Not Just the Tudors "Bloody Mary": Debunking the Myths
10 snips
Feb 2, 2026 
Anna Whitelock, historian of monarchy and early modern Britain, offers a fresh take on Mary I. She unpacks how Foxe and Elizabethan politics forged the "Bloody Mary" label. Topics include gendered criticism of a crowned queen, Mary’s political and legal achievements, the Spanish marriage, the Marian burnings in context, and how her health and legacy were misread by later generations.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Reputation Shaped After Her Death
- Mary I's reputation as 'Bloody Mary' was shaped largely during Elizabeth's reign and John Foxe's Book of Martyrs.
- That posthumous Protestant narrative painted Catholicism as foreign and Mary as a religious tyrant.
European Context Changes View
- Recent scholarship places Mary in a European context and shows Spanish historians view her far more positively.
- Looking beyond English sources reveals a very different, often sympathetic, picture of Mary.
Reframing Marian Religious Policy
- Historiography shifted from seeing Mary as a religious fanatic to recognising political agency and counter-reformation strategy.
- Eamon Duffy and others show Marian policy included education and hearts-and-minds approaches, not only burnings.
