Mary I During the Popish Plot and Exclusion Crisis: Memory and Catholic Remembrance

Abstract

Queen Mary I’s reign has traditionally been remembered as a notorious and ‘bloody’ one in early modern British history, though recent historiography has challenged this portrayal of England’s first anointed queen. Memories of Mary’s reign lingered throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and was utilized particularly during the Popish Plot and Exclusion Crisis, 1678–1681, by Whig and Tory parties as a political tool to argue for and against the exclusion of the Catholic James, Duke of York, from the line of succession. This chapter assesses how Mary was remembered during the Popish Plot and Exclusion Crisis. It examines how Mary’s reign was manipulated by both pamphleteers and by politicians to either support and preserve the hereditary line of succession, or to warn people about the dangers of popery and arbitrary rule. This chapter offers us new insight into how Mary’s contentious image played a decisive role in the Exclusion Crisis.