THE HISTORY
OF
MARY I., QUEEN OF ENGLAND
THE HISTORY OF
MARY I.
QUEEN OF ENGLAND
AS FOUND IN THE
PUBLIC RECORDS, DESPATCHES OF AMBASSADORS
IN ORIGINAL PRIVATE LETTERS, AND OTHER
CONTEMPORARY DOCUMENTS
BY
J. M. STONE
LONDON
SANDS & CO.
12 BURLEIGH STREET, STRAND, W.C.
1901
At a time when prejudiced historical verdicts are beinglargely revised, and when it is universally admittedthat history must be studied on broader and morediscriminating lines than heretofore, the restatementof the case for our first Queen Regnant scarcelyneeds an apology.
Two books, one The Privy Purse Expenses of thePrincess Mary, with an Introductory Memoir by SirFrederick Madden, some time Keeper of the Manuscriptsin the British Museum, and the other, The Lifeof Jane Dormer, Duchess of Feria, edited by the Rev.Joseph Stevenson, from the original manuscript inthe possession of Lord Dormer, first revealed QueenMary to me as an attractive and sympathetic personality.Subsequent diligent examination of documentsrelating to her life and reign, scattered aboutthe various archives of Europe, has not belied thatimpression, but has further shown that more interestattaches to her dire struggle with the difficulties whichbeset her than has generally been supposed.
This material has proved to be extremely rich andabundant, especially as regards the archives of Venice,[Pg vi]Austria, Belgium and England. The valuable papersformerly at Brussels have, it is true, disappeared, butfortunately we are provided with transcripts of themin the Record Office. And where the despatches ofambassadors, those of Giustinian, Chapuys, Renard,Michiel, de Noailles, Surian and others, drop the threadof the story, our own chroniclers, Stowe, Holinshed,Machyn, Wriothesley, Foxe, etc., take it up, so thatan almost continuous narrative is formed, reachingfrom Mary’s earliest childhood to her death.
I have endeavoured, where possible, to give thestory in the words of each individual ambassador orannalist, in order to preserve, if it might be, the atmosphereof the times, in a manner unattainable by ourmodern phraseology. In most instances, I have beencareful to reproduce even the eccentricities of thespelling in the English documents quoted, but inothers, where I have given somewhat lengthy extractsfrom our chroniclers, the spelling has been modernisedto avoid tedium.
It has not come within the scope of the presentwork to deal exhaustively with Mary’s correspondence,and many of her most interesting letters have beenunavoidably omitted, preference being given to thosewhich relate to the more crucial points in her histor