Mary Tudor (review)

While Judith Richards' new biography of Mary Tudor studies a member of a much investigated period and dynasty, this accessible text finds much that is new to say about Mary. It offers a fresh analysis of the queen, whose reputation as 'bloody Mary' was advanced by sixteenth-century Protestant historians and martyrologists, chiefly John Foxe in his Book of Martyrs, but whose reputation also became a historiographic orthodoxy for nineteenth- and twentieth-century historians.

Richards establishes from the outset the historical parameters which have hitherto defined Mary Tudor and acknowledges that her biography will seem to be an attempt to 'rehabilitate' Bloody Mary, especially as she diverges significantly from the path pursued by David Loades' authoritative biography. She acknowledges that any attempt to rehabilitate, or at least re-think Mary's rule is still a controversial undertaking in scholarly circles.

The introduction situates her study in the existing scholarship and interpretations of Mary and makes clear that Richards intends to revise the general reputation which adheres to Mary's name. She stresses that 'Bloody Mary' in fact earned praise from unexpected quarters, including the evangelical bishop Nicholas Ridley, for the sweetness and mildness of her temperament. While Richards notes the significant religious disorder, especially in London, which marked the beginning of her reign, she also reconstructs the spontaneous popular revival of Catholic cultic practices (including the Mass) which reformers shrilly condemned and suggests that Mary's religious policies met with widespread approval that has been overlooked.

The following chapters adhere to a chronological structure and examine in turn the foundation of Tudor rule, Mary's birth, childhood, her status as princess and outcast during the later years of her father's and brother's reigns, and her own rule and marriage to Philip of Spain.

While much of this content is necessarily a familiar narrative, Richards offers fresh insights into Mary's childhood and adolescence. Many historians depict this phase of her life, especially after her parents' divorce, as unremittingly miserable and regard Mary's enforced separation from her mother Catherine of Aragon as a tragedy. But Richards stresses Mary's closeness to Catherine Parr, the last of Henry's six wives, even though Parr was inclined to support religious reformers.

The most significant point of distinction between Richards' work and earlier studies, is her analysis of the foundation of Mary's rule. She establishes the financial, agricultural and religious crises confronting Mary in 1552, when Edward VI died. Richards argues that deeper constitutional problems confronted Mary, who was challenged by the absence of any existing English precedent for a queen regnant, rather than a queen consort (barring the brief rule of Matilda in the twelfth century). Richards also argues that Mary entered into her reign from a context where the powers of even the queen consorts had been exposed as vulnerable, given Henry VIII's treatment of four of his wives.

Richards stresses Mary's skill and efficiency in meeting these different challenges. The transition from a king to a queen regnant was indicated by the ritual and language of the coronation ceremony and by the unusually large number of women who were participants in, rather than spectators, of the queen's processional entry into London. Richards also offers a fresh perspective on the efficiency of Mary's swiftly-formed Privy Council, efficiency which stands in contrast to the desperate efforts by the ailing Edward VI to establish stable rule and then the debacle of Lady Jane Grey's short reign.

Richards also offers new insights to Mary's initial independence from Hapsburg and Spanish influence. Whereas other historians have depicted her as in thrall to her Spanish husband's personality and influence, Richards notes the significance of Renard, the Spanish Ambassador, not joining Mary's circle of advisors.

Of course Richards addresses the origin of Mary's bloody soubriquet: the burnings of Protestants during the final years of Mary's reign. It is here that Richards seems most anxious...