Political intrigue and espionage are nothing new. But in the days before high-tech spy gear, the work of spies looked far different than it does today. The lives of 15th- and 16th-century spies were filled with intrigue, backstabbing, and bizarre machinations, though, because the human race has not changed all that much.

10 William Parry

During the reign of Elizabeth I, being a Catholic was a dangerous thing. Many Catholics fled to the continent, and William Parry was sent to spy on them. He sent regular reports back to London, telling his queen who was harmless and who might be plotting against her from the relative safety of Paris.

His troubles began in 1580 when he was put on trial for allegedly assaulting a moneylender. The queen pardoned him from execution, but he was unable to sustain the lifestyle to which he had become accustomed. By 1583, he had decided to play both sides and wrote to a Roman cardinal of his intentions to serve the Catholic Church.

It was not a wise life choice. In 1585, Parry was hanged, drawn, and quartered for his part in a plot to kill the queen.

9 Isabella Hoppringle

Isabella Hoppringle was the 16th-century prioress of the convent at Coldstream, which sat on the border between England and Scotland. At the same time that she relied on the Scots to keep her convent safe, she was writing letters to agents of Henry VIII reporting on the Scottish army.

Her favored position with Scotland’s queen, Margaret, meant that Isabella was often in Glasgow and Stirling and that she was witness to troops being mustered and equipped. In 1523, the Lords of Council decided that the punishment for talking to the English would be the death penalty, and word had gotten out about the prioress’s messages. It was only when Margaret interceded that the lords called off an attack on the convent and made it clear that Isabella was safe only for as long as she was loyal.

Isabella—and her successor, Janet Hoppringle—continued their work for the English.

8 George Eliot

There were few things that got the attention of the Tudor monarchs faster than writing a book called Ten Reasons (to be a Catholic), which Jesuit priest Edmund Campion did in 1581.

The Earl of Leicester sent George Eliot, a known con artist, after the priest. Eliot was desperate to avoid a sentence for murder when he agreed to spy on the priest, collect the needed evidence, and ultimately arrest him. Eliot ingratiated himself into an Oxfordshire parish to keep an eye on the rogue priest, finally fetching the local magistrate to oversee the arrests.

Campion managed to hide until the owner of the house at which he was staying requested that he give a sermon in the middle of the night. He finished the sermon, but the members of the household had gathered to hear it and woke those who were looking for them. The priest was ultimately hanged, drawn, and quartered.

7 Bertrandon de la Broquiere

In 1432, Frenchman Bertrandon de la Broquiere embarked on a year-long espionage mission to Palestine for the Duke of Burgundy and was tasked with gathering any military information that would assist in mounting a Crusade against the Turks.

Bertrandon wrote that the Turks were disciplined but lacking in arms, and in retrospect, it seems as though he erred on the side of optimism. He also wrote of the helpful nature of those who cared for him while he was sick and painted many of the people he met as selfless humanitarians in spite of their different religions.

His story was an incredible one, filled with near misses, traveling in disguise, and even joining a Muslim caravan to Bursa. In the end, he optimistically reported back in favor of a victorious Crusade for the Christians, but no Crusade happened as a result of his intel.

6 Petrus Alamire

Petrus Alamire is not his real name. The pun on musical notes (A-la-mi-re) was given to a spy working for Henry VIII—a spy who also made a career as a musician and scribe.

Alamire was Bavarian, and his workshop produced some of the most beautifully illuminated manuscripts of the early 16th century. They were often gifted to members of the royal courts of Europe, who would then send for the mastermind who had created them. With unprecedented access to royal houses, Alamire collected intel that he passed on to other royals whom he wanted to keep indebted to him.

Alamire supplied a massive amount of information to Henry VIII, his biggest client, on the movement of Richard de la Pole, the last Yorkist with any claim to the throne. But Alamire was also passing information to Pole and never returned to the English court after his betrayal was uncovered.

5 Francis Walsingham

Francis Walsingham, well traveled and fluent in Italian and French, was the spymaster for Elizabeth I for 22 years. Walsingham had more than 50 agents working in Turkey and other countries across Europe, but Elizabeth’s biggest threat was not far from home.

Walsingham and his spies spent much of their careers gathering evidence of plots to overthrow Elizabeth and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots. Even after the conspirators in the so-called Babington plot were hanged, drawn, and quartered, Elizabeth still refused to sign Mary’s death warrant.

