Did Mary I deserve the nickname Bloody Mary?

Answer 1

Yes she did.... Mary I was Queen of England and Ireland , she is best remembered for restoring England to Roman Catholicism . In the process, she had 287 religious dissenters called Protestants burned at the stake earning her the nick name of "Bloody Mary".

Answer 2

It's an interpretation

During her reign, she tried to abolish the New Church of England established by her father Henry VIII and reestablish the Catholic church. She then branded all Protestants as heretics and with permission from the Pope, proceeded to burn and kill nearly 300 such heretics. This earned her the reputation of Bloody Mary

I'm a different person than the person who wrote the above:

It's true, she killed nearly three hundred people, it's horrible. But there are so many people who have done worse things and have not earned a nickname throughout history such as "Bloody Mary" and have not had urban legends made up about them, honestly. For nearly three hundred years in Spain and Mexico the Spanish Inquisition took place. They not only burned "heretics" they tortured them whether they were guilty of a "crime" or not and we don't call Isabella and Ferdinand nor the generations after them "Bloody so and so". The Armenian Genocide- the way the word genocide came about, an event hardly known when three brother's ordered that thousands of Armenians be killed. They're not called "bloody". I'm not even going to go into the Holocaust, true Hitler may have a bad name now, but he still isn't called "bloody Adolph".

Clearly, what she did was unacceptable, but there were so many characters worse than she who killed only three hundred.

Other things that must be considered is the time period- religion was everything, and I might point out Elizabeth I wasn't exactly charming. True, she didn't publicly burn them, but she had spies track down Catholics secretly practicing their religion and when they were found, they were thrown in jail and left there to get a horrible sickness and die or not quite as often but still rather frequently they were decapitated and their heads put on stakes on the London Bridge- (a method also preferred by her father). But I digress, my point is religion was everything, public execution was actually common, disgusting as it is, people enjoyed watching it, that's not a good thing, but it's what it was. When a person truly thinks about no one of noble or royal blood could have had a particularly good state of mind, years and years of marrying first and second cousins, you have to wonder what the effects of that is.

Finally, Mary I and Elizabeth I. Mary especially had an awful childhood, she was betrothed three different times but was never accepted because she looked frail and it was thought she wouldn't be able to bear children- ( a slap in the face in that time period). She was favored by her father until she was eleven, after which when Henry VIII could not have a male heir by Catherine of Aragon he separated mother and daughterand had their letters read whenever they were sent and quite possibly had someone poison her mother, was thrown into prison for a few weeks when she refused to convert to the new church, then, when Elizabeth was born, was forced to become a maid to her own half-sister. She watched her father go through six wives- (always fun), was stripped of her title Princess of Wales, declared a bastard and her title given to Elizabeth. She was always in bad health with headaches, bad vision, and catching the sweating sickness every time it came round- (most likely a result of the crossed bloodlines). The one man she had wanted to marry was banned from the country and as a young women she was separated from her beloved nanny, the only person who cared for her by then. She wasn't even considered to be sent money for new clothing or new things in the castle she was exiled to.

When she was married to Phillip of Spain he said he wouldn't come home to her unless she allowed him to declare war on France. He lost a lot of English land, still was not kind to Mary, and eventually left England. She had an awful life, what she did wouldn't have been condoned or accepted now, but she could have done many worse things. And for some reason people like to stress the fact that she wouldn't conform to the Church of England. How many people do you know that would convert from the religion they have grown up in and loved simply because their father was almost excommunicated because he was a head figure that had many mistresses and illegitimate children?

Answer 3

Mary didn't deserved her nickname as she overall killed 300 people which is less than any ruler for 1,200 years. Also , it was a belief that burning Protestants saved them from eternal torture and unbearable pain in Hell for eternity. There are loads more reasons too

Answer 4

yes she does because she is called that due to all the people she killed when she was queen after all the deaths there was blood every where that's why she is called bloody Mary!she seemed to pick the most grusome ways to kill people that another reason!

Henry VII burnt 10 people in 2 years.

Henry VIII burnt 81 people in 38 years.

Edward VI burnt 2 people in 6 years.

Mary I burnt 284 people in 5 years.

Elizabeth I burnt 5 people in 45 years.

Mary burnt many more people than any

of the other monarchs. She burnt them

just because they were Protestants. For example, just as a heavily pregnant woman was about to be burnt, she began to give birth. The execution was postponed till the baby was born; then the woman was taken back to the stake and fire was lit. 'Who will look after the baby?' asked someone. The sheriff picked up the newly born baby and threw it on to the fire.

She executed many important people such as Thomas Cranmer. She knew that he was protestant because he revealed while Edward was reining thinking that he would have kids!

The other monarchs might have had better reasons to bur the people.

She lost Calais, the last town that England had control of on the continent.

She was overall a bit of a bad Queen.