Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Henry was advised to marry a Protestant princess to create a new alliance against
the Catholic monarchs, so artist Hans Holbein was sent to Saxony to paint a portrait
of Anne of Cleeves. Henry married her in January 1540 on the strength of the paint-
ing but later found he didn't like her much. The marriage was annulled in July 1540,
and he subsequently married Catherine Howard, cousin of Anne Boleyn. That didn't
end well either: 2 years later she was executed for having lovers
before
their marriage
(and the three alleged lovers were executed with her).
The sixth and final wife of Henry VIII was Katherine Parr, a well-educated widow
who had hoped to marry Jane Seymour's brother Thomas. However, she was obliged
to marry Henry, at
Hampton Court Palace
(p. 122 and 285) in 1543. She nursed
Henry through various ailments, though he died in 1547 and was buried in St.
George's Chapel at
Windsor Castle
(p. 199) next to Jane Seymour.
If Henry's life was dramatic, what happened next was extraordinary. His sickly son
succeeded him as Edward VI, aged 10. During Edward's 5-year reign, the Church of
England finally became Protestant and adopted an English Book of Common Prayer.
Although Edward was devout, he obviously couldn't have made those decisions him-
self, and that atmosphere of religious fervor intensified when Edward was succeeded
by his Catholic elder sister in 1553.
Before Mary I gained the crown, though, there was an attempt to put Lady Jane
Grey on the throne. Jane was Henry VIII's niece, and married to the Duke of Nor-
thumberland's son. The Duke was fiercely Protestant and a powerful adviser to
Edward VI. When it was obvious Edward was dying, Northumberland made the king
denounce his half-sisters as illegitimate and declare Jane his heir. Jane was queen for
9 days, until Mary arrived in London to take the throne.
Mary was supported over Lady Jane Grey because she promised not to challenge
the religious status quo, and she did not have Jane executed—at least not initially.
That came when Mary started reintroducing Catholicism, which didn't please many
of the noble families now living on monastery land. After another attempt to put Jane
on the throne, Mary had her beheaded in 1554.
Mary also reintroduced Catholic bishops, revived heresy laws, and pronounced
Protestantism a treasonable offense punishable by death. And that was just the start.
She had 300 Protestants burned at the stake during her 4-year reign. That's 75 a year,
compared with the 81 people in 38 years that her father had burned! It's no wonder
she was called Bloody Mary.
Her marriage to Catholic Philip II of Spain had already made her unpopular, and
she lost England's last French possession—Calais—when Spain dragged England
into a war with France. Not surprisingly, few mourned her death in 1558.
Her sister Elizabeth was under house arrest at
Hatfield House
in Hertfordshire
(p. 237) when the news of Mary's death arrived. She was crowned Queen in 1559 at
Westminster Abbey. The Virgin Queen had many suitors but, sensibly, managed to
play one against another so she could retain her own power.
Elizabeth reversed Mary's Catholic laws and worked with Parliament to create an
Anglican form of Protestantism that tolerated Catholicism, but she was often the
target of Catholic plots, many involving her cousin Mary Queen of Scots. Mary was
forced to abdicate by Scotland's nobility and her 1-year-old son, James VI, was put on
the Scottish throne. She escaped to England, only to be imprisoned by Elizabeth for
nearly 20 years and eventually executed, in 1587.
The most famous Catholic plot against Elizabeth was the King of Spain's attempt
to invade England to claim his dead wife's—Mary I's—throne. King Philip II of Spain
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