DNB article on Mary I (Mary Tudor)

Today's Oxford DNB article of the week is a very sympathetic and balanced biography of Mary I, Richard's great-grand niece (and Henry Tudor's granddaughter), ironically, given that she was a Tudor, almost as much a victim of Tudor propaganda as Richard himself. As the author, Ann Weikel, puts it: "The vehement anti-Catholicism fostered by John Foxe and by Elizabeth's advisers merged in the sixteenth century with England's sense of national identity and in the nineteenth century with notions of predestined English greatness, a potent combination that has made it difficult even for Mary's most sympathetic defenders to escape the bonds of a history written by the political and religious victors" and, "Given a fair chronological comparison, and the perspective provided by the secularized culture of the late twentieth century, Mary emerges as a much more sympathetic person and conscientious ruler than was previously allowed, one who belies the simplistic bloody tyrant of protestant mythology."

Odd how similar that sounds to Richard III, a sympathetic person and conscientious ruler simplistically depicted as a bloody tyrant by Tudor mythology!

Anyway, for those of you who are interested in Mary, in particular, perhaps, the cruel treatment she received from her father, Henry VIII, you can read the article http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/lotw/1.html . For those without a subscription to the DNB, it will disappear after a few more days. If, like me, you see her primary as a tragic figure whose virtues, sufferings, and accomplishments have been obscured by the label "Bloody Mary" and the emphasis on her faults and failings, I recommend copying the article to your files (which you can do legally for your own personal use).

Carol

Carol earlier:

"Today's Oxford DNB article of the week is a very sympathetic and balanced biography of Mary I, Richard's great-grand niece (and Henry Tudor's granddaughter), ironically, given that she was a Tudor, almost as much a victim of Tudor propaganda as Richard himself. [snip]"

Carol again:

I forgot to mention that according to the article, Mary's motto was "Truth, the daughter of Time"! Sorry about the font glitches in the original post. They didn't show up when I was composing it. (Anyone remember the old days when you could view and edit a post before hitting Send?)

Carol

On Feb 18, 2014, at 8:38 PM, <justcarol67@...> <justcarol67@...> wrote: <clip>

Anyway, for those of you who are interested in Mary, in particular, perhaps, the cruel treatment she received from her father, Henry VIII, you can read the article http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/lotw/1.html . For those without a subscription to the DNB, it will disappear after a few more days. If, like me, you see her primary as a tragic figure whose virtues, sufferings, and accomplishments have been obscured by the label "Bloody Mary" and the emphasis on her faults and failings, I recommend copying the article to your files (which you can do legally for your own personal use).

Carol

It's quite lengthy, so I saved it to my files to read later. Thanks for the link, Carol.
Gilda

Carol,
Thanks for this information regarding Mary I (Tudor).Yes it does show her in a new light.Pherhaps it will spark a new interest in her and her reign.She and Elizabeth (not sure about Edward) certainly went through an awful lot in their childhoods.I'm not sure if it was the Tudor in them which made them so resolute or the Plantagenet (Spanish blood in Mary's case as well ) in them.Just a pity that burning people to death took hold in that era.
Kathryn x

Thanks, Carol. I forget about the lives of the week & tend to look only for specific people, so this reminder was welcome. David Garrick was worth a look too. Not entirely off topic as playing Shakespeare's Richard was IIRC his first big success.Jan.

Sent from my iPad
On 19 Feb 2014, at 01:38, <justcarol67@...> wrote:

Today's Oxford DNB article of the week is a very sympathetic and balanced biography of Mary I, Richard's great-grand niece (and Henry Tudor's granddaughter), ironically, given that she was a Tudor, almost as much a victim of Tudor propaganda as Richard himself. As the author, Ann Weikel, puts it: "The vehement anti-Catholicism fostered by John Foxe and by Elizabeth's advisers merged in the sixteenth century with England's sense of national identity and in the nineteenth century with notions of predestined English greatness, a potent combination that has made it difficult even for Mary's most sympathetic defenders to escape the bonds of a history written by the political and religious victors" and, "Given a fair chronological comparison, and the perspective provided by the secularized culture of the late twentieth century, Mary emerges as a much more sympathetic person and conscientious ruler than was previously allowed, one who belies the simplistic bloody tyrant of protestant mythology."

Odd how similar that sounds to Richard III, a sympathetic person and conscientious ruler simplistically depicted as a bloody tyrant by Tudor mythology!

Anyway, for those of you who are interested in Mary, in particular, perhaps, the cruel treatment she received from her father, Henry VIII, you can read the article http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/lotw/1.html . For those without a subscription to the DNB, it will disappear after a few more days. If, like me, you see her primary as a tragic figure whose virtues, sufferings, and accomplishments have been obscured by the label "Bloody Mary" and the emphasis on her faults and failings, I recommend copying the article to your files (which you can do legally for your own personal use).

Carol

And a head's up about access: I discovered my New York Public Library card number is valid for access to the DNB! So check to see if any academic memberships and see if they work for you.
Maria ejbronte@...

On Wed, Feb 19, 2014 at 1:39 PM, Jan Mulrenan <janmulrenan@...> wrote:

Thanks, Carol. I forget about the lives of the week & tend to look only for specific people, so this reminder was welcome. David Garrick was worth a look too. Not entirely off topic as playing Shakespeare's Richard was IIRC his first big success. Jan.

