Qing

Jennifer Qing

Mr. Kindrachuk

History 10 I.B.

September 7, 2009

Bloody Mary

Mary got her nickname Bloody Mary for a reason. Although she was popular at arrival, Mary’s reign as queen was filled with many trials and tribulations that were not accepted by most of England. Mary’s harsh killing to make England Roman Catholic is not excusable, even if she was emotional.

        

Making England Catholic was not an elegant process. If someone were convicted of heresy after being tried, they would proceed to be burned at stake. Heretics were also forced to suffer a slow, painful death by burning. On the other hand, beheading would have made the process quick and easy. Mary burnt 283 victims in her short reign of five years, which is more than three times the sum of all other Tudor monarchs with a combined reign of 113 years. During the Tudor Dynasty, death was not an unusual punishment. However, Mary’s rash method of killing and burning rate is what distinguished her from other rulers. By forcing 275 heretics to suffer a slow, painful death, Mary’s uncivilized killing process contributed greatly to her Bloody Mary nickname.

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Mary’s initial objective for killing is wrong to begin with. Heretics were burned in order to make England Roman Catholic by force. “Twenty years of Protestantism had soured the English on popery,” (Britannia) but ignorant Mary brutally forced change upon England to match her own religion. In the name of religion, about 275 people lost their lives for holding on to their own beliefs. Instead of discouraging the Protestants, the burnings mainly served to increase hatred of the Queen. Mary failed to carryout a more sophisticated approach to achieve her goal of making England Catholic. She did not attempt ...

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