1 minute read
BL00DY MARY
by Terri Brabon
The Wars of the Roses is over.
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Henry Tudor has defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth and left behind his only living son, Henry VIII to rule England.
Henry married his brother’s widow, the Spanish Princess, Katherine of Aragon, but after twenty happy years the marriage yielded only one surviving child. A girl. Mary.
In his desperate desire for a son, Henry broke with the Pope, divorced his wife, married Anne Boleyn and established a new Church of England. But again, this marriage produced only one surviving child. A girl. Elizabeth.
Henry would need to remarry. So he had Anne arrested on trumped up charges of treason, adultery and incest, resulting in her execution, freeing Henry to marry his third wife, the Protestant Jane Seymour. Jane gave Henry his much longed for son, Edward, but died from complications in childbirth.
He would marry three more times, but he would father no more children, and died aged 55. As his only male heir, the nine year old, Edward became King upon his father’s death. Supported by his new Council and his Protestant sister Elizabeth, Edward set about reforming the Church in England and forcefully severing ties with the Roman Catholic Church. History however, had other plans. Edward died six years later, leaving the country, as stated in his father’s will, to his Catholic sister, Mary.
While the war between the White Rose and the Red may be over, England was gearing up for a new battle. This time, it’s a battle of faith.
Queen Mary I
Queen Elizabeth I
