Queen Mary I of England: A concise historical biography written by an experienced classroom teacher with source-based student activities to help them with their GCSE and ‘A’ level examinations.

Mary Tudor was crowned the first Queen of England in October, 1553. During her three year reign, 227 men and 56 women were burnt for heresy. This compared to only 81 heretics executed during the reign of Henry VIII (1509-1547). Mary's cruelty resulted in her being called "Bloody Mary". John Foxe, one of the first historians to write about Mary, claimed that she was an example of what could happen when "a lawful ruler was seduced by the Devil". For the next five hundred years historians have not been very kind to our first queen. Jasper Ridley, wrote in Bloody Mary's Martyrs (2002) that because of Mary's actions "it is impossible for a King or Queen of England to be a Roman Catholic or to marry a Roman Catholic; and Bloody Mary is indirectly responsible for the hatred of 'Papists' felt by the Protestants in Northern Ireland today". In this brief biography an attempt has been made to explain the psychological reasons for her behaviour.