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Marian Restoration Meaning
The period from 1553 to 1558 is known as the Marian Restoration. It was the period when the Catholic Queen Mary I ruled England. Mary's primary goal was to re-establish Catholicism as the sole religion in England. During the reigns of her father, Henry VIII, and brother, Edward VI, England's religion was Protestant due to the Reformation. Mary wanted to return England to its Catholic roots and reconcile with the Pope's court in Rome. She did so through a carefully planned and executed combination of traditional Catholic principles and innovative reforms, such as establishing seminary schools to better educate the clergy.
Lady Jane Grey
Known as the Nine Days Queen, Jane was a pawn in the attempt by John Dudley to keep England from being ruled by a Catholic. The sixteen-year-old Jane was forced to marry Dudley's son and then placed on the throne against her will. Jane was a devout Protestant and very intelligent, but she could not stop the chain of events that led to her execution in 1554.
Marian Restoration: Timeline
- 1536-1541: Henry VIII dissolved all English monasteries and seized their assets. He sold the land and buildings to noblemen, who converted them into homes.
- July 1553: Mary I claimed the English throne from Lady Jane Gray. Jane, her husband, and John Dudley were thrown in the Tower of London and later executed.
- September 1553: The Protestant Church of England leader, Thomas Cranmer, was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Cranmer was the architect of the Protestant Reformation and lived to see his work undone by the Marian Restoration. Under duress, he recanted his Protestant faith three times before finally resolving to remain a Protestant. He was burned as a heretic in 1556.
- October 1553: Mary's first Parliament passed the First Statute of Repeal, which revoked the pro-Protestant laws of her brother, Edward VI, returning the church to what it was like in 1539 under her father Henry VIII.
- The Henrician Reforms of 1539 (The Six Articles)
This set of religious reform laws returned the Church of England to a form closer to Catholicism from its Protestant leanings earlier in Henry VIII's reign. These articles affirmed:
1) that communion was not symbolic but an actual transformation into the body and blood of Christ (transubstantiation),
2) communion with both wafer and the wine was not necessary for all people,
3) priests may not marry,
4) priests must follow their chastity vows,
5) private masses for a person's soul were permitted,
6) English people were required to go to confession.
- January 1554: Sir Thomas Wyatt led Wyatt's Rebellion to protest Mary's decision to marry the Catholic Philip II, king of Spain and son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. This was not a popular match with the English, who distrusted the Spanish and feared the Spanish Inquisition. Mary's army quickly suppressed the rebellion, executing 90 rebels.
- 1554: Cardinal Reginald Pole negotiated a papal decree that those who bought dissolved monasteries could keep them.
- July 1554: Mary married Philip of Spain anyway.
- November 29, 1554: In response to a persuasive speech by Cardinal Pole, Parliament agreed to allow England to reconcile with the Papal court in Rome, called the Second Statute of Repeal.
- December 1554: Revival of the Heresy Acts passes Parliament, allowing the arrest of non-Catholic preachers. This act paved the way for a series of heresy trials and burnings of 284 Protestants, giving Mary her notorious nickname of "Bloody Mary."
Mary Tudor, Queen of England (1516-1558)
Mary was a tragic figure in English history. She was born to a father obsessed with having a son, which destroyed her parents' marriage. Mary was declared illegitimate, which brought much hardship financially, socially, and mentally. She was only placed back in the line to the crown at the end of Henry's life.
Mary wanted to regain what had been denied her for so long, namely getting a husband and having a child. But her husband, Philip, didn't love her. She thought she was pregnant in late 1554, but when it turned out to be the tumor that would kill her four years later, Philip left England for the Continent and never returned. Mary died with a broken heart.
- March 1556: Cardinal Pole was named the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury.
- 1557: The Pope refused to confirm English bishops because they were appointed by Mary and not himself, hurting the Catholic revival in England.
- November 1558: Mary I died, and Cardinal Pole died 12 hours later. The Protestant Elizabeth I became queen and reversed all of Mary's pro-Catholic policies.
Marian Restoration: Catholic Reform and Reinterpretation of the Church
Mary I sought to reinterpret the Catholic Church by introducing reforms to help it regain relevance in a post-Reformation world. Mary's Catholic Church was humanist in its philosophy, meaning that it focused more on internal faith than external acts of penance. Humanism was a form of philosophy that emerged during the Northern Renaissance and had a profound impact on England. It sought to reform the Church from within by getting rid of corrupt clergy and focusing on reform from within.
