Editing Mary I of England (section)

==Legacy==
{{See also|Cultural depictions of Mary I of England}}
[[John White (bishop)|John White]], Bishop of Winchester, praised Mary at her funeral service: "She was a king's daughter; she was a king's sister; she was a king's wife. She was a queen, and by the same title a king also."<ref>Loades, p. 313; Whitelock, p. 305.</ref> She was the first woman to successfully claim the throne of England, despite competing claims and determined opposition, and enjoyed popular support and sympathy during the earliest parts of her reign, especially from the Roman Catholics of England.<ref>Waller, p. 116.</ref>

Protestant writers at the time, and since, have often condemned Mary's reign. By the 17th century, the memory of her religious persecutions had led to the adoption of her [[sobriquet]] "Bloody Mary".<ref>Waller, p. 115.</ref> [[John Knox]] attacked Mary in his ''[[First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women]]'' (1558), and John Foxe vilified her prominently in ''[[Actes and Monuments]]'' (1563). Foxe's book remained popular throughout the following centuries and helped shape enduring perceptions of Mary as a bloodthirsty tyrant.<ref>Porter, pp. 361–362, 418; Waller, pp. 113–115.</ref> Historian Lucy Wooding notes misogynistic undertones in descriptions of Mary. "She's simultaneously being lambasted for being 'vindictive and fierce' and 'spineless and weak', criticized for such actions as showing clemency to political prisoners and yielding authority to her husband."<ref name=Solly/>

Mary is remembered in the 21st century for her vigorous efforts to restore the primacy of Roman Catholicism in England after the rise of Protestant influence during the previous reigns. Protestant historians have long deplored her reign, emphasizing that in just five years, several hundred Protestants were burned at the stake. In the mid-20th century, [[H. F. M. Prescott]] attempted to redress the tradition that Mary was intolerant and authoritarian, and scholarship since then has tended to view the older, simpler assessments of Mary with increasing reservations.<ref>Weikel.</ref> A historiographical revisionism since the 1980s has improved her reputation among scholars to some degree.<ref>Loades, David (1989). "The Reign of Mary Tudor: Historiography and Research." ''Albion'' '''21''' (4) : 547–558. [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/albion/article/the-reign-of-mary-tudor-historiography-and-research/08D58887054B50ADFFD93F606E7DF02B online].</ref> [[Christopher Haigh]] argues that her revival of religious festivities and Catholic practices was generally welcomed.<ref>Haigh, pp. 203–234, quoted in Freeman, Thomas S. (2017). "Restoration and Reaction: Reinterpreting the Marian Church." ''Journal of Ecclesiastical History'' In press. [http://repository.essex.ac.uk/20116/1/JEH%20review%20article%20%28final%20version%29.docx online].</ref> He concludes that the "last years of Mary's reign were not a gruesome preparation for Protestant victory, but a continuing consolidation of Catholic strength."<ref>Haigh, p. 234.</ref> English Catholics often remembered Mary favourably; decades after her death, the epitaph for [[John Throckmorton (died 1580)|John Throckmorton]] refers to "Queene Marie [Mary I] of happie memorie".<ref>Epitaph plaque, tomb of Sir [[John Throckmorton (died 1580)|John Throckmorton]], Coughton Church, Warwickshire.</ref>

Catholic historians such as [[John Lingard]] thought Mary's policies failed not because they were wrong but because she had too short a reign to establish them and because of natural disasters beyond her control.<ref>Loades, pp. 340–341.</ref> In other countries, the Catholic Counter-Reformation was spearheaded by [[Jesuits|Jesuit]] missionaries, but Mary's chief religious advisor, Cardinal Reginald Pole, refused to allow Jesuits into England.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mayer |first=Thomas F. |date=1996 |chapter=A Test of Wills: Cardinal Pole, Ignatius Loyola, and the Jesuits in England |editor-last=McCoog |editor-first=Thomas M. |title=The Reckoned Expense: Edmund Campion and the Early English Jesuits |pages=21–38}}</ref> Her marriage to Philip was unpopular among her subjects and her religious policies resulted in deep-seated resentment.<ref>Loades, pp. 342–343; Waller, p. 116.</ref> The military loss of Calais to France was a bitter humiliation to English pride. Failed harvests increased public discontent.<ref>Loades, pp. 340–343.</ref> Philip spent most of his time abroad, while Mary remained in England, leaving her depressed at his absence and undermined by their inability to have children. After her death, Philip sought to marry Elizabeth, but she refused him.<ref>Porter, p. 400.</ref> Although Mary's rule was ultimately ineffectual and unpopular, the policies of fiscal reform, naval expansion, and colonial exploration later lauded as Elizabethan accomplishments were started in Mary's reign.<ref>Tittler, p. 80; Weikel.</ref>