On 17th November 1558, Mary I, Queen of England and Ireland, aka "Bloody Mary," died.

Mary was the only child of her father, Henry VIII, and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. When Henry died in 1547, he was succeeded by Mary's younger half-brother, Edward VI. Edward died in 1553, and an attempt was made to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne, an attempt that failed and resulted in her death.

Mary, despite Edward VI's attempt to remove her from the line if succession, ascended to the throne in July 1553. Edward's attempt to disinherit her was because England was at that point a Protestant state, and Mary was a devout Catholic. On Mary's ascension, the country became, once again, Catholic, and her sobriquet was earned for her treatment of Protestants during her reign.

Mary I was a ruling monarch in her own right, even though she did marry, to Philip of Spain, also becoming queen consort of Spain.

She was succeeded on her death by her half sister, Elizabeth I, who restored the Protestant faith.

Image: Antonis Mor [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maria_Tudor1.jpg)