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So I just found my old biography on Mary Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser and have started re-reading it. Reading the section about Mary's actual reign got me thinking. What would you call Mary in religious terms? By that I mean she was a Catholic monarch raised in a very ultra Catholic Court and by Ultra-Catholic relatives but she herself was a very moderate ruler, especially when compared to her contemporaries. She never attempted to forcefully reestablish Catholicism, never strengthened the leading Catholic magnates, in fact she joined in the destruction of Scotlands leading Catholic noble, the Earl of Huntly. So was Mary a true religious moderate or was she merely recognizing that she was militarily powerless? Or was she trying to strengthen the possibility of becoming Elizabeth I's heiress by appearing tolerant, something she would need to be to rule England?
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