Mary I Takes the Throne

July 19, 1553

After the brief, nine-day usurpation by Lady Jane Grey, Catherine of Aragon's daughter Mary rode triumphantly into London on a wave of popular support. She intended to restore England to Rome and marry her Habsburg cousin Philip. Protestants who could afford it began packing for the Continent. Nearly three hundred Protestants burned during her reign earned her the epithet Bloody Mary, shaping English Protestant identity for generations.