religious persecution to the already existing political rivalries. Conversion or extermination became the watchword of the two parties; and Protestants and Catholics were by turns burnt at the stake.
Queen Mary (1553-1558), known as "Bloody Mary," after suppressing the rebellion organized by Thomas Wyatt, caused Lady Jane Grey, whose reign had lasted only nine days, to be beheaded. In her proselytism Mary caused many Protestants to be burned at the stake. But upon Elizabeth's accession to the throne (1558-1603) it was the turn of the Catholics to suffer ruthless persecution and martyrdom. In order to rid herself of a dangerous rival, Elizabeth caused Mary Stuart to be beheaded. There were numerous plots against the Queen, treason was everywhere, and "had grown so common," says Hentzner, a German traveler in England, "that he counted 300 heads of persons who "had suffered death for this crime, exposed on London Bridge."[1]
The change of dynasty did not put an end to the religious and political strife. The Stuarts, by proclaiming the doctrine of the divine right of kings, provoked a bitter struggle between the people and the sovereign. James I (1603-1625), who asserted this theory, had, at the beginning of his reign, to baffle two plots: the "Main plot," whose object was to place Arabella Stuart on the throne, and the "By plot," which aimed at obtaining religious toleration. The Conspirators in the Gunpowder plot were mercilessly dealt with. The tendency to absolute power manifested by James I increased under the reign of Charles I (1625-1649). The struggle between the King and Parliament assumed a violent character. Civil war began once more. Defeated in 1645, Charles resorted again to arms in 1648. Meeting with severe reverses he was tried and sentenced to death as a "tyrant, traitor, murderer and public enemy," and was beheaded on the 30th of January, 1649.
- ↑ D. H. Montgomery, The Leading Facts of English History, p. 223.
