State the case which supporters of Mary Tudor might have advanced for the restoration of Catholicism in her reign
State the case which supporters of Mary Tudor might have advanced for the restoration of Catholicism in her reign
After Edward VI’s death on the 6th July 1553 the Duke of Northumberland was desperate to retain power as Lord Protector. He therefore pushed forward an unwilling Lady Jane Grey who reigned for nine days before being put in the tower by Mary Tudor and her extraordinarily strong following of supporters. Mary Tudor was a staunch Roman Catholic and as such her and her followers had many cases for the restoration of Catholicism.
Protestantism in England was still seen as an UN-English, German faith. Mary’s supporters suffered from a certain amount of xenophobia even though Protestantism wasn’t that deeply routed. There were only a few hot spots around London and Cambridge. Leading Protestants such as Thomas Cramner were burned or forced to go underground such as Matthew Parker. Mary’s supporters were convinced that Protestantism wasn’t that deeply routed and as Henry VIII had been a popular king a repeal of the Heresy and treason laws and a return to Henrician Catholicism wasn’t considered to be too drastic or unpopular. As a consequence these changes were made in 1554. A further move back towards Rome wasn’t out of the question although it would have to be done slowly. Another possible reason for Mary Tudor’s supporter’s advance for the restoration of Catholicism was the fact that since Mary had defeated the Duke of Northumberland and Jane grey with the backing of popular support it must prove that Catholicism was popular. This may not have been the case as Northumberland was very unpopular since he re-minted the coinage and therefore people didn’t want Jane Grey to be a puppet queen.