She finally signed on February 1, 1587. Walsingham oversaw Mary’s execution, the burning of her clothing, and the encasing of her body in lead (to ensure there would be no relics circulating). He also established a school for the spies under his control, where they were taught things like reading and writing coded messages.

4 Antony Standen

Antony Standen (aka “Pompeo Pellegrini”) was one of Francis Walsingham’s many spies. Based in Italy, Standen reported on the movements of the Spanish Armada, although he was living in exile because of his Catholic beliefs.

Moving from England to Scotland to France and finally landing in Tuscany, Standen was fortunate enough to get friendly with Tuscany’s ambassador to Spain. In 1587, Standen was officially on Walsingham’s payroll and began passing him regular information that ultimately allowed Sir Francis Drake to move on the Spanish fleet while at Cadiz.

Standen’s information helped to cripple the Spanish fleet. But by the time he finally returned to England in 1593, Walsingham was dead and Standen’s service was overlooked. Later, he attempted to help the Catholic Church regain a foothold in England and found himself in the Tower of London.

3 William Herle

In 1571, Philip II of Spain and Pope Pius V were in league with a Florentine banker named Roberto Ridolfi in an attempt to depose Elizabeth in favor of Mary. Ridolfi’s messenger, Charles Bailly, was arrested and sent to Marshalsea Prison. There, he met another prisoner, William Herle, who had been serving as a spy for Elizabeth I since around 1559.

Herle had been arrested for piracy in 1570 (and 1567) and was planted in Marshalsea to extract information from Bailly. After Bailly was put in isolation, Herle stepped in as a questionable, shady character who could get certain things accomplished.

Bailly began passing letters to his counterparts on the outside through Herle, who obligingly passed them along after he had copied them for his own employers. The unraveling of the plot changed the dynamic of the political spectrum in England and abroad.

2 William Stafford

To try to convince Elizabeth I to sign Mary’s death warrant, Francis Walsingham used all sorts of methods, including devising plots against Elizabeth’s life.

William Stafford, the younger brother of England’s French ambassador, was completely Walsingham’s man. In 1587, Stafford came forward with a bizarre assassination plot that he had uncovered. France’s ambassador, Chateauneuf, and his secretary had reportedly recruited Stafford to plant gunpowder under the queen’s bed to kill her.

Eventually, the French ambassador and his secretary were cleared of the accusations, and Walsingham concluded that Stafford had been using his position to extort money. Even so, Stafford remained in Walsingham’s service. It remained unclear if Walsingham was behind the whole setup or if Stafford had decided to give Elizabeth another reason to be wary of assassination attempts.

1 Madame de Sauve And The Flying Squadron

According to the memoirs of Pierre de Bourdeille, Catherine de’ Medici kept 86 (or 300) ladies-in-waiting to lure the men of the court into their beds to extract top secret information. Catherine then used the information from her “Flying Squadron” to secure her own position and that of her family.

The most notorious of these women was Charlotte de Beaune, Madame de Sauve. Catherine’s daughter, Marguerite, wrote extensively about Charlotte’s wooing of both Marguerite’s husband and her brother. Marguerite claimed that her mother had pitted the two men against each other with a maneuvering temptress in the middle, but the truth of Catherine’s manipulations of the men and women in her court is rather cloudy.

It may have been over 400 years since she reigned over England, but Queen Elizabeth I is known as one of the most notorious female figures in history. During the first Elizabethan era, England was established as a major power in politics, commerce, and the arts.

Born as the second daughter of Henry VIII and with an early life of uncertainties, Elizabeth eventually reigned as queen for over 40 years. It’s fair to say that Elizabeth had quite an interesting life.

Related: 10 Intriguing Spies From The Tudor Era

10 She Was Born at Greenwich Palace

Royal births in hospitals have become far more common over the past 40 years, but previously, home births were the norm. Even Queen Elizabeth II gave birth to her four children at home at Buckingham Palace. So back in the 16th century, a home birth was really the only option.

Elizabeth’s grandfather, Henry VII, purchased Greenwich Palace when he ascended to the throne in 1485. The palace was located on the bank of the River Thames near London. His son (and Elizabeth’s father) Henry VIII was born at the palace in 1491.

On September 7, 1533, a baby Elizabeth was also born at Greenwich Palace to the reigning King Henry and his second wife, Anne Boleyn.

