Back Draft:

Back draft
How Queen Mary’s pyres did not sway
the Protestants.



Molly Miller.




Co-op English
Mrs. LauraLee Miller.
May 4, 2005



Back draft
How Queen Mary’s pyres did not sway the Protestants.


Thesis: The policy that Queen Mary I used, of exterminating heretics to convert them had the opposite effect.
I. What Mary did caused fear and hate.
a. At first, Mary did not want violence, but moved by her advisors, Mary tried to control the church.
b. She killed ‘heretics’ in an effort to convert all of England into Catholicism
c. The ‘heretics’ were innocent villagers.
d. Stories of the burnings spread.
e. Storm of fury rose. (Quote)
f. People blamed the church.
g. The people began to mob together, confused and angry.
II. What Mary did stirred up rebellion and defiance.
a. The church had always been stable until King Henry VIII.
b. The people were confused by years of shifting orthodoxy. (Quote)
c. Some people chose to conform.
d. Some people fell away from the church.
III. What Mary did strengthened the Protestant faith.
a. Many Protestants stood firmly in their faith, and died for it.
b. Ex. Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley
c. Those who died, were remembered and honored in songs.
d. Through the songs, many became stronger in faith.
e. Ex. Margaret Clithrow.
f. Through these deaths, more Protestants united in faith.
g. Protestants were courageous. (Quote)



Back draft
How Queen Mary’s pyres did not sway the Protestants.
I held the pomander to my nose so I could smell the aromatic scent of dried orange and cloves. It did not take away the stink of burning flesh. I could even hear the cries of those on the stakes, begging their families to fan the flames and to pile on timber so that they might die the quicker and not linger, smelling their own bodies roasting, in a screaming agony of pain. (Gregory 264)
This is a description of one of the hundreds of heretic burnings during the reign of Queen Mary I. Following the example of her father King Henry VIII, and brother Edward VI, Mary sought to reestablish the Roman Catholic church by executing those of opposing belief. In doing so, she stirred up fear, hatred and defiance. Ironically, in the end, it had the opposite effect.

"Mary’s first initial statements on religion showed considerable tolerance and flexibility." (Erickson 309) Eventually, pressured by her advisors, Mary found the need to control the church. When the people did not willingly convert, she thought killing a few people for the good of the nation was the best option. This escalated from a few rebellious clergy to hundreds of commoners. Most of the ‘heretics’ were innocent villagers whose only crime was their faith. (Erickson 452-453) All over England, fear spread from village to village as stories of torturous deaths were carried by the families and friends of the innocent men and women who were killed for no apparent reason.
The deaths of these ordinary humble Englishmen unleashed a flood of fury, and the storm rose in intensity with each successive burning of such people as artisans, housewives, farm workers and other lay folk. (Lewis)
As time passed, and more and more ‘heretics’ were killed, the people began to blame and mistrust the church for the deaths of their loved ones. In some cases mobs formed and threatened the worshipers inside Catholic churches. (Erickson 420) "The burnings were creating a fresh undercurrent of opposition stronger than any political rebellion." In fact, widespread plots to overthrow the queen took shape. (Erickson 435) In this atmosphere of danger and confusion, the people found persecution no matter which faith they chose to follow.

The church had always been the stable part of the laymen’s lives. However, with each new monarch came new rites, practices and religion, which the churches were forced to accept. Under the rule of Henry VIII, the people were forced to change from Catholic to Protestant and back to Catholic after his son Edward VI died and Mary became queen. In the meantime, churches were burned, icons were destroyed and teachings were changed. With this instability, came confusion.
The men and woman singled out for destruction were only unlettered peasants or craftspeople, confused by twenty years of shifting orthodoxy and by the conflicting voices of clergymen who had changed their doctrines at least once in every reign. (Erickson 452).
With the choice of religion being dire, some of the people chose to conform to whatever faith the monarchy gave them. Others mistrusted the church and shunned it. "And others, who said little, simply turned from their religion altogether." (Erickson 453)

Not all turned from their faith however. Many went bravely to the fire, proclaiming their Protestant faith even as they were being bound to the stake.
Two prominent bishops, Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley… were bound together to the same stake with an iron chain. As the pyre was lit, Latimer said to Ridley, "Be of good comfort, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s Grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out. (Bobrick 168)
Those who did such, were remembered and honored in songs, stories and memories. "…Ballads spread even more quickly in the summer of 1555, songs about the heroism of the Protestants burned by the queen’s bishops and about the malice of the queen herself." (Erickson 420) "The ballads that did the most damage to the queen’s repute were those that glorified the Protestant martyrs." (435) Those who gave up their lives for their faith lived on in ballads. They told of victim’s famous last words, pleading with God to strengthen the Protestants. Through these stories of faithful devotion to God, many Protestants grew in faith. They saw the example of the martyrs and trusted God to keep them safe. Margaret Clithrow was a Protestant woman who was put to death in a very severe way for what she believed. When she was sentenced to be crushed to death in a matter of three days, she only accepted her fate quietly and prayed for Mary’s soul. (Rabenstein) Through these deaths, more and more Protestants united in faith.
The executions created nothing but resentment, and showed the whole world that there were English Protestants of such courage and conviction that they would die for their faith. (Bobrick 169)

After King Henry VIII renounced the Catholic church, religion in England was thrown into turmoil and darkness. With each succeeding monarch, doctrine and practices changed. In order to maintain control over the church, monarchs executed those they considered heretics. Both Catholics and Protestants were persecuted. Like early Christians, these persecutions only served to make the faith of those persecuted stronger.
These and other early persecutions brought about consequences that were neither intended nor planned. Persecutions diminished neither the number nor the spirit of Christ’s followers. The more Christians were persecuted, the more they grew in number. (Schmidt 21)
This is what happened during the reign of Queen Mary the first. The policy of burning heretics caused fear and hatred to rise. Defiance of the church followed, and many stood by their original faith.
Mary was "A bad queen; bad for many things, but especially bad for her own most beloved cause… She set herself to burn out ‘No Popery’ and managed to burn it in. The concentration of her fanaticism into cruelty… did remain something red-hot in the public memory." (Bobrick 169)










Works Cited

Bobrick, Benson. Wide as the Waters; the Story of the English Bible and the Revolution It Inspired. Simon and Schuster. New York. 2001.

Erickson, Carolly. Bloody Mary. Doubleday &Company, inc. New York. 1978.

Gregory, Philippa. The Queen’s Fool. Simon and Schuster. New York. 2004.

Lewis, Brenda Ralph. "Mary Tudor: A Most Unhappy Queen." for British Heritage magazine. 2005. <http://www.thehistorynet.com/bh/blmarytudor/index2.html>

Rabenstein, Katherine I. "Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord." March 25, 1999. <http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0325.htm#marg>

Schmidt, Alvin J. How Christianity Changed the World. Zondervan Publishing House. Grand Rapids, Michigan. 2001, 2004.