Marian Persecutions

Reasons for persecutions

• The burning of 285 men and women between 1555 and 1558 is the reason why Mary became known as 'bloody'.
• This interpretation came from John Foxe's Book of Martyrs.
• The revised view of the burning's is that Mary had no choice but to adopt a policy of persecution to maintain Catholicism and that the policy was vastly effective.
• For the Marian regime, the threat of burning was a way to enhance the consequences for the individual of denying the Catholic faith.
• Mary and Pole were determined to demonstrate the error of Protestant beliefs and the willingness of former bishops to recant.
• The propaganda value of such recantations had been demonstrated by Mary's treatment of Northumberland and John Cheke who had been a tutor for Edward.

Extent of Persecutions.

• In 1554 the arrests of prominent Protestants began almost immediately.
• The first burning took place in Feb 1555.
• Of the 285 that died and the 30 or so who died in prison, there is a clear distinction between those members of the laity and the high placed clergy, such as Bishops Latimer and Ridley.
• Many of the