To what extent was Mary I successful in her attempt to re-impose Catholicism in England?

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To what extent was Mary I successful in her attempt to re-impose Catholicism in England?

Traditionalists have seen Mary’s reign as a failure; they believed that Protestantism was far too embedded and people wouldn’t accept Catholicism and the reversal of the Reformation, which was quite popular and strong, would cause a huge disaster. However, the Marian Reformation was, unexpectedly, quite successful. Mary, aided by her cousin Cardinal Pole, brought back Catholic doctrines and rituals, including the Mass, brought back the papal headship and crushed opposition from Protestants. In spite of this, Mary’s inability to produce an heir brought the Protestant Princess Elizabeth came to the throne after her death in November 1558, which ended her Catholic Reformation.

    Mary’s Reformation was quite popular, as there wasn’t much opposition towards it. At her accession there was much rejoicing and enthusiasm, this shows that people were happy to have Mary as Queen and accepted her. As many Protestants saw her accession as God’s verdict on their failures; most either conformed to the changes or went abroad. Just four bishops – Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley and Hooper – refused to recognise Catholicism and they were later all burned at stake for this. Carrying on, Mary’s rule shunned strict methods used by other countries to get rid of opposition, e.g. the Jesuits (dedicated Catholic priests who were determined to reverse the Protestant Reformation with papal approval) weren’t called to England to help with the restoration, even though they offered to help. There was some opposition, as there was growing persecution of heretics, especially in the south-east, but most of this was destroyed. Mary couldn’t be expected to wipe out all Protestantism as this was unachievable. Every person’s religious beliefs, in England, couldn’t be monitored and many Protestants could always practice their beliefs in the privacy of their own homes.

    The reasons why the Marian Reformation was so successful was firstly, Mary acted without too much speed; secondly, she acted with the consent of the Parliament; and thirdly, the regime wasn’t revengeful towards the Protestants, especially in its first few years. Mary took the throne in July 1553 an in October of the same year, Parliament passes a Statute of Repeal, which repealed the Act of Uniformity of the previous year and stated that all administration of sacrament and divine services should be as they had been in the last years of Henry VIII’s reign. Many reforming bishops had been arrested before the parliamentary session began; this helped remove possible opposition from the House of Lords. Therefore, the new Uniformity Act was passed easily and quickly. On the other hand, an effort to impose penalties on those who didn’t attend Catholic Church services was overpowered and there was no early return of laws against heresy.

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    The next point in Mary’s Catholic Restoration was the return of the papal headship, which was successfully carried through by Mary. Pope Julius III empowered Cardinal Reginald Pole, Mary’s cousin, to bring England back to Rome. Pole was a moderate Catholic reformer who believed in the ideas of Cardinal Contarini, who thought that the way to destroy wasn’t to engage in war with the heretics but rather not to deserve their criticism. Pole arrived in England towards the end of 1554, more than a year after Mary’s accession. He publicly announced a pardon upon the nation, amongst the ...

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