Marian Persecutions refers to the persecutions of Protestants and dissenters under Queen Mary I of England. Whereas other Tudor monarchs were also responsible for the persecution and execution of religious heretics, Mary is viewed as controversial given the execution of a similar number over a period of only five years. The perceived excesses of this period, particularly in the Protestant tract Foxe's Book of Martyrs, have led to the later epithet Bloody Mary.
Several factors made such action more distinctive in English history. First, she came after a Protestant king. Hence those who deemed the Reformation as progress saw any persecutions of it by a Catholic to be a step backward. The right of monarchs to persecute religions was rarely if ever disputed at this time, but for Protestants to face persecution after feeling they had won England seemed like an indignity. As virtually all English monarchs after her would be Protestant this added to the image of her persecutions as strange. Second, the percentage of her victims to be elderly men or women of any age seemed unusually high. Whether this is actually true is unclear, but the perception was there and seems to have had some statistical support. Either way this perception angered many as it seemed to be attacking more vulnerable elements of society. Third, her husband was Spanish. This angered many people of varying religious views. Related to this most people at this time assumed that a woman was ultimately submissive to her husband. Therefore Queen Mary I of England was potentially seen as making England submissive to Spain by bringing the Spanish Inquisition to England's shores as a kind of wedding present. This offended the English sense of independence. Lastly, elements of her personality and life history rendered some of her actions to seem more extreme than they may have been in reality. In the past kings often repressed dissent because it threatened their power while their actual practice of any religion might be at best inconsistent. Mary appeared sincere in her devotion to the Catholic Faith as she understood it. Further she often kept that devotion when it was not in her best interests. Related to that unlike most of the Tudors she suffered from few to no accusations of sexual promiscuity. Queen Mary on certain occasions expressed a personal bitterness about the Reformation rather than an abstract political hostility. For Mary Tudor's life it seemed the Reformation humiliated her mother, called Mary a bastard child, and later forced her to plead with her teenage brother to be allowed to practice her faith. This made it a much more personal event than normal for a Catholic monarch. Perhaps more personal than it was even for most Popes. Added to that her mother's origins, the events of her life, and her marriage did cause her to gravitate toward Spain. Outside of the controversy what seems clear is that under her 300 people were killed for their faith. This persecution created bitterness for both sides for generations to come. It also tarnished her image perhaps forever. Before she came to power she had widespread sympathy even among some Protestants. Many in England saw her as a tragic princess unfairly demeaned by her father King Henry VIII. Her image after the persecutions turned into that of an almost legendary tyrannical being called Bloody Mary. This view of Mary was mainly due to the widepsread publication of Foxe's Book of Martyrs during her successor Elizabeth I's reign.
