Mary Tudor and Lady Jane Grey Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mary Tudor and Lady Jane Grey - Essay Example All of these factors lead both Mary Tudor and Lady Jane Grey to the throne. At the time of Lady Jane Grey’s ascension to the throne for a mere nine days, she was not the only one with a claim to the throne. Her older sister, Margaret, had married James IV of Scotland which would make their children more of a direct line to the Tudor throne. However, Mary Tudor was a direct descendant of Henry VIII. If a woman was to become queen of all of England, Mary had more right than Lady Jane Grey. This would have been true if Henry the VIII had not declared her a bastard due to an annulled marriage with his first wife. So neither woman had a strong claim to the throne, but both became queen. The religious tumult of the time combined into the politics to make both Lady Jane Grey and Mary Tudor queen. Lady Jane Grey, along with Henry VIII’s successor, Edward VI favored the Protestant movement. Mary was a staunch Catholic. This made Protestant supporters favor Lady Jane, and Catholic supporters favored Mary. It was not a matter of the right or claim to throne at the time, but of which religion the English population favored. Lady Jane was more of a pawn of her father and brothers than Mary. She was more of a figurehead. For a region that had been Catholic for centuries, Protestants were seen as heretics. During the examination of Anne Askew, a Protestant, the following exchange occurred: Then took he my book out of my hand and said, ‘Such books as this hath brought you to the trouble you are in. Beware,’ sayeth he, ‘beware, for he that made this book and was the author thereof was an heretic, I warrant you, and burnt in Smithfield.’ (Greenblatt et al)1 Mary Tudor had two reasons for wanting to be queen. The first would be the enforcement of the Catholic religion. The second reason was to prove her birth was legitimate. This second reason supported the first. If Henry VIII had acted illegally