373.  Mary’s Death (1558).

But Mary’s career was short.  She died (1558) near the close of an inglorious war with France, which ended in the fall of Calais, the last English possession on the Continent (S240).  It was a great blow to her pride, and a serious humiliation to the country.  “After my death,” she said, “you will find Calais written on my heart.”  Could she have foreseen the future, her grief would have been greater still.  For with the end of her reign the Pope lost all power in England, never to regain it.

374.  Mary deserving of Pity rather than Hatred.

Mary’s name has come down to us associated with an epithet expressive of the utmost abhorrence (S342); but she deserves pity rather than detestation.  Froude justly says, “If any person may be excused for hating the Reformation, it was Mary.”

Separated from her mother, the unfortunate Catharine of Aragon, when she was only sixteen, Mary was ill-treated by Henry’s new Queen, Anne Boleyn, and hated by her father.  Thus the springtime of her youth was blighted.

Her marriage brought her no happiness; sickly, ill-favored, childless, unloved, the poor woman spent herself for naught.  Her first great mistake was that she resolutely turned her face toward the past; her second, that she loved Philip II of Spain (S369) with all her heart, soul, and strength; and so, out of devotion to a bigot, did a bigot’s work, and earned that execration which never fails to be a bigots reward.  But the Queen’s cruelty was the cruelty of sincerity, and never, like her father’s hangings, beheadings, and burnings (S358), the result of tyranny, indifference, or caprice.  A little book of prayers which she left, soiled by constant use and stained with many tears, tells the story of her broken and disappointed life.

375.  Summary.

This reign should be looked upon as a period of reaction.  The temporary check which Mary gave to Protestantism deepened and strengthened it.  Nothing builds up a religious faith like martyrdom, and the next reign showed that every heretic that Mary had burned helped to make at least a hundred more.

Elizabeth—­1558-1603

376.  Accession of Elizabeth.

Elizabeth, the last of the Tudor family, was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn (S349).  At the time of Mary’s death she was living in seclusion in Hatfield House, near London, spending most of her time in studying Greek and Latin authors.  When the news was brought to her, she was deeply moved, and exclaimed, “It is the Lord’s doings; it is marvelous in our eyes.”  Five days afterwards she went up to London by that road over which the last time she had traveled it she was being carried a prisoner to the Tower (S369).

377.  Difficulty of Elizabeth’s Position.

An act of Parliament declared Elizabeth to be the true and lawful heir to the crown[1] (S355); but her position was full of difficulty, if not absolute peril.  Mary Stuart of Scotland, now by marriage Queen of France (S363),[2] claimed the English crown through descent from Henry VII.  She based her claim on the ground that Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, was not lawfully entitled to the throne, because the Pope had refused to recognize Henry’s second marriage (S349).  Both France and Rome supported Mary Stuart’s claim.