Aims
This course aims to:
• provide a thorough understanding of the reign of Mary I
• introduce you to relevant primary material
• contextualise the reign within the wider framework of 16th-century history
Content
Mary I gets a very bad press. Her reign, 1553-58, is sandwiched between that of her more (in)famous father, Henry VIII, and her sister the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I. Both family members play a crucial role in determining the events and interpretation of the reign of England’s first queen regnant. Born the daughter of Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Mary came to symbolise England’s Roman Catholic past after the Henrician schism. It would be the mission of her life to reunite her country with the Papacy and to restore its Church. For the Elizabethan propagandists, the burnings with which she has become so deeply connected, provided the perfect material to blacken her name in perpetuity.
This course will look beyond the centuries of propaganda to consider Mary’s reign afresh. Her marriage to Philip of Spain; her re-establishment of the Roman Catholic Church; and her methods of government all point towards considerable success despite her unprecedented position as a female monarch. Using the most recent academic research on the topic, we will consider how Mary I’s reign is fundamental to understanding the subsequent developments of the Elizabethan Age. Rather than being the ‘bloodiest’ Tudor, was Mary I merely the unluckiest?
Presentation of the course
This course will be taught over five sessions. In each session students will be presented with a thorough analysis of the topic. Students will be encouraged to consider primary material and to discuss ideas within the group.
Course sessions
1. Mary, Princess of England
2. England’s first queen regnant
3. Marrying the King
4. Counter-Reformation
5. Death and legacy
Learning outcomes
You are expected to gain from this series of classroom sessions a greater understanding of the subject and of the core issues and arguments central to the course.
The learning outcomes for this course are:
• to understand the context of Mary I’s reign
• to identify and evaluate the major historiographical changes relevant to the period
• to examine and reconsider the realities of the Bloody Mary myth
• to examine a variety of primary sources to assess the historical significance of Mary I
