Mary and Philip

The reign of Mary I (1553–8) and Philip (1554–8) has been vilified and dismissed as irrelevant for centuries. The queen was typically recast as a ‘bloody remaniac’ avant la lettre—to use Alexander Samson’s humorous expression—by those who understood the English Reformation ‘as a movement of national liberation’ (p. 222). In consequence, the reign, the reconciliation with Rome and the project of co-monarchy with Philip of Spain were traditionally perceived to have been essentially un-English and a mere glitch in the kingdom’s path towards Protestantism. Samson’s work is the latest in a series of studies which are bringing nuance to the historical narratives on Mary and Philip by making an effort to study their reign in its own terms, rather than through a particular national or religious lens. Samson begins by setting the context, analysing Mary’s contested accession against the claims of Lady Jane Grey and the importance of Mary’s Catholicism as a source of popularity, as well as the crucial commercial links between England, Flanders and Castile which were the backbone of the Anglo-Spanish match. This prepares the scene for understanding the marriage contract. Samson dissects with surgical precision the mechanisms set in motion to draw up a marriage treaty that would be advantageous to both monarchs, even if some of the clauses could be seen as detrimental by Philip. There follows a survey of the rebellion of 1554 by Sir Thomas Wyatt and others. Although they had ostensibly risen to prevent the Spanish marriage, Samson convincingly argues that, even if anti-Spanish propaganda was strong, it cannot be assumed from the surviving evidence that the rebels’ anti-Spanish sentiments were widely held. The gendered questions surrounding female rule raised by the rebellion are also addressed in this chapter through a fascinating exploration of the Act for the Queen’s Regal Power (1554) which proclaimed Mary’s power, authority and prerogatives to be equal to those of any of her male predecessors

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