Greek Gods- Rome- Middle Ages- England

Lady Jane Gray

Lady Jane was a beautiful, noble-minded girl of sixteen. She had applied herself so well to her studies that she knew Latin, Greek, French, and Italian. She was persuaded by Northumberland that it was her duty to take the throne. So, when Edward VI. died, in 1553, she permitted Northumberland to proclaim her Queen. As the proclamation was being read, an apprentice had bravely cried out: "The Lady Mary has the better title!"

This, indeed, was the general opinion of the nation.

Mary escaped those who were sent to seize her, and soon her party was so strong that Northumberland was obliged to submit. Lady Jane Grey's reign lasted only ten days.

Queen Mary caused the wicked Duke of Northumberland to be executed. For some months she allowed Lady Jane and her young husband to live quietly in honorable captivity. But when rebellions broke out against Mary's rule, as they soon did, Lady Jane and her husband, with many other political prisoners, were promptly put to death.

At the beginning of her reign, Queen Mary was one of the most popular rulers that England ever had. At the end of it she was one of the most hated. This change in the feelings of her subjects was mainly due to a foreigner, and her persecution of Protestants.

Queen Mary

Her mother's unjust divorce, and her own inclinations, made Queen Mary a zealous Catholic. This led her to accept eagerly the proposal that she should marry Philip II. of Spain, who succeeded his father, Charles V., as head of the Catholics of Europe. Englishmen disliked this marriage, partly because they were foolishly jealous of all foreigners, but still more because they feared that it would cause them to lose the advantages of their island position, and to take an active part in the wars between France and Spain. Nevertheless, the marriage took place.

As soon as she could do so, Mary caused the religious laws of her brother's and father's reigns to be repealed. The Catholic religion and the authority of the Pope were thus restored, and a few monasteries were refounded. But Mary found it necessary to leave most of the monastery lands, and other goods of the Church, in the hands of those who possessed them. The laws for punishing heretics were also revived, and many Protestants suffered death for their religion, as Catholics had done in the reign of Henry VIII.

The most noted victim of this persecution was Archbishop Cranmer of Canterbury. He granted Henry VIII. his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, and had been the leader of the Protestant party under Edward VI. In hope of saving his life, Cranmer for a time "recanted," and said that all that he had taught contrary to the Roman Catholic church was false, and that only in the church was there any hope of salvation. Catholics wished to weaken the Reformation by having him repeat his recantation when he was led to the stake. But when Cranmer saw that his submission would not save his life, he regained his courage.

"Forasmuch as my hand offended in writing contrary to my heart," he cried, "it shall be first burned."

And, true to his word, when the fire was kindled about him, he thrust his right hand into the flames. In spite of his wavering, he made a good end, and the bravery with which he and many others met their deaths strengthened the Protestant cause.

Queen Mary was bitterly disappointed because she had no children. Her husband, too, who was much younger than she, neglected her, and spent most of the time away from England. A mortal illness, moreover, soon seized upon her. As her misfortunes increased, the poor Queen's half-crazed mind sought to please God by sending more and more Protestants to the stake. The number of those who suffered death in the five years of her reign has been reckoned at about 270. The result was a wave of horror and disgust which swept over England, and greatly aided the final triumph of the Protestant cause.

To complete Mary's unpopularity, the assistance which she gave her husband in his wars with France led to the loss of Calais, which had been England's outpost across the Channel since the days of Edward III. Its loss was no real injury to England, but it was the last blow needed to complete her unhappiness. She died nine months later—one of the saddest figures which that age of conflict could show.

Her half-sister, Elizabeth (Ann Boleyn's daughter), now came to the throne, and began a glorious reign of forty-five years.

Elizabeth at this time was twenty-five years old. She spoke several languages well, and could read Latin and Greek. She had a strong will, and had learned self-control. From her training, and because her right to the throne depended on the legality of Ann Boleyn's marriage to Henry VIII., Elizabeth was inclined to the Protestant cause. Her policy had two objects in view for England. One was to keep the country from war; and the other was to establish a united national Church, free from all foreign control.

In carrying out these policies, Elizabeth's chief adviser was William Cecil, whom she made Lord Burleigh. When she chose him as her Secretary of State, she said: "This judgment I have of you, that you will not be corrupted with any manner of gifts, and that you will be faithful to the state." Her choice was justified by the thirty years of faithful service which he gave.

Elizabeth caused Parliament to repeal the religious laws of Queen Mary, and to establish a moderate reformation of the English Church. An Act of Supremacy was passed which denied the Pope's control over the Church. It required all officers to take an oath acknowledging the Queen as "the only supreme governor of this realm as well in all ecclesiastical things or causes as temporal." The Latin mass-service in the Church was again abolished, and the service in English, as arranged in the time of Edward VI., was restored. It was published in the Prayer Book, which is still used in the Episcopal Church. Clergymen who refused to use the Prayer Book, and laymen who stayed way from church services where it was used, were severely punished. Finally, the beliefs of the English church were settled in accordance with Protestant views, and were published in the Thirty-Nine Articles, which are still the official belief of the English or Episcopal Church.

All but one of the bishops refused to accept these changes, and new bishops were appointed in their places. Almost all of the lower clergy, however, accepted the changes, with as little opposition as they had made when Mary restored the Catholic religion, five years before. The nobles and people generally received the changes with rejoicing.

Here, as in other matters, Queen Elizabeth seemed to know just how far her people were willing to go, and shaped her laws to meet the general wishes of the nation. This was one of her strong points as a ruler, as it had been of her father, Henry VIII.—with all of his self-will and tyranny. The Tudor rulers were despots, and their Parliaments were usually packed with persons named by them. But their despotism rested upon the consent of the people, and, in any important matter, they rarely went beyond what their people wished.

With these religious laws of Elizabeth, the Reformation period in England comes to an end. There were still unsettled questions relating to the Church, and both Elizabeth and her successors had much difficulty in dealing with those who wished to restore the Catholic religion, and with Protestants who wished to depart farther from Catholicism. But these efforts, in the end, were unsuccessful, and the religion of the Church of England is today very much as it was established at the beginning of the reign of "good Queen Bess."