Henry VIII (1491-1547) famously came up short in his struggle for male progeny. His only legitimate son by Jane Semour, Edward, was named as Henry's heir to be supervised in his regency by sixteen co-regents. Edward, apparently always sickly, died before he reached his minority. He tried at the last minute to out-maneuver his father's wishes and leave the crown to a Protestant cousin, Jane Grey.
But ultimately Henry VIII, ever powerful, reached from the grave and had his wish, for the next in line to be his eldest daughter Mary (1516-1558) be next in line. But her reign was as disastrous as it was short. She had a pathetic marriage, was known for her cruel religious persecutions, and in short was despised. Her life ended as sadly as it began, a shameful chapter of England's past that never should have been written.
THE DEATH OF EDWARD VI and MARY'S ASCENSION (1553)
Edwar's regents were concerned that if Mary Tudor, Henry's daughter with Katherine of Aragon (1448-1536) were left the crown, the progress that they made to establish Reformist doctrine in the realm would be reversed. They were right. But his maneuverings at his dying hour to name named his cousin Jane Grey to the throne instead of either of his sisters (Elizabeth being a Protestant but young, a woman, and not under the control of either of his regents and thus unpredictable) went badly.
Against Henry's express wishes Jane was named Queen in Edward's will, and the party (including her Father in law, John Dudley, who had engineered the plan, and her husband, Guilford Dudley, who was to be joint ruler under his father) marched on an unconvinced London and into the tower, never to come out.
For no one knew Jane or her family very well, but Princess Mary inspired the people's awe, as she had been royal Lady Mary for thirty-five years and was well loved. There was a sense that she had long been wronged by her life's events, both by her father's treatment of her mother, and by Edward's jilting her of the crown. So even though the Dudley party had her under house arrest it was extremely difficult to pay or coerce anyone to betray her. Lord Dudley's hired troops, who were escorting Mary to what was probably intended to be death, turned on their employers in support of the Princess.
Thus there was little hope for Jane and her contingent. One by one, once Mary assumed power, they went to death as traitors, and it was probably reasonable that they should given those in power. Mary allegedly had hoped to keep Jane alive, because everyone knew that she was probably an innocent pawn of conspiring men, but Mary's already fragile reign was being threatened by insurgents in Jane's name. Her beloved intended, Prince Phillip of Spain, said he wouldn't come to England under precarious circumstances (while Jane remained alive to threaten their throne).
MARY'S MARRIAGE, ILLNESS AND DEATH
So she sent Jane to the block, and Phillip came to do his duty to marry his cousin and attempt to be joint ruler. At this point Mary was thirty eight, and looked older. Phillip was not a happy camper about the whole thing. He was to have said that she dressed poorly, was nearly toothless, and had 'evil smells' about her.
He briefly did his duty by her but then sailed back to England. She believed that she was pregnant, as she had some of the symptoms: a swelling abdomen, and cessation of menses. So briefly, things were looking up for Mary for perhaps the first time in her life. She had always had it rough as the cast off and bastardized daughter of an unwanted wife of Henry's.
Then there was the question of what to do about her little sister. She had haunted her her entire life, as the daughter of the despised Anne Boleyn, who took both her father and her religion away from her and the people. There is some evidence that Mary wanted to have Elizabeth killed. Certainly that was the fate of many protestants in the land, including Anne Boleyn's chaplain, Thomas Cramner, who had recently been burned at the stake.
Elizabeth was brought at age twenty to be imprisoned in the tower, something that is likely terrifying for anyone. Very few English citizens to be imprisoned in the Tower ever ended up leaving alive, including her mother seventeen years before. After a brief conference between the half sisters, she was let go. She was allowed to return to Hatfield house for a more informal house arrest while Mary decided what was to be done. She was angry that Elizabeth would not promise to rule under the Catholic faith if she was left the crown. She said merely that she would "do as her conscience dictated." But for some reason Mary went no further.
Unfortunately something that also went no further was Mary's pregnancy. Her abdomen shrank and her bleeding began again. It seemed that perhaps the person that was in Elizabeth's corner was Mary's husband. The rather slimy Phillip suspected that perhap's Mary wouldn't live long, if she was pregnant or if she weren't. He was actually keeping Elizabeth in mind for another wife, although it is likely that if he had told Mary this Elizabeth would have never lived another day.
There was another brief possibility that Mary thought she was pregnant again. But much the same thing happened. This time Phillip decided he had had enough of England, England's weather, and England's subjects, including the Queen. Sobbing and horribly heart broken, Mary watched him sail from the port of Dover, never to return. Her abdomen issue revealed itself to be a tumor, and at this point everyone knew she didn't have time to live.
There wasn't time to get rid of Elizabeth or come up with another plan, so everyone knew that Elizabeth would ascend the throne. This was terrifying for all of Mary's supporters as they had systematically tried to purge Protestantism from the land. Many had been executed, including almost three hundred that were burned. Priests fled into exile for their lives. Her advisors fell over themselves to declare allegiance to Elizabeth so they wouldn't meet the fate that Mary gave to those backing Elizabeth. Mary, depressed, alone, and mute with pain near the end, watched the last chapter of her miserable life come to a close that was even worse than anyone ever imagined.
CONCLUSION
For a monarch to earn the nickname "Bloody Mary" they would have to be pretty bad. And Mary Tudor was actually worse. With a singular purpose she spent her miserable five years as England's worse monarch ever trying to do nothing for the realm but right personal wrongs to her mother, and her church. She had Protestants burned and attempted to reinstate Roman Catholicism to a land that had largely rejected it at that point. Distracted by her petty vengeance and her unrequited love life, England's economy went down the drain, security was abismal as riots broke through the land, and the last piece of land England owned on the continent was lost. A sadder figure there never was, even in this sad and tumultuous age.