Mary Tudor: England's First Queen - Paperback

by Anna Whitelock (Author)

An engrossing, unadulterated biography of "Bloody Mary"--elder daughter of Henry VIII, Catholic zealot, and England's first reigning Queen

Mary Tudor was the first woman to inherit the throne of England. Reigning through one of Britain's stormiest eras, she earned the nickname "Bloody Mary" for her violent religious persecutions. She was born a princess, the daughter of Henry VIII and the Spanish Katherine of Aragon. Yet in the wake of Henry's break with Rome, Mary, a devout Catholic, was declared illegitimate and was disinherited. She refused to accept her new status or to recognize Henry's new wife, Anne Boleyn, as queen. She faced imprisonment and even death.

Author Biography

Anna Whitelock is a historian of Tudor England and the author of The Queen's Bed: An Intimate History of Elizabeth's Court, winner of the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography. She teaches early modern history at Royal Holloway College, University of London, and is the director of the university's Centre for Public History, Heritage, and Engagement with the Past. A frequent media commentator on the Tudors, the monarchy, and royal succession, she has written for the Guardian, the Times Literary Supplement, and BBC History.