Today in 1551 Lady Mary – the future Mary I – defied her brother Edward VI, and rode through London in a procession carrying rosary beads, making an obvious show of her Catholic religion.
Henry Machyn, who kept a diary, wrote: “The xv day the Lady Mary rode through London unto St. John’s, her place, with fifty knights and gentlemen in velvet coats and chains of gold afore her.”
Mary would be a thorn in Edward’s side – it didn’t help that she was a mature woman while he was an almost-teenager, who was dedicated to ending Catholicism, while she was just as dedicated to maintaining it. They would have several arguments over religion, and Edward would accuse her of disobeying him. There’s no question that Mary enjoyed making these public statements of her beliefs.
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 where there is an episode on Mary I.
Suggested links:
(Supplemental) Tudor Summit: Melita Thomas on Mary Tudor
Episode 23 Mary Tudor (Mary I)
Henry Machyn diary at the Internet Archive
From the shop:
Amazing Tudor Women Quotes Pendants Collection
Featuring: “Man is wise when he recognizes no greater enemy than himself,” Quote Pendant
Ps. All products are made on-demand and can take a few weeks to ship.
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 30 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history (how exciting when she got to interview Alison for the first time!). In addition to history, she is passionate about travel, and has lived in 3 countries and 4 states (not counting her perpetual state of confusion), and her family (who help her host her YouTube channel occasionally).