Sent from my iPad
On 19 Feb 2014, at 01:38, <justcarol67@...> wrote:

Today's Oxford DNB article of the week is a very sympathetic and balanced biography of Mary I, Richard's great-grand niece (and Henry Tudor's granddaughter), ironically, given that she was a Tudor, almost as much a victim of Tudor propaganda as Richard himself. As the author, Ann Weikel, puts it: "The vehement anti-Catholicism fostered by John Foxe and by Elizabeth’s advisers merged in the sixteenth century with England’s sense of national identity and in the nineteenth century with notions of predestined English greatness, a potent combination that has made it difficult even for Mary’s most sympathetic defenders to escape the bonds of a history written by the political and religious victors" and, "Given a fair chronological comparison, and the perspective provided by the secularized culture of the late twentieth century, Mary emerges as a much more sympathetic person and conscientious ruler than was previously allowed, one who belies the simplistic bloody tyrant of protestant mythology."

Odd how similar that sounds to Richard III, a sympathetic person and conscientious ruler simplistically depicted as a bloody tyrant by Tudor mythology!

Anyway, for those of you who are interested in Mary, in particular, perhaps, the cruel treatment she received from her father, Henry VIII, you can read the article http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/lotw/1.html . For those without a subscription to the DNB, it will disappear after a few more days. If, like me, you see her primary as a tragic figure whose virtues, sufferings, and accomplishments have been obscured by the label "Bloody Mary" and the emphasis on her faults and failings, I recommend copying the article to your files (which you can do legally for your own personal use).

Carol

Jan wrote:

"Thanks, Carol. I forget about the lives of the week & tend to look only for specific people, so this reminder was welcome. David Garrick was worth a look too. Not entirely off topic as playing Shakespeare's Richard was IIRC his first big success.".

Carol responds:

You can subscribe to the Lives of the Week and have them sent to you by e-mail. Of course, you don't get the pictures that way, but you do get a link to the online article. That way you can delete the ones you don't want and copy the good ones (however you define that!) to your files.

Carol

Sent from my PC. (Sorry--just had the impulse to type that!)

On 19 Feb 2014, at 01:38, <justcarol67@...> wrote:

Today's Oxford DNB article of the week is a very sympathetic and balanced biography of Mary I, Richard's great-grand niece (and Henry Tudor's granddaughter), ironically, given that she was a Tudor, almost as much a victim of Tudor propaganda as Richard himself. As the author, Ann Weikel, puts it: "The vehement anti-Catholicism fostered by John Foxe and by Elizabeth's advisers merged in the sixteenth century with England's sense of national identity and in the nineteenth century with notions of predestined English greatness, a potent combination that has made it difficult even for Mary's most sympathetic defenders to escape the bonds of a history written by the political and religious victors" and, "Given a fair chronological comparison, and the perspective provided by the secularized culture of the late twentieth century, Mary emerges as a much more sympathetic person and conscientious ruler than was previously allowed, one who belies the simplistic bloody tyrant of protestant mythology."

Odd how similar that sounds to Richard III, a sympathetic person and conscientious ruler simplistically depicted as a bloody tyrant by Tudor mythology!

Anyway, for those of you who are interested in Mary, in particular, perhaps, the cruel treatment she received from her father, Henry VIII, you can read the article http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/lotw/1.html . For those without a subscription to the DNB, it will disappear after a few more days. If, like me, you see her primary as a tragic figure whose virtues, sufferings, and accomplishments have been obscured by the label "Bloody Mary" and the emphasis on her faults and failings, I recommend copying the article to your files (which you can do legally for your own personal use).

Carol

That's all right. I should stop this gadget boasting so much.Jan.


On 20 Feb 2014, at 00:01, <justcarol67@...> wrote:

Jan wrote:

"Thanks, Carol. I forget about the lives of the week & tend to look only for specific people, so this reminder was welcome. David Garrick was worth a look too. Not entirely off topic as playing Shakespeare's Richard was IIRC his first big success.".

Carol responds:

You can subscribe to the Lives of the Week and have them sent to you by e-mail. Of course, you don't get the pictures that way, but you do get a link to the online article. That way you can delete the ones you don't want and copy the good ones (however you define that!) to your files.

Carol

Sent from my PC. (Sorry--just had the impulse to type that!)

On 19 Feb 2014, at 01:38, <justcarol67@...> wrote:

Today's Oxford DNB article of the week is a very sympathetic and balanced biography of Mary I, Richard's great-grand niece (and Henry Tudor's granddaughter), ironically, given that she was a Tudor, almost as much a victim of Tudor propaganda as Richard himself. As the author, Ann Weikel, puts it: "The vehement anti-Catholicism fostered by John Foxe and by Elizabeth's advisers merged in the sixteenth century with England's sense of national identity and in the nineteenth century with notions of predestined English greatness, a potent combination that has made it difficult even for Mary's most sympathetic defenders to escape the bonds of a history written by the political and religious victors" and, "Given a fair chronological comparison, and the perspective provided by the secularized culture of the late twentieth century, Mary emerges as a much more sympathetic person and conscientious ruler than was previously allowed, one who belies the simplistic bloody tyrant of protestant mythology."

Odd how similar that sounds to Richard III, a sympathetic person and conscientious ruler simplistically depicted as a bloody tyrant by Tudor mythology!

Anyway, for those of you who are interested in Mary, in particular, perhaps, the cruel treatment she received from her father, Henry VIII, you can read the article http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/lotw/1.html . For those without a subscription to the DNB, it will disappear after a few more days. If, like me, you see her primary as a tragic figure whose virtues, sufferings, and accomplishments have been obscured by the label "Bloody Mary" and the emphasis on her faults and failings, I recommend copying the article to your files (which you can do legally for your own personal use).

Carol