Queen Mary I
1516 – 1558 · Generation XXIII · Queen of England and Ireland (r. 1553–1558)
Mary I Tudor (1516–1558). Queen of England and Ireland (r. 1553–1558). Married Philip II of Spain in 1554. England’s first crowned queen regnant; her restoration of Rome died with her. Declared illegitimate after her parents’ marriage was annulled and restored to the succession only in 1543, she took the crown by acting fast: when leading politicians proclaimed Lady Jane Grey queen, Mary gathered supporters in East Anglia within days and swept her rival from the throne. She then set about undoing the Reformation begun under her father, though Parliament largely blocked the return of property confiscated from the Church. Her five years on the throne saw more than 280 people burned for heresy — the persecutions that earned her the later name “Bloody Mary.” Her marriage also made her queen consort of Habsburg Spain from 1556.
Line of descent: Owen Tudor → Edmund Tudor → King Henry VII → King Henry VIII → Queen Mary I.
Parents
- King Henry VIII (1491 – 1547)
- Catherine of Aragon (1485 – 1536)
Siblings
- Queen Elizabeth I (1533 – 1603) (half)
- King Edward VI (1537 – 1553) (half)
Partners
- Married Philip II of Spain (1527 – 1598) in 1554
Life
- 1516 — Born
- 1553 — Lady Jane Grey is proclaimed Queen by her father-in-law The Duke of Northumberland. After nine days, Mary arrives in London, Lady Jane Grey is arrested, and Mary is crowned Queen.
- 1554 — Married Philip II of Spain
- 1554 — After Mary declares her intention to marry Philip of Spain, Sir Thomas Wyatt leads a revolt to depose her.
- 1554 — Mary's half-sister Princess Elizabeth is sent to the Tower of London on suspicion of involvement in Wyatt's rebellion
- 1554 — Mary marries Philip of Spain heir to the Spanish throne.
- 1554 — Four months after Mary's accession, Parliament meets to re-establish Catholicism in England
- 1557 — Philip II persuades Mary to declare war on France as an ally of Spain.
- 1558 — Died
- 1558 — Mary dies at St.James’s Palace, London.