The Birth of a Queen: Essays on the Quincentenary of Mary I ed. by Sarah Duncan and Valerie Schutte (review)

This collection of essays celebrates the quincentenary of Mary I's birth and evaluates the state of the historical debate concerning perhaps the most vilified figure in early modern English history. Its intention is partly to take stock of recent developments in the historical understanding of the Tudor queen's role, but also to present new research. Part I deals with Mary's life before her accession; Part II discusses the years in which she ruled; and Part III is dedicated to a discussion of her later reputation, concluding with Retha Warnicke's essay that attempts to sum up the last ten years of scholarship concerning Mary and her rule. The collection as a whole is undoubtedly a valuable addition to the volume of recent work that has sought to challenge negative portrayals of England's first queen regnant.

There are fourteen contributions to this volume that take many different approaches, although several distinct themes emerge. One comprises some very useful comparisons with other historical figures and eras. Mary's reign has always suffered from being treated as an oddity, and many have cast it as a perversion of contemporary trends in politics and religion; but here her reign is rescued from isolation and contextualized with reference to others who faced similar challenges, both before and after. Carole Levin explores the theme of false pregnancies, arguing that Mary's mother, Catherine of Aragon, may also have experienced a phantom pregnancy, and shows how contemporary theories explained such a phenomenon. Levin also makes an interesting connection with the predicament of Mary of Modena in the 1680s and the analogous political rhetoric of that time. It is useful to see the way in which Mary I's reign was compared to that of Mary II (1662–94), as discussed by Anne Mearns, with a reconfiguration of anxieties about religion and gender. In Mary II's case, Jacobite commentators levelled criticism at her as a Protestant queen, denouncing her for being an "unnatural daughter." Charles Breem's survey of heirs to the throne notes how the "nomination" of Lady Jane Grey as heir in 1553 recalls the twelfth-century tactic used by Henry I to secure Matilda's authority; he also notes how the sermon given in July 1553 by Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, concerning the illegitimacy of both Mary and Elizabeth, echoed Robert Stillington's sermon on the eve of Richard III's usurpation in 1483. Mary's reign emerges from these discussions less as an aberration than as just one episode in a series of debates about the basis of monarchical rule and its complicated relationship with lineage, legitimacy, and gender.

Another great strength of this collection is its attentiveness to contemporary literature. Alexander Samson presents a vigorous defense of the intellectual culture of Mary and Philip's reign, which has so often, like its queen, been labelled barren. Moving beyond the established debate about the role of the printing press in Catholic and Protestant polemical exchanges, this essay explores the proliferation of literary romances, the influence of the Spanish language, and books about marriage and exploration, all of which testify to the fertility of literary culture and the stimulating consequences of Spanish influence in Marian England. Samson also notes the place of drama, poetry, and martial display at Mary and Philip's court. This essay illustrates both the variety and the vitality of Marian culture and the need to locate it firmly within broader European trends and connections.

Other books from Mary's lifetime seem to offer different clues, and to reinforce our understanding of her humanist education and consequent intellectual sophistication. Valerie Schutte explores book dedications to Mary, to Katherine of Aragon, and to Henry's subsequent wives as a way of evaluating contemporary perceptions of Mary, but also of the extent to which...