On this day in 1553, Mary I, also known as Mary Tudor, was crowned Queen of England and Ireland. She made vigorous attempts to reverse the English Reformation, which had begun during the reign of her father, King Henry VIII. Her attempt to restore to the Church the property confiscated in the previous two reigns was largely thwarted by Parliament but, during her five-year reign, more than 280 religious dissenters were burned at the stake in what became known as the Marian persecutions, leading later commentators to label her “Bloody Mary“.
Mary was the only surviving child of Henry VIII by his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. She was declared illegitimate and barred from the line of succession following the annulment of her parents’ marriage in 1533, but was restored via the Third Succession Act 1543. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded their father in 1547 at the age of nine. When Edward became terminally ill in 1553, he attempted to remove Mary from the line of succession because he supposed, correctly, that she would reverse the Protestant reforms that had taken place during his reign. Upon his death, leading politicians proclaimed their Protestant cousin, Lady Jane Grey, as queen instead. Mary speedily assembled a force in East Anglia and deposed Jane.
She died in 1558, in pain, possibly from ovarian cysts or uterine cancer. She was succeeded by her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth. 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. The policies of fiscal reform, naval expansion, and colonial exploration later lauded as Elizabethan accomplishments were started in Mary’s reign.
Mary by Hans Eworth, 1554. She wears a jewelled pendant bearing the Tudor pearl set beneath two diamonds.
Chicken Girl and Gumbo Guy????
Some kind of Mexican bird???
Today is the birthday, in 1959, of Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician and composer Youssou N’dour who had the 1994 UK No.3 single ‘7 Seconds’. He has worked with many artists including Peter Gabriel, Wyclef Jean, Lou Reed, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen and Sting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqCpjFMvz-k
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