“The only real mistake that Mary made, however, was dying before she was forty.”
She was 42 when she died. Burning Protestants at the stake for heresy probably wouldn’t be classified as a great idea, especially Cranmer, if you won’t call it a “real” mistake.
But the biggest boo-boo was marrying Philip II of Spain, thereby earning her the deserved mistrust of her countrymen.
There is a reason why she’s known as “Bloody Mary”, you probably should have mentioned that, too.
Why do you refer to Protestants as “the Protestant Party”?
Well she was queen for only about five years. Elizabeth lived to great age.
Cranmer was an able man and a great churchman, but not personally heroic. As for Phillip, remember that Spain had been allied with England since the reign of Henry VII. Part of that deal had been to marry Catherine to Henry’s brother Arthur. Catherine was a beauty when she was young, and partly for that reason Henry married her after Arthur’s premature death. And of course after Mary’s death, Phillip was one of Elizabeth’s suitors. It wasn’t until the Dutch rebellion that England began to pull away from the Spanish alliance.
You object to the term “Protestant party,” but t because Protestants were in the minority and strong mainly in London and other parts. They were also divided. Protestants like Cranmer were strong in the Church, but there was already many others and sectarians —not unlike the Pilgrims of our history— who did not think his reforms went far enough. It was the political Protestants who were the real danger to Mary. Her ministers however, went after many persons who were politically quite harmless. These are the ones who deserved to be praised by Foxe. Phillip , btw, advised against a harsh handed suppression. Nonetheless, Mary was personally quite popular, as were all the Tudors. “Bloody Mary” is a political epithet; she was demonized by Protestant propoganda.