Fires of Faith: Catholic England under Mary Tudor

The reign of Mary Tudor is remembered as an era when a reactionary monarch launched a doomed attempt to reimpose Catholicism on an unwilling nation. The burning alive of more than 280 men and women for their religious beliefs seared the rule of 'Bloody Mary' into the protestant imagination. In this controversial reassessment a leading reformation historian argues that Mary's regime was neither inept nor backward-looking.