The reign of Mary Tudor, short though it was, has special claims on the student of history, and in David Loades it has found a worthy historian. At the very heart of a century of unprecedented change, it marked a crisis in the history of the English Reformation and (through Mary's marriage to the heir of the Spanish empire) t>f emergent English nationhood - yet it proved to be a turning-point at which the country did not ultimately turn. Mary died with most of her policies and aspirations in disarray, to be succeeded by her shrewder, tougher, luckier and longer-lived sister. But Mary's attempt, and still more her failure, to redirect events were momentous for England and Europe and these few short years richly repay Professor Loades's intensive scrutiny, both for their own importance and for the light they throw on the workings of the mid-Tudor state.Within a chronological framework, David Loades adopts a thematic approach to the reign. He examines the structure of the Mary's Spanish marriage; the restoration of the Old Religion; Philip of Spain as king of England; Mary's government at work; religious reaction; and the English Church under Papal disfavour. A particular strength is the space devoted to financial affairs. The closing stages of the book consider the impact on government and finance of the war that darkened the end of Mary's reign and led to the loss of Calais.