Discussion: Beheading of lady Jane Grey.

"I agree with you....Mary did very bad things....but I wonder even if she didn't want to execute her could she let her be free??I often wondered this because I have read that Elizabeth the I didn't want to execute her cousin Mary Stuart but she was made to because of the law..I also read that she gave orders to stop the execution but it was too late....Is it true???"

"It actually doesn't really matter she'd wanted it or not, the fact was that some people wanted to see her as queen, thus she was a threat to Mary who applied the sentence for every ruler's threat: death. Even though it partly led to the bad picture Mary left for posterity, or more exactly the picture her ennemies left of her...
Don' get me wrong, I do feel sorry for Jane and her husband and so on, but History is full of victims, I think Mary did what she thought was best. And, there's no way to know what Jane would have done of Mary if she'd stayed Queen... Probably the same thing..."

"Both Mary and Elizabeth executed cousins to avert the danger both women posed to their throne. Mary is vilified, Ellizabeth not so much. In Jane Grey's case, her parents who were behind pushing her to take the throne and cut Mary out. and of course, Edward who was Protestant disregarded the succession rights of his Catholic sister and even his Protestant sister in favor of his Protestant cousin. We can never know if he did so willingly or was forced to it during his death agony by his advisers. I always thought that Jane's parents should have been right up there on the scaffold, too. or maybe instead of, Jane.
Mary did not want to execute her cousin; nether did Elizabeth, but the two women willingly or not, provided a rallying point for the two Queens' opposition. Elizabeth was also in that position in relation to her sister, Mary, and may even have encouraged the opposition. That is why Mary kept her sequestered and also for a time placed her in the Tower. In this time of absolute monarchy the ruler had to be secure in his or her rule. Since Mary loved Elizabeth in spite of their differences, as a sister, I doubt she could have brought herself to execute her.
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"It actually doesn't really matter she'd wanted it or not, the fact was that some people wanted to see her as queen, thus she was a threat to Mary who applied the sentence for every ruler's threat: death. Even though it partly led to the bad picture Mary left for posterity, or more exactly the picture her ennemies left of her...
Don' get me wrong, I do feel sorry for Jane and her husband and so on, but History is full of victims, I think Mary did what she thought was best. And, there's no way to know what Jane would have done of Mary if she'd stayed Queen... Probably the same thing..."

"Wow. You made me see a diffrernt view of it now. I understand that Mary was doing all she could to secue her throne. But I still think that she wasnt such a great ruler. I admier her for a amazing part of history but I still think people don't call her 'Bloody Mary' for nothing. She killed over 500 people for not believeing in God in the ways she does. You are compleaty right when you say history is fill of victims. An dI to think Mary did what she thought was best. Yet I fell it was not the right disscion. But I don't think that Jane would have done the same time. She is thought to be a Kind, caring person. Although I don't believe she would have become a great ruler as Henry VIII was or Elizabeth I."

"I agree. I don't think Mary did desire to kill Jane, but Mary's advisores told her that if she were to let Jane out she would be a treat to her throne. At this I disagree, Jane never wanted the throne in the first place. Mary should have beheaded he new father in law and her paranets, she could have carried on living a life without care, But if it wasnt for Marys advisores Jane would have been able to do just that."

"Mary was also a kind caring person , but those on all sides of the religious persuasions of the time believed in burning for anyone they considered heretics. John Knox and Martin Luther advocated it as well as the Catholic Church. Jane Grey was of the same dour Protestantism as Edward. If he had lived he would no doubt have burned heretics as had his father before him. Jane probably would have, too. It wasn't a matter of kindness, but the religious beliefs of the time.
Henry VIII, by the way, executed many more people than his eldest daugther, some just for defying his will, but, oddly enough, no one calls him "Bloody Henry".
If Mary had not set the stage, Elizabeth would have had a much harder time as a Queen regnant. "