Greenwich Palace, also known as the Palace of Placentia, was eventually demolished in the late 1600s. The site was later used as a hospital and is now known as the Old Royal Naval College. Modern-day visitors to Greenwich Park can still visit the tree where Elizabeth occasionally enjoyed a snack as a child.^[1]

9 Elizabeth Was Never Meant to Become Queen

Until recently, male members of the British royal family have benefited from a system of male primogeniture. This meant that if the first child of the monarch was female, any younger brothers would automatically overtake their sister in line to the throne.

Elizabeth was heir presumptive (never the heir apparent) to the throne when she was born, but her father was still desperate for a son. When Elizabeth’s brother, Edward, was born three years later, it seemed unlikely that she would ever become queen.

But the system of male primogeniture wasn’t the only reason. After Henry VIII had her mother, Anne Boleyn, executed when Elizabeth was only two years old, Elizabeth was declared illegitimate.

Tragically Henry’s only legitimate male child, Edward VI, died at the age of 15 after reigning for only six years. This led to the reign of the last two of Henry VIII’s children, his two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth.

However, it wasn’t until her half sister, Queen Mary I, declared Elizabeth as her successor that she became the direct heir to the throne. Just eleven days after the declaration, Mary died, making Elizabeth queen of England! However, throughout her reign, issues surrounding her legitimacy resulted in many threats to her throne and sovereignty.^[2]

8 Her Sister Almost Had Her Executed

Mary I was not only the first Tudor queen but also the older half sister of Elizabeth I. Mary was already 17 years old and had been declared illegitimate by the time Elizabeth was born. Historians believe that after Elizabeth’s mother was executed, Mary actually took pity on a young Elizabeth.

When Mary and Elizabeth’s younger brother King Edward VI died in 1553, it was incredibly uncertain who would succeed him. Eventually, Mary acceded to the throne leading to Protestant rebellions and many deaths ordered by the staunchly Catholic queen. In 1554, Mary even had Elizabeth imprisoned for two months after a rebellion attempted to overthrow her. As Elizabeth was Protestant, it didn’t take much for Mary to be suspicious of her much younger sibling. It looked likely that this could lead to Elizabeth’s execution. However, Elizabeth denied all knowledge of the rebellion. Yet, she remained under house arrest for a year before eventually being allowed free.^[3]

7 She Was Multilingual

As well as being talented at music and calligraphy, Elizabeth had a strong grasp of linguistics. By the age of eleven, Elizabeth could speak five languages. As she grew older, she learned more and eventually, in addition to English, could read or speak German, Flemish, Greek, Latin, Spanish, French, and Italian.

This is quite impressive, especially considering it was during a time when it was probably more common to be illiterate than literate for the majority of people. However, as a Tudor, there was no doubt that Elizabeth had access to the very best tutors.

Elizabeth’s grasp of a multitude of languages likely helped her in her ability to maintain relations with other European powers and assisted her in gaining respect as one of the few reigning female monarchs at the time.^[4]

6 Elizabeth Had Mary Queen of Scots Executed

One of the most famous rivalries of the era, Elizabeth and Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, were two queens often pitted against each other due to their claims to the English throne. Mary was the granddaughter of Margaret, Henry VIII’s older sister. She became Queen of Scots when she was only six days old. Once betrothed to Edward VI, that match was eventually opposed by some Scottish Catholics, who then sought to use the young Mary to form an alliance with France.

Despite the fact that they were cousins, Elizabeth and Mary never actually met. Mary was a figurehead for those who desired a Catholic ruler, whereas Elizabeth remained the Protestant alternative.

After Mary was forced to abdicate the Scottish throne and imprisoned, she was held captive for 19 years until Elizabeth warranted her execution on February 7, 1587. The cousins were two of the most powerful women in European history, but ultimately, the 16th-century world was not one in which they could co-exist.^[5]

5 She Never Married

Known as the virgin queen, it has long been debated whether Elizabeth was actually a virgin. However, the name seems appropriate as she is the only female English monarch to date to never marry. Some historians believe it was an active choice to protect England’s security from foreign influence. However, it led to ongoing uncertainty over who would inherit the throne when she died.

Mary had a long list of potential suitors, from foreign princes to English noblemen, all keen to gain the power of the English throne. MPs and the Privy Council all expected Elizabeth to marry in order to secure the succession of the throne with royal children and preferably a future King.

