Bloody Mary: The Life of Mary Tudor

BCA, 1995. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 6.25" x 9.5. H/B 533 pages, condition is Very good. Mary Tudor has no monument in England. The day of her death, 17 November 1558 - the day of her sister Elizabeth's accession - was a national holiday for two hundred years; her reign was described as "poor, short and despised"; and succeeding generations came to know her through pictures in Foxe's Book of Martyrs - pictures of Protestant prisoners being beaten by their Catholic tormentors as they awaited execution - and by her nickname, "Bloody Mary". These memories still loom large in most appraisals of Mary's reign but, as Carolly Erickson brings to light in this brilliant and rich biography, there were many other themes in her story. A survivor of an agonizing adolescence, illness, her mother's slow martyrdom, her father's whimsical tormenting and the dangers of Edward's reign, she went on to win the throne when the odds were overwhelmingly against her. Bearing extraordinary burdens, she ruled with a full measure of Tudor majesty and met the challenges of severe economic crises, rebellion and religious upheaval capably and with courage. With her unique blend of scholarship and literary distinction, Carolly Erickson brings Mary Tudor to life in one of her most masterly and compelling books.