The successful reign of Mary

We had our largest audience of 2021-22 so far, with 144 people including 95 students from 13 different sixth forms in the area.  Ronald Hutton delivered a clear revision of the “Bloody Mary” who is often seen as England’s most unpopular and least successful monarch.  Dividing the reign into four key areas -high politics, finance, defence and religion he re-examined her reign in line with research done by recent historians including himself.  The wasn’t a PowerPoint slide in sight as he developed his clear argument and the audience listened attentively.  He posed some really interesting comparisons with her sister along the lines of what if Elizabeth had reigned for an equally short period? He brought out her real achievements in managing her potentially faction ridden court, starting the road to financial recovery after the inflation of Edward and Henry’s reign and her lasting achievements in terms of defence in the setting up of a militia.  While acknowledging he did not find Mary a likeable personality, even in the area of religion and executions he gave a much more balance evaluation of Mary Tudor’s reign. By comparison Charles II’s record of tolerance was blighted by his incarceration of so many Quakers who died much slower deaths in squalid prisons. Ronald challenged the image of “Bloody Mary” as an exceptionally cruel monarch.  The striking conclusion was that there were no “duff Tudors” and they were all capable and talented rulers whether we liked them as people or not. This witty and lively lecture generated lots of great questions from our audience many of whom went off feeling more confident about their impending exams.