u/thebloodrozes

Context: this was a blog post of mine and was more of a look into one of the many shows that provided nostalgia and interesting perceptions of public history.

Horrible Histories is a history based comedy show for children, that started in 2009 on CBBC. I shall be analysing the ‘Mary the 1st song’ 2012, this was set to the tune of Kate Bush’s ‘Wuthering Heights’.

Mary I was the first born child to Henry VIII and Henry VIII's first wife Catherine of Aragon. Mary I (r.1554-1558) is often a queen regnant that is portrayed by historiography and popular culture as a cruel queen.This conveys how due to anti-catholic sentiment, the 'real' reign of Mary I is often neglected. Rather than being celebrated like her sister, Elizabeth I (r.1558-1603) both popular culture and children’s shows reinforce the anti-Catholic and Victorian narrative. They continue to portray contemporary ideas on Early Modern Women in reference to the royal narrative continues to convey these concepts. As children tend to know Mary I as ‘Bloody Mary’. Yet her sister Elizabeth I as a Protestant is normally reflective positively because of her religion whereas Mary because of her faith is demonised. Therefore, the portrayal of Mary I in CBBC’s Horrible Histories needs to be criticised and discussed. This will be illustrated throughout this essay. Mary’s legacy has been invisible for far too long and has allowed her to become misunderstood.  In this case taking apart the perception of Mary I, in the 2012 'Mary the First' song. Therefore, it is important to change how Mary I is taught and understood by public history and popular culture. 

Firstly, the song starts with the discussion of Mary’s childhood with ‘plenty of stepmothers’. Though due to being the daughter of Aragonese princess Catherine, she was rather alienated from the family in her childhood due to the King’s Great Matter. Following in her mothers footsteps, she continued to be a devoted catholic. Elizabeth by contrast was taken into the Howard household and became close with Henry VIII’s last wife Katherine Parr. This highlighted how from a young age, Mary was an outcast from the family and the plenty of stepmothers which horrible histories positively alludes to is far from the truth. Further this was not aided by the Succession Acts from 1534,1536 and then 1543 and 1546. Which originally bastardised Mary, this again was not aided by the 1553 succession act, which led to the devise of succession. 

Ultimately, leading to Mary to take London in the succession crisis. As Northumberland (John Dudley), wanted to ensure his place in power, by persuading the now sick Edward VI to declare Lady Jane Grey as rightful queen. As through the Henrician reformation there was the fear that Mary I would undo this, as conveyed in this song by ‘Protestants were saying, that my rule made them sick’. The song further indicates issues with the issues from the Devise of Succession, ‘They [protestants] revolted, challenged me’, the challenge came from xenophobia and anti Spanish sentiment in the form of the Wyatt rebellion 1554 along with the fear of what this meant for the church. Wyatt and Protestant rebels were fearful that England would become a Spanish puppet. This revolted in Mary executing 90 of the rebels due to the fact that these protestants believed she had usurped the throne from Lady Jane Grey. Both Jane and Guilford Dudley were executed as well, while Wyatt became a martyr. These revolts for the main part were in pockets and did not have as great of an impact as Horrible Histories implies in the song. 

However, through this Protestants, were fearful of the instability that had occurred with the changes made to the church. Many Protestants kept practicing in secret, as well as this many kept altars in the crypts of churches as many knew that the religious policy was ever changing and adapting. The song mentions the ‘Marian burnings’, which was 289 though they reference 300, ‘to tie three hundred to a stake’. They imply in the song that Mary I ordered every single one of these individuals to be burnt, herself. As Strong and other historians convey many of these were done in the name of Mary I, they were not strictly ordered by her.  Mary took an approach by having what is colloquially known as a war on words whereby there was the introduction of censorship on Protestant writing. This saw the underground publication of the 1549 second book of common prayer, there was 19,000 in circulation by 1558. 

Through Mary’s counter reformation there was the Marian exiles that fled to Flanders and most notably in the example of John Knox, Geneva, this saw the writing of ‘The First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women’ while he was in exile, published after her death in 1558. This is an important piece to highlight the criticisms of female monarchy, this alongside the Victorian narrative surrounding Mary I in the nineteenth century created the idea that as this song reinforces ‘Mary the First, that’s me, called the Bloody Queen of England’. The idea comes from contemporary sources of Marian exiles especially Foxe’s Acts and monuments 1563, that Mary I had targeted them. Though the myth that Mary I was the bloody queen is important to put into context in regards to the medieval belief in the ‘Divine Right of Kings’, which one excluded the rule of women and two the anti catholic and anti Spanish sentiment that continued to grow because of xenophobia. Mary’s legacy is so much more than this perception that popular culture such as this song and programme likes to reinforce, she was the first queen regnant and incredibly devoted to her faith despite everything that occurred during her childhood as well as the dislike she faced as queen in the turmoil that was Early Modern Europe. 

The turmoil created by the alliances and warfare of early modern europe can be highlighted by the disastrous reign of the regencies of Edward VI under Somerset (Thomas Seymour) and then Northumberland. This saw the narrative that Mary I got accused of losing Calais, conveyed further by ‘when the French advanced we lost Calais’. When in fact when her father Henry VIII wanted to recreated the 'glory days’ of Henry V and the Battle of Agincourt 1415 and trying to gain territory in France was the cause of this. Then the issue of the siege of Boulogne 1544, which saw the downfall of England’s territory in France then this decayed throughout the reign of Edward VI and the Mary I. Though as conveyed by this Mary I is used as a scapegoat for foreign policy and religious policy when indeed this can be contributed to Mary I having the blame for this, than the issues of Henry VIII’s own legacy. As due to the Anti-Spanish and anti-catholic sentiments this led many to use Mary to blame for this situation. 

