Opening Page

Augustana College Library

Augustana History Department

Augustana College 		 
This discourse examines why the gender of Mary I, despite her monarchical status, determined her initial deference to her cousin, Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, and her husband, Philip II. Letters from Cardinal Reginald Pole's appointed legations, the Reconciliation of England (1553-1558) and the Peace of France and the Holy Roman Empire, indirectly provide context to the patriarchal relationships between Charles V, Philip II, and Mary I. Her deference can be seen in matters such as her marriage to Philip, ordering her husband's access to governmental powers, and whether to return England to Catholicism under the control of the supreme pontiff. Once Cardinal Pole arrived in England, Mary followed his advice in matters of religion until her death in September of 1558.

The view of gender in the sixteenth century allowed Mary I, Queen of England (1553-1558) to be guided by the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V (1553-1556), and then her husband, Philip King of Spain (later Philip II of England) (1554-1558) because women were viewed as socially, intellectually, and morally disadvantaged from birth. With the exception of Mary's accession to the throne, both men advised or directed her decision on various matters of religion, government, and marriage. However, Pole's legation letters also show the lack of guidance Pole, as a sixteenth century cardinal, could give Mary I as a queen. This discourse does not examine Mary's relationship with Cardinal Pole after he came to England at the end of November 1554. After Cardinal Pole's arrival in England, Mary as a devout Catholic took the advice of Cardinal Pole in matters of religion as befitting a female in the early modern era.

Mary was a product of a sixteenth century society that did not regard women as equals. Two of the most established authorities in England described and defined how women were subordinate to men, the church and the law. The church used what was regarded as the 'social and political blueprint' of this patriarchal society, the Bible. The Bible confirmed this belief as cited in scripture, Genesis chapter two. First, Eve was created from Adam's rib thereby created for man. Secondly, 'Eve's moral and intellectual weakness as the primary cause of the Fall' was a precedent that was used as a reason for why women's loss of power and independence in the secular world. Thus, contemporaries did not strongly dispute this belief. Described by contemporary male authors, who believed that women were morally, intellectually, and physically deficient when compared to men. For example, John Foxe, a leading contemporary writer, claimed it was the 'will of God' that it was so. Other authorities on women that supported this view were Aristotle, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas. The law borrowed from theology to rationalize why women were excluded from the political realm. Consequently, politics and landed property went hand in hand. In most English counties landed property was inherited by the male heir through the rule of primogeniture. Wives were to bear sons to ensure that land and titles stayed within the family. Mary I was raised in this society.

Regardless of Mary's humanist education , which reinforced the conventional teaching about patriarchal authority, her status as queen did not negate the social reality of her position as a woman and a future wife. Mary was an example of how even women of status worked within the social dynamics of the sixteenth century deferring to a man's judgement in matters of importance. Mary cannot be compared to the rare exceptions of women who appeared to command their lives and those that lived around them, such as Catherine de Medici or Mary's successor and half-sister, Elizabeth I. Even Elizabeth lived under the social constraints of the sixteenth century seeking a husband until her late forties.

Next-->