Does Mary I deserve to be known as ‘Bloody

Mary’?

In today’s lesson we will be putting Queen Mary I on trial…

The Bristol martyrsThis memorial is outside the Parish Church in Cotham

It commemorates five men who were burned alive for their Protestant beliefs on St Michaels Hill from 1555-57

One of the men, Richard Sharp, was allowed to go free in 1556 after saying his beliefs were wrong, but was caught again in 1557 and burned

Over her 5 year reign, Mary I and her government burned 287 Protestants

Lesson objectives

• You MUST decide whether Mary deserves to be known as ‘Bloody Mary’

• You SHOULD be able to say why you reached your decision

• You COULD analyse the reliability of the evidence you used to reach your verdict

YES she does deserve it

• Look at the source in front of you. It describes what happened to the Guernsey Martyrs in 1556

• It is from a very famous book called Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. In 1570, a copy was placed in every church and on every ship sailing to war against Spain

• It is the longest book ever written in English – there are 3 million words in it!

Evidence – YES she does deserve it

Discuss these questions with the person sitting next to you and write down your answers under your picture• Who wrote the source?• What is it?• Where was it written?• When was it written?• Why do you think was it written?

• What is your overall impression of Mary having seen this evidence?

Foxe’s Book of Martyrs

Quick! Line Up!

Does she deserve to be called ‘Bloody Mary’?

• If you agree totally and will not be persuaded otherwise, go to one side of the room

• If you disagree and feel she was misunderstood, go the other side of the room

• If you are not sure or need more evidence, place yourself somewhere in the middle

• Explain to your neighbour why you have put yourself in that place

NO she does not deserve it

• You need to think about whether this evidence on its own is enough to form her reputation as Bloody Mary

• What other information do you think you would need to give her a fair trial?

• Put your ideas down on paper as a list/spider diagram

The defence…

• Read through the grid of reasons why Mary does not deserve her reputation as ‘Bloody Mary’.

• You need to choose the three most convincing arguments and complete this sentence:

I believe that Mary I does not deserve her bad reputation because…

VERDICT

• Show of hands – does she deserve the name?• Has anyone changed their mind?

• Is there anything else that would help you change your mind?

• Write down your final judgement on Mary I:I think Mary I’s reputation as Bloody Mary is fair/unfair because…