Finally, the last verse discusses the catholic legacy of Mary, or more accurately the lack of ‘[Elizabeth] made the country Protestant, meaning my [Mary] legacy was ruined’. Elizabeth introduced ‘via media’ in the Religious Settlement 1559. This meant that there was the expectation for the population to attend a protestant service but could practice catholicism at home. Mary I’s legacy was ruined most significantly rather in the turmoil that was post reformation and the rule of William and Mary II, this can be highlighted by the Glorious Revolution 1688 and the subsequent  Bill of Rights 1689. Whereby there was the decision that there could not be a monarch who was catholic on the throne. The clause for this is still legacy in modern England this can be conveyed by the fact that the monarch has to swear that they are devoted to promoting Protestantism in the English realm. This can be linked to the Protestant perspective of Mary I’s reign meaning that many did not want the repetition of the policies and decisions that came as a result of her reign. Though if Mary I’s reign had not been after the turmoil and legacy of the Henrician reformation then there may have not been the same perspective on the rule of Mary I. 

Overall, Mary’s reign is remembered by the writing of Foxe and the term ‘bloody mary’ which popular culture such as horrible histories and the ‘Mary the first song’ has run with. Yet Mary was victim of patriarchy and the anti catholic sentiment and can be viewed as a scapegoat for the turmoil that has become known as the ‘mid Tudor crisis’. Mary has had a strong legacy and revisionist historians are recognising this as she was not a Queen to be feared but rather someone to be admired in many cases. Though Horrible Histories does not do this justice and reinforces the parts of Mary’s reign that can be explained and explored by the wider historical context in Early Modern Europe. Therefore, Mary I should be admired for changing the royal narrative as Queen regnant alongside despite everything she went through a woman devoted to her faith as a catholic. 

Finally, discussion point: what do you make of this take? Do you like these media interpretations as public history?

Secondary Sources:

YouTube, ‘Mary I song’ 2012. 

Genius, Mary I song lyrics. https://genius.com/Horrible-histories-mary-the-first-annotated 

J.C.E Strong: ‘Happily Ever After? Elizabethan Representations of Mary
I and Philip II’s Marriage’ Chapter 1 in memory and myth from ‘Mary I in Writing:letters, literature and representation.’ Edited by Valerie Schutte  and Jessica S. Hower. 2022.

Contemporary sources: 

 

John Knox 1558 ‘The First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women.’ https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-first-blast-of-the-trumpet-against-the-monstrous-regimen-of-women-1558 

John Foxe 1563 ‘Acts and Monuments’. https://www.dhi.ac.uk/foxe/ 

At night,
I typed into google,
‘How do you unlove someone’,
Because our forever was temporary,
And,
Ill always regret how easily you let me go.

The best version of Rhiannon is the live version from Burbank in 1976.
The voice of Nicks is haunting and plays into Welsh and the Celtic fringe beliefs in regards to witchcraft.

Personally I have it on repeat most days - what about you?

I’ve always said every time I listen to Fleetwood Mac that there has to be trilogy between ‘Silver Springs’, ‘Rhiannon’ and ‘Gypsy’. Like they just go so well together - what do you think?

The amount of pressure on Anne to produce a male heir obviously took its toll on her. The fact is the myth of Anne as a witch in primary education you are taught that Anne had 'six fingers' and was a witch that tried to bring the downfall of the Henrician dynasty. (I don't know if others experienced this in their education but I did) I remember disputing it and being put down I was like 10/11. Anyway enough of that tangent that myth that she was in league with the devil and the fears of the supernatural led to criticism but was an easy excuse for Henry VIII to move on with Jane Seymour.

Though the more I understand through my academic career the more I realise that there was a greater likelihood that Anne struggled to carry a child to term.

The volatile nature of Henry VIII added to her stress but even after the depictions of her in media and modern day portrayals has bought to light the fact that anyone who stood in the way of Henry was punished. The double standards and the expectation of Anne to be a 'baby maker', where Henry VIII had mistresses was normal but the likes of Six! make the suggestion that this was unfair but unlike in post-modernity there was relatively little choice and the dependency of the dynasty rested on the patriarchal nature of society.

Even when Anne was labeled as a 'witch' not the stereotypes that we have today, but someone that had to be ostracised. This allowed Henry to escape accountability to some extent but we know there must have been an ounce of 'respect' with the request that she was killed by the sword.

Anne Boleyn as a witch, and this argument kind of only increased in credibility as it were after the witch-mania of the C17th.

Edit to clarify: the only charge she came under was treason against the king. The point of this discussion is the fact that it was a myth that came about post-humorously to fit the social consensus of later centuries.

Also to leave a discussion point: do you think that Anne Boleyn could have had fertility or gynaecological issues? (I know as a historian and archaeologist we CANNOT diagnose post-mortem as it is unethical) though from what I can understand about her and the contemporary sources of the deformed foetus alongside herbal remedies this could illustrate that.

I think it is really fascinating that we dont know what Anne Boleyn looked like, the fact that the most famous portrait kept at Hever Castle is as described and put forward by Dr Owen Emmerson as most likely a young Elizabeth (I). Which is believed to have been re-painted in the Victorian Era, where brown hair was typically seen as conventionally attractive. It makes a lot of sense really the need for both parents to have the recessive gene for red hair and therefore, when Emmerson scanned the painting it is exactly a recopy of a young Elizabeth on the throne.

Arguably, one of the most known names of Henry VIII's wives to the general populous when in referencing public history, is rather unknown.

Sorry I dont have the images to hand but if you want to read the research further it is easy to find. I just wanted to share this thought provoking research!