To what extent was the burnings of Protestants the real cause of the failure of Mary's religious policy?

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To what extent was the burnings of Protestants the real cause of the failure of Mary’s religious policy?

        After Mary had taken the throne from Lady Jane Grey in 1553, she had, in her view, the task of returning the church to the state it had been in at the start of 1534. By the end of the year of her accession, Mary had re-implemented the heresy laws and by her death in November 1558, a minimum of 287 Protestants had died in the flames at Smithfield and elsewhere across the country. At the end of Mary’s reign Protestantism was far from being suppressed, and upon the accession of Elizabeth, England once again swung to Protestantism. England would never be officially Catholic again. Although it can be argued that Catholicism was not a total failure under Mary, by her standards she had certainly not achieved what she had set out to do. She had wanted to re-establish a good relationship with the Papacy, and have a complete return to Catholicism proper. She had wanted to restore all Church lands, bring back the monasteries, and most importantly Catholic doctrine.

Mary’s religious policy was simple from the outset; to bring the return of Roman Catholicism to the country. This was no secret, as she had given up her title as Princess for her religion. She had also openly defied her brother, Edward VI, when he decreed that it was illegal to perform, and take part in the mass. Mary was eager to re-establish a relationship with the Pope, as well as bring back the old Catholic rituals, which has stood after the Act of Six Articles in 1547. These were a revival of the Mass, ritual worship, clerical celibacy, and implicitly the reaffirmation of the traditional doctrine of the Lord’s supper. These were restored in an act of parliament in autumn 1553. Claire Cross concurs when she says that “Queen Mary made no attempt to hide her overriding desire to bring back the form of Catholicism she had known and loved in the days before her father had summoned the Reformation Parliament”. Mary was also determined to impose a stricter regime on the clergy, as well as form a bond with Spain, the most Catholic country, with a marriage alliance with Philip II. Mary had considered that policy would not be too difficult to pursue, as the country had been officially Catholic only 10 years previous. It has been argued as to what the causes of the failure of her religious policy actually were, and it is undisputed that there are a number of possible causes.  

Historians from John Foxe (writing in 1563) to Robert Tittler (1991) have disputed the effect that the burnings had on the populace. The initial argument was that the burnings had such a profound effect on the people of England that they took up the new religion in favour of Catholicism. This argument hangs on the idea that people saw the victims of the burnings being prepared to die for their faith, and were converted as a result. Tittler talks of “widespread popular witness and sympathetic reaction” to the burnings that took place under Mary, and David Loades concurs when he describes the burnings of Rogers and Hooper: “At the same time the heroism of the early victims…made a deep impression upon many who were not predisposed to favour their cause.” Pro-Protestant jaunts such as “smite the Jezebel of England [Mary]”, were shouted from the crowd when Hooper was burnt. Foxe also pronounces that “[Londoners] came fourth to their doors with lights, and saluted him [Hooper], praising God for his consistency in the true doctrine…”. From this we could initially say that the burnings were having a profound effect on the people of England, and that the burnings had the opposite effect to their intention, a Protestant encouragement rather than a deterrent. Cross sums this up well with the following passage: “By 1555 those same citizens who had pressed to dip their handkerchiefs in Sir Thomas Wyatt’s blood were now crowding round the stakes at Smithfield, shouting their encouragement to the victims”.

There are more examples of anti Catholic behaviour amongst the population. For example, in April 1554 a dead cat with a shaven head and a bread disc between its paws was found hanging at the gallows in Cheapside, in mockery of a priest performing the mass. Henry Pendleton, a converted Protestant preacher, was shot at, at St Paul’s cross when preaching about religious conformity again in April 1554. A woman in April 1555 refused to pray for the dead Pope, saying “Nay, that I will not, for he heedeth not my prayers, and seeing he could forgive us all our sins I am sure he is clean himself”.

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Nearly all three hundred of those who were burnt were done so in public on charges of heresy. This allowed the image of the “Marian Martyrs” to arise amongst the common people. Paul Thomas argues that Mary was careful to avoid executing men of high standing to avoid making enemies that she could not defeat. It is also important to remember that centralised government was not strong during Mary’s reign. Central government was particularly strong under Wolsey (Henry VIII) and Cecil (Elizabeth), but Mary did not have the state machinery to enforce her religious policy without the aide of the ...

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