Tuesday, October 1, 2024

*** This is a rough transcript of today’s show *** 

It is the 1st of October 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Here at 1517 we are no doubt fans of the 16th century- we’ve got a date from it as our name.  

Yet, lest we become cosplayers or engage in some silly live-action roleplaying, we should see the 16th century as one of the great paradoxical centuries in recorded history. It is the century of the Renaissance and Reformation. It is the century of Luther and Calvin and Galileo and DaVinci. It’s a century that saw the birth of the modern world but also saw the seeds sown that would lead to its demise half a millennia or so later. It was a century of death and division, no matter what side you were on (or) are on.

And if last week I called Pope Clement VII the most unfortunate of Popes- there is perhaps no more of a poster child for unfortunate circumstances (relatively speaking) than Mary- daughter of Henry VIII, half-sister of Elizabeth, Princess of Wales, and later, first regnant (reigning alone) Queen of England. And we know her as synonymous with a breakfast cocktail- the Bloody Mary. Or, as kids, we closed our eyes in a dark room, rubbed our eyes, said “bloody Mary,” and then looked in a mirror. This is the legacy of the first woman to reign as queen of England not as the wife to a king. She was queen. So her life couldn’t have been that bad. But kinda.

She was born in February of 1516 to King Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, aunt to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Despite wanting a male heir Henry was by all accounts smitten with the one surviving child between himself and  Catherine. But when his eyes moved on to Anne Boleyn, Catherine was banished and separated from her daughter. Anne Boleyn gave Henry a child, but another girl: Elizabeth. Elizabeth and Mary would grow up at odds with one another, Mary following the Catholic Church of her mother and that Spanish line with Elizabeth following the Protestant line of her father.

A third wife for Henry proved promising for the blended family. Jane Seymour helped to reconcile the half-sisters and gave birth to a son, the future King Edward VI. But Jane would die after giving birth, and the family would separate.  Edward, a devout Protestant under his teachers and advisors, arranged to make his cousin, Lady Jane Grey, the queen upon his death as she too was Protestant, and otherwise, Mary would assume the throne.

It is important to remember that the Reformation in England was a mixed bag. Politically, it passed with the authority of the crown, but not everyone took to it.

And English identity was for many as important a marker of their identity as was their confessional stance. A legitimate and somewhat stable handoff from brother to sister seemed more palatable for many English people than a Protestant with a tenuous claim on the throne.

After a 9 day reign by Lady Jane, Mary I was recognized as rightful queen as was coronated on this, the 1st of October in 1553.

She wanted to be a queen for all, not just Catholics (despite reintroducing Catholic practices). The Pope and his legates would more than once get upset with Mary for not implementing a faster Catholic Counter-Reformation. Mary claimed that she wanted to do everything legally and with parliament. The stability of the state was, rightfully, a chief concern for the magistrate.  

And the stability of the state is what led her to agree to the arrests and executions that gave her the sobriquet: “Bloody Mary”. But the 280 some that were publicly put to death for heresy wasn’t that outlandish for a state to do (heresy was seen as rotting the foundation of a strong faith), and Mary’s fault is listening to her advisors and using public execution- perhaps fine 50 or so years prior.

The Protestants jumped on this and produced “Foxe’s Book of Martyrs”- one of the great promotional pieces of the Reformation as a collection of inspiring stories for those following the Reformation.

Even still, despite the palace intrigue and what seems to be a mix of depression and the mood swings of her father, she acquiesced to her Protestant sister Elizabeth, ensuring a clean handoff of authority. Mary’s husband, the maligned Catholic and son of Charles V Prince Phillip, treated her poorly, and their relationship may have been, for Elizabeth, reason enough to later turn down Phillips's advances and stay the course as the childless virgin Queen.

XX Forever overshadowed by her sister- the list of actresses playing Mary in famous films is a list of unknowns and there are no full length bios as we have Oscar nominated actresses playing the second daughter in perennial favorites, where Mary is often given the smallest of roles.

Mary would die from complications, perhaps due to her miscarriages after only five years as queen in 1558- coronated on this day in 1553, she had been queen for five years and died at the age of 42.

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary and 1 John:

20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. 21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

24 As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is what he promised us—eternal life.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 1st of October 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man known for his coffee, but I will assure you there is no connection between the Lady and Earl Grey tea—that was named after a Prime Minister—Charles Grey—he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who just learned that the haunted Queen Mary out by me is named for the wife of King George V—not the unfortunately maligned queen. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.