Mary I
Mary I was the queen of England and Ireland. In the centuries after her life, she has become known as Bloody Mary.
She should not be confused for her contemporary Mary, queen of Scots; or Mary, sister of Henry VIII and briefly queen consort of Louis XII.
History
Mary was the eldest daughter and heir presumptive of Henry VIII. However, when Henry annulled his marriage to Catherine of Aragon in 1534, she was technically disinherited. (Furthermore, while she did die in the process, Henry's third wife Jane Seymour gave birth to a son in 1537. Edward VI was immediately recognized as crown prince.)
Henry repeatedly interfered in succession law, setting up an inevitable crisis. He twice amended the Act of Succession to disqualify Mary and her half-sister Elizabeth. Through the Final Act of 1544 he reinstated them and stipulated that, should his children have no heirs, the crown should pass to the line of his sister Mary (same name as his daughter; died in 1533).
Henry died in 1547, leaving the nine year old Edward to inherit. Then Edward's own health began to fail in early 1553. John Dudley, duke of Northumberland and leader of the regency council, particularly wanted to bar Mary (a Catholic) from inheriting. He crafted a legal devise to disinherit both Mary and Elizabeth in favor of Jane Grey. When Edward died in July, Dudley rushed to London. He was extremely influential in court and was able to compel practically most nobles and bishops to sign on to his devise. He was however severely detached from the situation on the ground; Mary and Elizabeth successfully fled London for Norfolk and rallied a decisively large army. Dudley left London leading a small force, and almost immediately the privy council organized a coup against Jane. Henry FitzAlan, earl of Arundel, and William Herbert, earl of Pembroke, are credited with this. The force disbanded and John Dudley was arrested in Cambridge.
Too many members of court had technically supported Jane's claim at one time or another; pragmatically, charges could not be brought against all of them. However, Wyatt's Rebellion broke out early the next year with significant involvement from many of those who had been granted reprieve. The rebels sought to depose Mary in favor of Elizabeth after the former declared her intent to marry the eldest son of Charles V, Philip. (Note that Charles had already designated his brother, Ferdinand, as heir apparent. While he would go on to divide his realm between the Austrian and Spanish Habsburgs, giving the latter to his son, this would not occur for another few years. All that Philip brought to the marriage was the kingdom of Naples, which Charles granted him on the day of the marriage.) The appearance of foreign influence and the mass executions that followed the rebellion caused public opinion of Mary's reign to plummet.
As was expected, Mary rolled back many of the Anglican reforms that her father and brother instituted. Church property was not restored, but the Heresy Acts were reinstituted. Many Protestant nobles fled to exile. Hundreds of others remained and were executed.
English control in Ireland was diminishing in Mary's reign. Despite royal laws forbidding immigration by Scots, Scottish-Gaelic clans consolidated power and repudiated the crown. Radclyffe served as Mary's lord deputy of Ireland, and was tasked with subjugating these chiefs and lords. He was ultimately unsuccessful.
Mary died in 1558 without children.