive and boring (RUDE!!!). overall she did deserve part of it but not to be written down in history as BLOODY MARY

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  45. Mary did not deserve the nickname 'Bloody Mary' because she asked protestants if they wanted to change religion. Mary was treated badly as a child, neglected by her father (Henry VIII) and wasn't allowed to see her mother (Catherine of Aragon).

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  46. I'm in year 7 and have to do this I have to write to pages!!!! I found out for against if you would let's say kill her they could get war from Spain because she is married into the royal in Spain also Spain was a good trading post

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  47. im in year 8 to and i have to do the same. I think that she did and didnt deserve the nickname 'bloody mary' because she did burn protestants but she did give them a choice, to turn catholic or burn.

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  48. Everyone's comments were really helpful :) thnx

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  49. Another reason that I did was that her father in law Charles the fifth killed 30000 Protestants in Europe. Therefore Mary could have been pressured by her father in law because her country was not catholic and Spain was and her religion could have pressured her because she doesn't want all these innocent souls to go to hell and so she decides it's the right thing to do by burning them.

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  50. I'm in year 8 too and I have to do this stupid assignment. I'm using most of the information on this page but I'm also writing that she did have a valid reason not to be given this name. she didn't really kill people, slaughter them, shoot them or behead them as much as other rulers of England did. Burning people isn't as bloody so..... Thx for the help on this website. It was really helpful. IK this is really old!!

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  51. I've got to do this assignment 2 an got nothing for why she didn't deserve it any ideas?

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  52. I have the exact same homework and i'm in year 8. Thanks for the lovely ideas, it really helped!

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  53. I have the exact same homework and I'm in year 8 this really helped!
    Thanks

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  54. Thank you!!! You were super helpful!!!

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  55. this website has been soo useful, but does anyone know who actually came up with the idea to give mary that nickname??

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  56. This website has been so useful, thanks! I also think that one reason that she didn't deserve her nickname was because she had a very traumatic love-life (as well as childhood) because she was pregnant with 7 children, but never gave birth to any of them alive and then her husband left her. Hope this helped x

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  57. I'v got the same assignment to do and all of these comments really helped!! Thanks!!

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  58. I'm doing this essay too. And I'm just looking at the dates of all these comments. 2007 - 2017. 10 years of Mary I essays! ��

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  59. Even though this is a rather uncommon opinion, I think Mary did not deserve her nickname. Not only was she in a bad state of mind (She lost the love of her life, and he mistreated her. She had multiple phantom pregnancies. And she had a very bad, traumatic childhood)which already had her fueled with anger. She wanted England to be a catholic country, she believed what she was doing was purifying the souls of the (in her perspective) "sinners". Compared to A LOT of other Tudors, Mary killed very few people, her father, Henry VIII killed around 72,000 people. He wasn't given a cruel nickname. However, it is reasonable that people gave her her nickname. She killed innocent people for their religion. She killed people in some cases, for her own personal pleasure, which is incredibly cruel, even for her. Her reign was very short compared to others, Elizabeth I ruled for 44 years and burned a mere 5 people. Tiny compared to Mary's killings. She also lied about sparing her cousin Lady Jane Grey's life, she was burned at the stake.

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  60. I feel very strongly that Mary deserved the name of “Bloody Mary” because of the terrible suffering she caused to so many people in the name of religion. She could possibly have achieved her aim of a Catholic country by the use of argument and persuasion instead of resorting to murder. Her methods also ensured that many Englishmen grew to hate and fear her.

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  61. thank you I am doing a piece on this to

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  62. Assessment

    'Mary I was the cruellest Tudor and deserves her reputation as “Bloody Queen Mary”. How far do you agree with this interpretation?

    For
    I think that Mary did deserve her nickname because she burned on average one person every five days (including her execution for lady jane grey and her husband,as a rival for the english crown) for refusing to convert to Catholicism.This meant that she burnt up to 284 people in a year! Another reason which Mary I did deserve her nickname is because she saw that the burnings of protestants had no effect on the religious beliefs of the protestants yet she still chose to continue with them (and her executions and imprisoning including her sister).This shows that Mary proceeded to kill them even though they won’t listen because she found it entertaining.Also she killed many important people in the church such as the archbishop and lied to everyone by saying people could worship as they wished but then she arrested,imprisoned and even executed protestants.Many people celebrated in the streets of London when Queen Mary I died.She was said to have plotted against her brother,Edward VI whilst he was king.Therefore,this shows that many people had a hate for her and her doings and that she deserved her nickname, her reputation and that she was the cruellest Tudor.

    Against
    Some people may argue that Mary I did not deserve her nickname as many other monarchs executed far more people than Mary in other horrid ways.This meant that she was not the only one doing this as Mary’s father-in-law who had been king of spain, burned, beheaded or buried alive thirty thousand protestants during his reign. This was allowed as it was common in the 16th century to punish anyone you disagreed with.Another reason why people might argue that Mary I did not deserve her reputation was because in her early reign Mary appeared to have disliked brutality as she forgave four hundred people who rebelled against her in a rebellion and she allowed eight hundred protestants to flee from the country while she could have stopped them from doing this and killed them.

    Conclusion
    In conclusion,some argue that Mary I deserved her reputation and nickname while others think the quite opposite of that.In my opinion,is that she did deserve the name because even if many other people did it,that did not make it right.Both of these arguments are good and give a strong point of if she deserves or does not deserve her reputation or nickname.

    this is how far i've got tell me if you pick mine ty

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