How successful was Mary I's counter Reformation?

What were the problems facing a counter-reformation?
- There were major financial costs to restore Catholicism.
- A huge possibility of a Protestant upsurge.
- Bible was reprinted in LATIN - So the bishops had to be re-educated.
- Monastries had been destroyed and the current lands were sold.

A return to the papal authoritywould mean an end to royal supremacy, which was strongly supported by the ruling and landed elites.

Even the most ardent of the leading conservatives had been firm in their alliegance to the Crown and the Tudor state.

Mary failed to appreciate the political implications of restoring Roman Catholicism in England.

It is agreed that the Major causes of Marys widespread unpopularity by the end of her reign, apart from the religious persecution, were the return to Papal Authority and the Spanish Marriage.

What were Mary I's aims?
- To restore Catholicism
- To marry
- To convince the Privy Council that she had a right to be Queen
- Have children for the succession
- Choose Privy Council

Why did she wish to restore Catholicism?
- Mother was Catholic - Catherine of Aragon
- Was a devout Catholic - thought it was her duty to save the souls of her people
- Was made illegitimate due to Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn
- 1543 Act of Succession - She would succeed Edward
- Edward and Northumberlands Protestant plot - the devise.
- Reverse the shift towards Protestantism.

What obstacles might Mary face?
- She was a Female Monarch
- Protestantism
- Landowners who benefited from monastries closure
- Parliament
- Higher order, e.g. some nobility - fear of loosing power
- Anti-Spanish feeling - against Spanish influence
- Finance
- Social & Economic issues
- Foreign Policy failures
- Princess Elizabeth
- Return church to 1529 or 1547?
- Pope would have to forgive England
- Catholics want full restoration of Catholicism
           - Yet too quickly could lead to unrest.

Swing from Protestantism to Catholicism
 - 1553 - Full Protestantism in Edwards reign
 - Removal of Edwardian Protestantism
 - Restoration of Catholic doctrine

 - Catholicism enforced among the clergy
 - Restoration of papal supremacy
 - Persection of Protestant Opponents
 - Reformed Catholicism

Persecution
 - Protestant clergy deprived of their living things
 - Arrest of Archbishop Cranmer
 - Imprisonment of leading Protestants e.g. Latimer, Ridley, Hooper, Rogers.
 - Mass exodus of Protestants
 - Royal Injunctions - suppress heresy and deprive married priests of their livings
 - Burnings on the stake - around 300 in total

Burnings
 - People who refused to accept the Catholic view of Eucharist or to conform to restored Catholic Rites
 - Heresy laws restored
 - Trials and executions followed of those who would not accept Catholic belief and practice.
 - 280 people burned in 46 months
            - 5 were bishops
            - 51 were women
            - Burnings mainly in the South East
            - Nearly half were in London
            - 16th Century - 1000's of people slaughtered in the name of some version of the 'true faith.'

Who were key members in Mary's Reign?

Charles V
Holy Roman Emperor, Marys cousin and Philip II's father. Mary maintained ocrrespondence with him and he was a father figure.

Stephen Gardiner
Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor - imprisoned during Edwards reign.

Simon Renards
Imperial ambassador for Charles V.

Reginald Pole
Cousin of Marys who became Papal legate with brief to restore Catholicism.

Julius III
Pope wanted lands returned to Church.

Paul IV
Pope from 1555 - Anti-habsburg therefore clashed with England.