THE CROWN WAS TRANSFERRED TO MARY, daughter of Henry VIII. and Catherine of Arragon, and Lady Jane Grey and her husband were sent to the Tower, and subsequently condemned to death. They were kept in captivity for some time, and were not executed until after Wyatt's rebellion in 1554. [Illustration: Virgin & Child, Chirbury.] Mary was a firm Roman Catholic, and she looked to her uncle, Charles V. of Spain, for assistance and support. In January, 1554, much to the disappointment of her subjects, she concluded a treaty of marriage with Philip of Spain, son of Charles V. Afterwards her reign was disturbed by insurrections, and also by the persecution of Protestants by Cardinal Pole, who came over to England to push forward the Roman Catholic reaction. THIS TROUBLED REIGN was not congenial to Christmas festivities, though they were still kept up in different parts of the country. During the Christmas festival (January 2, 1554) a splendid embassy, sent by the Emperor, Charles the Fifth, headed by the Counts Egmont and Lalain, the Lord of Courrieres, and the Sieur de Nigry, landed in Kent, to arrange the marriage between Queen Mary and Philip. The unpopularity of the proceeding was immediately manifested, for the men of Kent, taking Egmont for Philip, rose in fury and would have killed him if they could have got at him. Although an attempt was made to allay the fears of the English, within a few days three insurrections broke out in different parts of the kingdom, the most formidable being that under Sir Thomas Wyatt, who fixed his headquarters at Rochester. In city and court alike panic prevailed. The lawyers in Westminster Hall pleaded in suits of armour hidden under their robes, and Dr. Weston preached before the Queen in Whitehall Chapel, on Candlemas Day, in armour under his clerical vestments. Mary alone seemed calm and self-possessed. She mounted her horse, and, attended by her ladies and her Council, rode into the City, where, summoning Sir Thomas White, Lord Mayor, and the Aldermen, who all came clad in armour under their civic livery, she ascended a chair of State, and with her sceptre in her hand addressed them, declaring she would never marry except with the leave of her Parliament. Her courage gained the day. The rebellion was speedily quelled and the ringleaders put to death; and the following July the marriage took place. Mary's subsequent reign was a "reign of terror, a time of fire and blood, such as has no parallel in the history of England."[49] CHRISTMAS DIVERSIONS OF QUEEN MARY.