Mary: brutal but brilliant

“ A horrible and bloody time.” That’s how the 16th-century Puritan preacher John Foxe described the reign of Mary I. And it’s a verdict that’s stuck. For much of the past 450 years, Mary has been widely cast as a malevolent force in English history. She’s the cruel reactionary who burned Protestants at the stake; the Catholic traitor who served England up on a plate to her grasping Spanish husband. And perhaps worst of all, she’s the jealous half-sister who plotted the future Elizabeth I’s downfall – thus almost denying England one of its greatest reigns. When historians describe the 16th century as a glorious chapter in English history, more often than not they don’t have the five years that Mary occupied the throne in mind.

Of course, not everyone has shared this negative assessment of England’s first queen regnant. In her influential 12-volume Lives of the Queens of England (1842–48), the historical writer and poet Agnes Strickland offered a more sympathetic assessment of Mary, informed by a return to primary sources.

Three major biographies following on the heels of the 450th anniversary of Mary’s death (in 2008) also attempted to redress the balance, praising the queen for her intelligence, astute policies and refusal to be dominated by court favourites.

But such reappraisals have failed to turn the tide of opinion. For her attempts to resuscitate Mary’s reputation, Strickland was dismissed as a “papistical sympathiser”. As for the more recent efforts