Bloody Mary by Carolly Erickson

Here is the tragic, stormy life of Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon. Her story is a chronicle of courage and faith, betrayal and treachery-set amidst the splendor, pageantry, squalor, and intrigue of sixteenth-century Europe.

The history of Mary Tudor is an improbable blend of triumph, humiliation, heartbreak, and devotion-and Ms. Erickson recounts it all against the turbulent background of European politics, war, and religious strife of the mid-1500s. The result is a rare portrait of the times and of a woman elevated to unprecedented power in a world ruled and defined by men.

While somewhat informative, I’m not sure why the author titled it Bloody Mary. From her writing, I would have thought that she would have preferred Saint Mary, because that’s certainly how she comes across. She can do nothing wrong, and everything she touches turns to gold. Her reign is without parallel, with statements like “Not since the death of Henry VIII had the ruler’s personality, taste and style so dominated court life,” sprinkled throughout the book. No matter that her brother’s reign, the only one to reign between Henry VIII and Mary, was only seven years long.

Or the statement regarding Mary’s marriage to Philip, that they were reported to be “bound together by such deep love that the marriage may be expected to be a perfect union.” Erickson describes that statement as being “somewhat inexact.” As the future would show, those words couldn’t have been further from the truth.

Later on, Mary’s burning of Protestant “heretics” is described as her “reputed cruelty to the Protestants.” Even worse, is the author’s use of the trite excuse that “these people were brought to the stake in an age habituated to violence.” That didn’t seem to be the way the people of England saw it, even at the time.

Erickson has written books about other Tudors. I won’t be reading them.




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