Robert Dudley was an ambitious courtier who spent a lot of time with Elizabeth, which resulted in a lot of rumors about their relationship and led many to doubt Elizabeth’s supposed virginity. However, this relationship could never become a marriage, as Dudley was already married.^[6]

4 She Was Suspected of Killing Robert Dudley’s Wife

Dudley had known Elizabeth since they were children and became one of her most trusted confidants. Rumored to be Robert Dudley’s lover, Elizabeth was one of the suspects when Dudley’s wife of ten years, Amy Robsart, suddenly died.

Many at the time believed that Queen Elizabeth desired to marry Robert Dudley but could not do so as he was married. This linked both Mary and Robert as suspects in Amy’s murder. Ultimately Amy’s death was ruled accidental, but Dudley and Elizabeth’s story did not have a happy ending. He went on to marry another, and she remained the so-called virgin queen until her death.^[7]

3 Elizabeth Had a Sweet Tooth

Common foods during the Elizabethan era consisted of a variety of meat, fish, bread, fruits, and vegetables, with the wealthiest members of society having their choice of all the best foods.

As queen, Elizabeth had access to some of the world’s most luxurious foods. At the time, food was a huge status symbol and reflected the wealth and power of England. One of her favorite ingredients was, of course, sugar, which was used in some extremely elaborate dishes. Gingerbread and marzipan were thought to be some of her favorite treats.

At the time, many believed sugar also had medicinal purposes, and it is rumored that Elizabeth used sugar and honey to brush her teeth. It’s fair to say that this took its toll, and she had to have some teeth removed, with many ambassadors to England commenting on Elizabeth’s yellow and rotting teeth. It even became a symbol of wealth, so much so that aristocratic women would stain their teeth black to show their status and emulate their queen.^[8]

2 Her Death Remains a Mystery

The cause of Elizabeth’s death has never been confirmed, and in fact, it is a hotly contested subject, with theories ranging from pneumonia and cancer to blood poisoning. Some historians even believe it to be possible that Elizabeth’s own coronation ring killed her, as she had never removed it during her 44-year reign.

Historians also claim that during Elizabeth’s final years, she suffered from depression after many of her close friends and relatives died. Despite appearing very ill during her final months, Elizabeth remained stubborn and refused rest by insisting on standing at events for hours on end. Blood poisoning was also a commonly rumored cause of death as a result of the lead-based make-up that Elizabeth liked to wear.

As Elizabeth refused to allow any doctors to examine her or to consent to a post-mortem after her death, it was impossible for doctors at the time to conclude an accurate cause of death. This leaves historians curious about what particular illness Elizabeth succumbed to. It is likely that, regardless of Elizabeth’s illness and physical health, her mental health contributed greatly to her death.^[9]

1 She Was the Last Tudor Monarch

Elizabeth was the fifth and final Tudor monarch. Succession problems had plagued the Tudor monarchy from the outset, which ultimately led to the unlikely occurrence of two queens during this era. As Elizabeth had no children herself, there was no clear successor in place.

Before she died, she named James VI of Scotland, the son of Mary Queen of Scots, as her successor. When she passed away, this ultimately saw the end of the Tudor era and the beginning of a united England and Scotland when James began the Stuart dynasty in 1603 as James I of England.

Elizabeth’s decision to name James as her successor ensured that she had a long-lasting impact on Britain. When Elizabeth died, the country was arguably in a stable place financially and politically with an elevated international status due to their military victories. Ultimately, Elizabeth I was a complex queen who prevailed despite the prejudices and challenges she faced during her 44-year reign.^[10]

Mary I of England was the only surviving child of King Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine. As the Catholic queen of a country that had fallen into religious conflict and established a breakaway church, she saw it as her duty to bring her subjects back under the “true” religion. This led her to persecute hundreds of Protestants after she came to power.

Overshadowed by her sister and successor, the Protestant Elizabeth I, Mary has largely been pushed aside in the public’s imagination. Today, most people associate her reign only with the Marian persecutions, and her chilling moniker, “Bloody Mary,” is probably more famous than she is. But as with most historical figures, there’s more to her story.

Here are ten reasons Mary wasn’t as evil as we’ve been taught.

10 Born into a Divided Family

Mary’s mother was Catherine of Aragon, a Spanish princess who’d been betrothed from a young age to young Arthur of the House of Tudor, then heir to the English throne. Shortly after the marriage, Arthur, in typical medieval fashion, succumbed to an untimely death, leaving the teenaged Catherine a widow in a foreign land. Arthur’s father, Henry VII, was also widowed and considered marrying Catherine himself but eventually proposed she wed his younger son and new heir, the future Henry VIII.

