Today in 1551 Edward VI’s Lord Chancellor Richard Rich visited Edward’s half-sister Mary to tell her she needed to stop celebrating the Catholic Mass. This was a constant thorn in the side of Edward. Mary was his half-sister – the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, and she would remain staunchly Catholic. This was a problem for Edward, who was raised by Protestant tutors, and was trying to rework the country into a Protestant one. It didn’t work for him to have his sister openly flaunting the laws of the country, Princess or not.
The men weren’t successful in their entreaties. Mary responded that she would rather place her head on the block than stop worshipping the way services were at the death of her father, though she stressed that she was Edward’s loyal and obedient servant. The men were forced to leave, having been unsuccessful in their mission. Mary and Edward would continue to fight about religion, and Edward did everything he could to try to prevent his sister Mary inheriting the throne when he knew he was dying.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested links:
Tudor Summit: Melita Thomas on Mary Tudor
Episode 23 Mary Tudor (Mary I)
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast,  the original Tudor history podcast, started in 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop. She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.