Reconciliation with the Catholic Church
Mary sought to bring England back into the Catholic Church, and her efforts were well received by Pope Julius III. He struck a special medal in honor of her ascension as queen. In her role as Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Mary gave back to the Church the taxes called First Fruits and Tenths from tithes collected during services. Her father Henry VIII had seized these assets for the crown during his Reformation, and her brother Edward VI continued the policy during his reign.
Church Reforms
Mary's church developed alongside the Council of Trent, taking place in Italy. The Council was a landmark reform movement for the Catholic Church and began the Catholic or Counter-Reformation. Both Mary and the Council sought to improve the Church's quality and reputation by using techniques borrowed from the Protestants.
For example, the restored Catholic church promoted religious texts to educate the public. Many were written and published during Mary's reign, including a collection of sermons by Bishop Edmund Bonner, which was widely used in churches across England. Mary's church also emphasized preaching much more than the traditional Catholic Church ever did because she had seen first-hand how influential preaching was during the Protestant Reformation and wished to produce a similar effect for Catholicism.
Marian Restoration: Reaction and Result
The Marian Restoration was short-lived but impactful. For five years, it reversed the Protestant church reforms during the reigns of Mary's father and brother and returned the Church to its 1539 pro-Catholic position. However, there was resistance. When Mary and Cardinal Pole restored Bishops to the Church of England, she also mandated that all clergy readopt the vow of celibacy. Under Henry VIII and Edward VI, the clergy was allowed to marry and many did so. The clergy who refused to give up their wives were dismissed from service.
The Marian Restoration was short-lived but impactful. For five years, it reversed the Protestant church reforms during the reigns of Mary's father and brother and returned the Church to its 1539 pro-Catholic position. However, there was resistance. When Mary and Cardinal Pole restored Bishops to the Church of England, she also mandated that all clergy readopt the vow of celibacy. Under Henry VIII and Edward VI, the clergy was allowed to marry and many did so. The clergy who refused to give up their wives were dismissed from service.
Did Mary really convert the English people?
Mary imposed strict discipline over the reconversion of the English people, and those who refused to comply faced imprisonment or burning as a heretic. Whether this deterred them from true conversion or not is under debate by historians. For example, historian Eamon Duffy argues that there was no increase in disapproval of or resistance to Mary's church reform on account of the burnings.
Diarmaid MacCulloch offers a different opinion on the subject. He contends that the Marian Restoration's most lasting legacy was the burning of nearly 300 Protestants who refused to return to the Catholic Church. The 1563 John Foxe's Book of Martyrs memorialized these Protestant deaths and gave rise to the unfortunate nickname, "Bloody Mary." In MacCulloch's view, the burnings were a primary reason for the failure of the Marian Restoration.
Marian Restoration - Key takeaways
- The Marian Restoration lasted from 1553 to 1558 during the reign of Queen Mary I of England.
- Mary I and Cardinal Reginald Pole sought to return England's church to Catholicism and away from Protestantism
- While efforts to restore Catholic churches, reeducate the English people, and reform the clergy were extensive, they did not last beyond Mary's death in 1558.
- When Elizabeth I became queen in 1558, she reversed the Marian Restoration and returned the English church to Protestantism.
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Frequently Asked Questions about Marian Restoration
What was the Marian restoration?
The period from 1553 to 1558 when the Catholic Queen Mary I ascended to the throne of England. Her primary goal was to re-establish Catholicism as the sole religion in England.
Why was the Marian restoration not successful?
The two leaders of the Marian Restoration, Mary I and Cardinal Reginald Pole, died in the same year. Furthermore, Mary I was succeeded by her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth, who had no interest in keeping England Catholic. Everything Mary I achieved during her reign was overturned by Elizabeth.
Did the Marian restoration reform Catholicism?
Historian Eamon Duffy argues that the reforms of the Marian restoration were later replicated on the European continent during the Catholic Reformation. Mary I's English Catholic church was more humanist in its philosophy, meaning that it focused more on internal faith than external acts of penance.
How did the Marian restoration impact English society?
Catholicism replaced Protestantism as the official faith of England. Mary I abolished all religious laws passed since 1539, restoring church practices to those before the English Reformation. As the Church was the center of English society at the time, the impact of the restoration was profound.
What valuables were lost in the Marian restoration?
Many valuable church artifacts were lost during the dissolution of the monasteries during Henry VIII and Edward VI's reigns. Mary I sought to replace these symbols of Catholicism during her restoration.
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