Negotiations over the marriage took so long that by the time it happened, Henry had already succeeded his father, and Catherine was in her twenties. It was into this tangled mess that Mary arrived in 1516 after several failed pregnancies. Her birth came at a time when royal parents were not exactly on the up and up regarding daughters being equal to sons. Altogether, Catherine gave birth to six children, including three sons, but none survived except Mary. The absence of a male heir eventually completely pulled Henry VIII away from his family.^[1]

9 Traumatized as a Teenager by Her Father

With no male heir, Henry VIII grew increasingly obsessed with the topic, seeking desperately to find an explanation for his lack of sons. Renaissance enlightenment principles aside, he concluded that by taking his brother’s widow as his wife, he’d broken the laws of God and been cursed with no heirs, even though the marriage had been sanctioned by the Vatican. Whether he legitimately believed this or simply found it a convenient pretext to remarry, only he knew.

Although Mary was already being educated as heiress presumptive, Henry remained vehemently opposed to a female successor. First, he appealed to the Pope to dissolve his marriage to Catherine. When that failed, he enlisted allies to continue with annulment proceedings domestically, undertook a secret marriage to his mistress, Anne Boleyn, and appointed himself Supreme Head of the Church in England. To uphold the claim that his marriage to Catherine had never been valid to begin with, he delegitimized the teenage Mary and removed her from the line of succession, all before Anne’s first child had even been born.^[2]

8 Humiliated and Forced to Wait on Her Baby Sister

In 1533, Anne gave birth to Elizabeth, her first and only child with Henry. Having been stripped of her royal titles, Mary was further humiliated by being made an attendant to her infant sister, who had replaced her in the line of succession. To make matters worse, Mary’s mother, Catherine, by this point, had been banished from court, and mother and daughter were officially forbidden from communicating.

For years, Mary refused to cave to pressure to accept her illegitimacy and recognize her father as head of the church, a testament to her strength of character in the face of what must have seemed insurmountable odds. Eventually, she did make those pronouncements but sent a secret message to the Pope explaining she’d done so under duress. Despite what Elizabeth’s birth and position represented for her, Mary loved her sister and was influential in getting her back on good terms with their father after he executed Elizabeth’s mother, Anne, for treason.^[3]

7 Spared the Life of Her Usurper

After Henry VIII’s third wife, Jane Seymour, gave birth to a son named Edward, Mary assumed she’d never be queen. If all went according to Henry’s plan, Edward would succeed him and have sons of his own. And Mary would live the life of any ordinary princess. Edward did become king but lived only a few years after that, dying in his teens of a respiratory illness, having neither married nor had children. Although their father had reinstated Mary to the line of succession, Edward again removed her as he lay dying, not because he didn’t want a female heir but because he didn’t want her to undo the work of the Reformation, in which he’d been brought up.

Edward and Mary’s sister Elizabeth had also been raised Protestant, like Edward, but legally it would’ve been inadvisable to exclude only Mary, who held the stronger claim as the eldest. To this end, he also bypassed Elizabeth and instead designated his Protestant cousin, Jane Grey, as heir. After Edward’s death, Jane’s reign lasted a matter of days, with Mary rallying supporters and marching on London. Knowing Jane had only followed orders, Mary spared her life. Tragically, Jane remained a pawn in the conspirators’ dealings and eventually was put to death to thwart further attempts to unseat Mary.^[4]

6 Courageous and Trailblazing for the Time

Although feminism wasn’t exactly a hot topic in Mary’s time, her life was as close an example to it as we might expect for a sixteenth-century queen. In one of her most daring moments, Mary fled to a loyalist outpost as soon as she heard that her brother, Edward VI, was near death. If she’d remained nearby, she’d have been imprisoned and prevented from ascending the throne by Edward’s supporters, spelling the end of the Tudor dynasty. She was bold, decisive, and politically astute in an era when women were chiefly praised for modesty and obedience.

As Henry VIII’s eldest surviving heir, Mary based her claim to the throne on legitimacy, sidelining the topic of religion. This gained her support from both Catholics and Protestants. Both the common people and gentry came to her side, and Jane Grey’s government fell apart within days. Not long after Mary’s proclamation, Parliament passed an act enshrining the full and absolute power of the crown irrespective of gender, establishing equal rights between kings and queens regnant.^[5]

5 Guided by the Religious Conventions of Her Time

Today, we’d be horrified at the idea of burning someone at the stake for any reason, let alone their religious beliefs. But Mary grew up in a time when the importance of practicing the true religion was a matter of salvation. She believed her brother’s death proved God wanted a Catholic on the throne. Seeing the Pope as God’s representative on earth, she rejected the title of Supreme Head of the Church.

