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Mary I Royal Authority and Government - Coggle Diagram
Mary I Royal Authority and Government
Councillors
Mary nominated a Council of 43 when she took the throne as she needed councillors that she could trust and those of her faith. However, these 'Kenninghall loyalists' lacked experience of government and therefore, she had to turn to Councillors under her predecessors
Here, Mary brought in Edwardians such as William Paget and Winchester as well as Henricians such as Stephen Gardiner (who had fallen out of favour under Edward)
Though both Paget and Gardiner were loyal to Mary, there was some form of animosity between the two.
However, Mary lost faith in William Paget in 1554 as he used his influence to defeat a law against heretics in Parliament. As a result, Paget was banned from Council meetings until Philip requested his reinstatement
Though Paget and Gardiner argued, their arguments were not factional and there were no such factional groups within Mary's Council.
For example, the marriage issue of 1554, most of the Council supported Gardiner as he wanted Mary to marry Courtenay yet, when it was evident that Mary was determined to marry Philip, they swung around
Over the question on whether to execute Elizabeth after Wyatt's Rebellion, most of the Council supported Paget who wanted her to be spared
This evidences how Mary did not have too many problems with her Council. There were divisions yet, this was a feature throughout the Tudor period
Moreover, in Mary's reign, the Privy Council's role in managing the daily running of government was becoming more established and committees were used to deal with specialised issues
After Gardiner's death in 1555, Mary looked to others for advice and guidance:
Philip, her husband
The Spanish Ambassador Simon Renard
Parliament
The relationship between Parliament was that of cautious co-operation. This was due to the fact that there was a substantial minority who opposed Mary's reversal of Edwardian policies
There was evidence of opposition to the Crown's policies such as the issue of ex-monastic lands. There was an evident concern for property rights and Mary did not push this
This opposition was evidenced in 1555 in which a bill allowing the seizure of property of Protestant exiles was defeated.
Mary and Parliament argued over the issue of succession as the Commons' petitioned the Queen on the subject of her marriage in 1553
Mary did not truly understand that the country had gone under significant change and that making drastic changes would need to be cautious. Moreover, Mary had interpreted the excitement of her succession as a confirmation that her subjects were ready and willing to see the return of Catholicism
Mary's priorities
Restoration of the Catholic Religion - This was key for Mary I as she wanted to restore papal supremacy and bring England back to Catholicism
The succession - It was important to enable a smooth succession which would help to cement the Catholic Revival after her death
War with France became an issue for concern and saw Mary become embroiled in a war that she did not need to be in
Support for Mary and her policies
Though she faced opposition within Parliament to a certain degree. Mary was able to pass legislation such as the First and Second Act of Repeal and enact the change she needed
Moreover, the Act of Regal Power (1554) enshrined in law that queens held power as “fully, wholly and absolutely” as their male predecessors, thereby establishing the gender-free authority of the crown.
This shows a good relationship with Parliament as they willingly passed a law which recognised Mary's status as the rightful Queen
A major programme of rebuilding and refitting was begun under Mary and the government modernised the army
The Militia Act (1558) laid down a system of commissioners of Muster with responsibility of organising the recruitment of regional militias
The Arms Act (1558) established better procedures for supplying weapons to the royal forces
The failure of Northumberland's Devyse
After Mary learnt that Northumberland had made the decision to make Lady Jane Grey the Queen, she gathered Catholic supporters and members of the nobility in Norfolk
Northumberland immediately summoned troops and sent naval squadron to wait off the coast by Great Yarmouth to intercept Mary should she try to set sail.
However, there was little love for Northumberland in Norfolk because of the cruelty with which he had put down Kett’s Rebellion and the ships he sent proved disloyal to him and declared allegiance to Mary.
At this, other members of the Council decided to proclaim Mary as queen on 19th July 1553.
Northumberland realised his plan had failed and proclaimed Mary as queen in the marketplace at Cambridge on 20th July.
Support for Mary may be due to the fact that she was a direct line to the throne rather than Jane Grey. In people's eyes, she was more legitimate for the throne.
Why did Northumberland fail?
He had attempted to interfere with the legitimate succession and had compounded this by promoting the claims of his son’s wife, thus leading many people to draw the conclusion that the whole business was simply a sordid attempt to hold on to power.
His behaviour was, moreover, illegal and upset even some of his more committed supporters on the Council.
Although Northumberland had generated less enmity than Somerset among his colleagues, he had little positive support. Mary, on the other hand, had acted bravely, decisively and quickly, gathering support from nobility, gentry and ordinary folk.