On November 17th 1558, Mary Tudor, Queen Mary I of England, died - the end of a short and still controversial reign. But what if history had been different, what if she didn’t die in 1558, but lived longer to reimpose Roman Catholicism on England and forge a long lasting Anglo-Spanish alliance?
Traditionally, the dark shadow cast by “Bloody Mary” over the Tudor era could only be cleared by the light of Elizabeth I. But in this counterfactual debate, Suzannah Lipscomb and her expert guests look at a different version of events - how would we see Mary now if she had lived another 30 years? Would she have changed religious history, patched up relations between England and the rest of Europe, married off Elizabeth to a Hapsburg prince?
In this discussion, we will try to give Mary a fair judgement by giving her more time. Where would her policies have taken England - would history have been irrevocably changed?
__________________________________
Find out more about this episode's expert historians:
Doctor Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer, historian of the early modern Spanish Empire. He specialises in King Philip II’s influence both in Spain and in other cultures at the University of Bristol. He has published a monograph on Phillip and Mary, ‘Habsburg England: Politics, Religion, and Society in the Reign of Philip II (1554-1558)’
https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/persons/gonzalo-velasco-berenguer
Professor Alexander Samson. Professor of Early Modern Studies and Director of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies Programmes at University College London. He has written extensively on Anglo-Spanish interactions in early modern Europe. Author of ‘Mary and Philip: the Marriage of Tudor England and Habsburg Spain’
https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/10727-alexander-samson/about
Professor Anna Whitelock is a leading expert in Tudor queenship, modern monarchy, and all things Mary. She is a Professor of the History of Monarchy at City, University of London and Director of the Centre for the Study of Modern Monarchy. Author of ‘Elizabeth’s Bedfellows: An Intimate History of the Queen’s Court’, ‘Mary Tudor: England’s First Queen’, and ‘Tudor Queenship: The Reigns of Mary and Elizabeth’
Up Next in More than Just the Tudors
-
Becoming Anne Boleyn
March 2022 marks the 500th anniversary since Anne Boleyn made her debut at the court of King Henry VIII.
Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb investigates the story of Anne’s remarkable upbringing in England, the Netherlands and France before she arrived at the heart of Tudor England. For all Anne Boleyn’s...
-
Coronavirus: Lessons From History
In the past few months more than a billion people have faced restrictions unlike any seen before. Shops are closed; the death toll is rising; people across the globe have been forced to rise to an extraordinary challenge. But it is important to remember that humans have experienced pandemics befo...
-
Atahualpa: Death of the Last Inca Emp...
On 26 July 1533, a rope was tightened around the neck of Inca Emperor Atahualpa in the central plaza in Cajamarca in what is now Peru. The general who ordered his execution, Pizarro, is said to have shed a tear as the life drained from the condemned's body. On paper, the man died a Catholic by th...
11 Comments