For Mary, finding herself on a throne she thought she’d never ascend was a vindication of her beliefs. To allow England to continue its course of separation from the Vatican would’ve been an affront to her duties as sovereign. Protestants who refused to convert back to Catholicism paid with their lives in a gruesome manner, but everything Mary had been taught told her it was her obligation to root out heresy in her dominions.^[6]

4 No Different from Other Monarchs of the Age

Giving someone the title “Bloody Mary” conjures up images of a cold, ruthless killer. And though you might argue the shoe fits, the truth is Mary was no different from other monarchs of the time when it came to eliminating disobedient subjects. In pursuit of his ambition to leave his marriage and father sons with other women, Henry VIII, who never quite reconciled his Catholic upbringing with his zeal for reform, put both Catholics and reformers to death, including death by burning.

Mary’s successor, Elizabeth I, not only executed many of her own subjects but even put to death a fellow queen. While it’s true that Mary’s infamous burnings reached almost 300 in a short period, Elizabeth once ordered over twice as many executions after quashing a Catholic rebellion early on in her rule. Of course, neither sister ever reached the dizzying heights of their father. By the end of his 36-year reign, Henry VIII had executed an estimated 57,000 people, a bone-chilling average of 1,500 death sentences a year. Among the victims were two of his own wives. And these numbers leave out what was happening in other parts of the world whose leaders were often even more brutal.^[7]

3 Counter-Reformation Was Popular During Her Reign

Since it was ultimately unsuccessful, it’s easy to imagine Mary’s attempt to re-Catholicize England as unpopular, but the truth is it wasn’t. Of course, those who subscribed to the principles of the Reformation were opposed, but Mary came to the throne less than a quarter-century after her father’s break with Rome. At that time, the question of religion in England was far from resolved, with Catholics still outnumbering Protestants.

Before Mary even set out her religious policy, news of her accession brought the revival of Catholic Mass in churches across the realm. She was no tyrant either—Parliament largely supported Mary’s policies and repealed most of her brother’s and father’s reforms. Eighteen months into her reign, England was fully realigned with the Catholic Church. Had Mary produced an heir, the child would’ve been raised Catholic, the Reformation may have fizzled out, and the restoration would’ve gone down in history as a cornerstone of her reign.^[8]

2 Laid the Groundwork for Some of Her Successor’s Achievements

Mary’s reign has largely been characterized by historians as ineffective and backward-looking, but these are oversimplifications. The two biggest “failures” of Mary’s reign—attempting to re-Catholicize England and the loss of the historically English territory of Calais in France—are often judged out of context (as we’ve already seen concerning the restoration). Future English monarchs presided over the loss of territories much more extensive than Calais, but it didn’t define their reigns, nor was it seen as evidence of their unsuitability.

In fact, Mary was a conscientious monarch who worked tremendously hard. Although her marriage to a foreigner was initially unpopular, she ensured her rights as queen were not ceded to her husband. During her reign, she undertook reforms in the navy as well as in coinage and the militia, reendowed several hospitals, and established a groundbreaking trading company with Russia. A revised customs book increased crown revenue and remained in effect through the reign of her successor. She also had plans drawn up for currency reform, which were carried out after her death.^[9]

1 Died Too Soon to Consolidate Her Policies

Despite having suffered from ailments of the reproductive system for years, Mary was eager to birth an heir and secure the succession. In 1554, she married the future Philip II of Spain, but the union produced no children. Although Mary was genuinely in love with her husband, by the time it was apparent she wouldn’t become pregnant, he’d retreated to his own dominions abroad. His absence affected her greatly, perhaps eliciting bitter memories of abandonment from her youth.

Only five years into her reign, Mary died during a flu epidemic at 42, having spent the last months of her life suffering from the same chronic disorders that had plagued her since adolescence. With no heir of her own, she had no one to carry on her legacy, and her reign proved much too short for her policies to take effect. Although considered illegitimate by Catholics, her sister Elizabeth was crowned in 1559 and soon reestablished the Protestant church. Her reign has largely gone down in history as a golden age, in sharp contrast with Mary’s.

It’s often said that history is written by the victors. Mary I of England, whose motto as queen was “Truth, the daughter of time,” would probably agree.^[10]