Mary I of England, also known as "Bloody Mary," was the Queen of England and Ireland from 1553 to 1558. She was the daughter of King Henry VIII and the first wife, Catherine of Aragon. During her reign, Mary attempted to restore Catholicism in England and
Mary I was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous attempts to reverse the English Reformation, which had begun during the reign of her father, King Henry VIII. Her attempt to restore to the Church the property confiscated in the previous two reigns was largely thwarted by Parliament but, during her five-year reign, more than 280 religious dissenters were burned at the stake, in what became known as the Marian persecutions, leading later commentators to label her "Bloody Mary".