John Edwards places Mary I within the English and Spanish worlds that shaped her identity, faith and political expectations. The biography follows her traumatic displacement during Henry VIII’s marriage crisis, resistance under Edward VI and successful defeat of the attempt to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne.
Mary’s marriage to Philip of Spain, restoration of Catholic worship and persecution of Protestants are examined through continental as well as English evidence. Edwards presents a determined and capable queen whose policies achieved more than their later reputation suggests, but whose childlessness, war and religious violence left her programme vulnerable to reversal.
Linda Porter
Alison Weir
35 books
Antonia Fraser
7 books
Sarah Gristwood
2 books
Peter Ackroyd
1 book