Watch The Most Evil Men and Women in History – 14 – Bloody Mary Tudor (2001) Documentary Online


This series of programmes consists of 16 episodes which profile 16 evil men and women throughout history who have used their power to torture, kill, maim and eradicate millions of people.

14. Bloody Mary Tudor (1516-1558)

Mary was the only child of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon to live past infancy. By her orders, many prominent Protestants were burned alive for their beliefs leading to her being referred to as “Bloody Mary” since her death.

Fearing the stake a further 800 Protestants left the country, unable to return until after her death.Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558) was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 19 July 1553 until her death. She was the eldest daughter of Henry VIII and only surviving child of Catherine of Aragon. As the fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, she is remembered for restoring England to Roman Catholicism after succeeding her short-lived half brother, Edward VI, to the English throne. In the process, she had almost 300 religious dissenters burned at the stake in the Marian Persecutions, earning her the sobriquet of “Bloody Mary”.

Her re-establishment of Roman Catholicism was reversed by her successor and half-sister, Elizabeth I.