"Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary."
She's held responsible for the burning of nearly 300 protestants, granting her the infamous title little girls chant today in dark mirrors. But do you know her true story? The story of how her father bastardi...
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(Thomas Cranmer, right hand man to Mary's father, King Henry VIII, and a cause for much of Mary's early life struggles.)
Many see the persecution of Thomas Cranmer, responsible for much of the troubles young Mary had faced in her youth, as a complete disaster, especially for propaganda purposes. [77] Although there is no denying that Cranmer's persecution, from a propaganda perspective, did not go as planned, it was however personally necessary for Queen Mary to get rid of the heretical Thomas Cranmer. In spite of the fact that Cranmer did stick up for Mary when King Henry VIII sought to imprison his daughter for her failure to give up her title as princess, none of the events would have progressed in such a downward spiral had it not been for Cranmer's schemes to allow the Protestant faith to flourish in England.
Thomas Cranmer was responsible for three main actions that not only ruined Mary's life, but, in her eyes, signed his death warrant. First, Cranmer was openly against Mary's ascent to the throne and even signed Edward's VI's Letters Patent which sought to disinherit Mary's rights to the throne guaranteed in King Henry VIII's will. Secondly, through his influence of the King, he aided in England's breakaway from Rome and the Catholic faith. Finally, and most importantly, Cranmer was the one who pronounced the divorce between King Henry VIII and Mary's mother Katherine. As Porter notes, "Much of the misery she endured as a young woman she could lay at his door. She was determined to break him, in body and spirit. It would not be a swift act of vengeance." [78]
On September 14, 1553, Thomas Cranmer was summoned to appear before the privy council, a body of councillors who advised the Queen. His hearing was conducted in the Star Chamber, a court of law specialized in prosecuting renowned figures in England.
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(The Star Chamber, a famous court specialized in prosecuting distinguished English members of society, such as politicians and lords.)
The hearing ordered Cranmer to the Tower on account of his treason against the Queen (and thus against England), and his influencing of social disorder. [79] Although Mary pretty much had Cranmer defeated, she was not satisfied. Mary wanted Cranmer tried as a heretic.
Priority number one for Mary was to siphon a public recantation from Cranmer. This would be a key piece of propaganda—the man who caused the breakaway from Rome admitting he was wrong for doing so. This piece of propaganda would also help silence Protestant opposition. [80] The task for breaking Cranmer was given to Pole, who pleaded with Cranmer to save himself by recanting. Cranmer eventually did recant—in fact he recanted six times. Cranmer himself was going through a spiritual crisis, especially after signing his fifth recantation. It was reported that Cranmer had a dream "in which he saw two kings wrestling together for his soul; one of the kings was Jesus and the other was Henry VIII. It had at least occurred to Cranmer...that [his] service to Henry VIII had not always been compatible with service to Christ." [81]
Although Cranmer had recanted six times, Mary wished to see him burned. She got what she wished for, and Cranmer was handed one final script to read before his burning at the stake—which was supposed to be considered his seventh and final recantation.
Mary had gone too far. She had, in a sense, tortured Cranmer spiritually enough, and now, even though he recanted, he was being sentenced to death despite the fact that Cranmer was guaranteed, when he signed the sixth recantation, that he would be spared. [82] Although Mary had fooled him, Mary herself was also fooled—she was fooled because she had put Cranmer in a situation where he had nothing left to lose.
Although Cranmer was slated to read a prepared seventh recantation at his burning, Cranmer wrote another speech and hid it in his bosom. After a sermon by Dr. Henry Cole, an official government spokesman, justifying Cranmer's death as an act of vengeance, he called upon Cranmer to make his recantation. Cranmer took to the stage, withdrew his cap, and addressed the people. He started off with what appeared to be along the lines of the prepared seventh recantation, but then he increasingly began to subtly point out the hypocrisy of his persecution. For example, he noted that it was foolish for Christians to hate one another, "not taking each other as brother and sister, but rather as strangers and mortal enemies." [83]
All of his exhortations led up to the finale where he renounces his recantations and attacked the Catholic Church. He declared:
"And now I come to the great things which so much troubleth my conscience, more than anything that ever I did or said in my whole life, and that is the setting abroad of a writing contrary to the truth; which now I here renounce and refuse, as things written with my hand contrary to the truth which I thought in my heart, and written for fear of death. And as for the pope, I refuse him, as Christ's enemy and Antichrist, with all his false doctrines. And as for the sacrament, I believe as I have taught in my book against the Bishop of Winchester, which my book teacheth so true a doctrine of the sacrament, that it shall stand at the last day before the judgment of God, where the papistical doctrine contrary thereto shall be ashamed to show her face." [84]
Those in the audience were shocked at Cranmer's change of heart. His enemies in the audience were furious, not only because of what Cranmer said, but also because "they could no longer threaten nor hurt him; for the most miserable man in the world can die but once." [85] Cranmer was led to the stake, surrounded by a bundle of sticks that were set ablaze. According to John Foxe's Book of Martyrs, Cranmer thrusted his right hand into the fire—the same hand he used to sign all of his recantations—and repeated, "This unworthy right hand!" [86]
Cranmer's final remarks made the orchestrated propaganda stunt a failure. Even when Cranmer's written version of the seventh recantation, which he had signed before his death, was immediately sent to the presses, the damage had been done. Although it was a failure, Mary was still glad to have ridden England of the heretical Cranmer. In his place, Cardinal Pole was officially consecrated as archbishop of Canterbury—and both Mary and Pole had a lot of damage control to take care of.
