Historical Fiction Forum Any Tudor history buffs here?

I write historical romance and I have an idea in my head for a trilogy involving 3 sisters. I want to tell them in order, and I know I want the youngest to be a member of the court in the very early days of Elizabeth I (meaning, from her coronation on through probably the first year). But if that's the case, my first story will take place during the reign of Mary, who I really don't know much about, other than the fact that she was Catholic and burned Protestants and was married to Phillip of Spain. Can anyone offer me any info on her? (her reign - not her personal life before she ascended the throne, because I do know a significant amount about that). Thanks!

If you havent checked the wiki page for her this is it. It will tell you about her reign.   Queen Mary I of England reigned as Queen of England for a short five years (r.1553-1558), the first reigning queen since the disputed Mathilda in the 12th Century. Most historians consider her reign to be unfruitful in that she never was able to fulfill her dream of returning England to the Roman Catholic Church. She also never had any children of her own to continue her dynasty in England. Her foreign policies met with failure as well. Born in 1516 to England's King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Mary lived quiet life as a royal princess until about 1527 when the king began to seek annulment of his marriage to her mother.   Since Catherine had not produced a male heir, Henry feared that if Mary inherited the throne civil war might result.  Since the pope refused to grant an annulment, in 1533 Henry's bishops dissolved the marriage and allowed Henry to marry Anne Boleyn, who soon gave birth to Mary's half-sister, Elizabeth.  In all, England thus broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and began to follow Anglicanism.  After Catherine's death, Henry in turn executed Anne Boleyn on a trumped-up charges of adultery conspiracy.  His next wife, Jane Seymour, gave birth to his long-desired heir, Edward, so both Mary and Elizabeth were treated as royal b******s.   Edward VI followed his father as king in 1547, but died already in 1553.  Mary became queen only after a faction of Protestant nobles tried to put Lady Jane Grey, or the "nine day queen," on the throne.  Mary's overwhelming support by the powerful averted a serious civil war.  Only a handful of executions followed, including Lady Jane.   Mary immediately went to work bringing the Roman Catholic faith back to England. She initially did this by rescinding the religious proclamations of Edward VI, and replacing them with old English laws enforcing heresy against the Church. In carrying out the last action, Mary earned her nickname, "Bloody Mary," because during her reign, she had more than 300 persons burned at the stake for heresy. Among them was the Archbishop of Canterbury,  Thomas Cranmer.  Chiefly because of her support of the papacy and the Roman Catholic Church, she was never really able to gain the support of nobles and most of her countrymen. In her drive to find an heir to the English throne, at the age of 37 Mary wed prince Philip II of Spain. This made her subjects even more apprehensive about her, because many viewed Spain as an archenemy of England. Twice during her reign she believed that she was with child, and even showed the symptoms of pregnancy. It seems that she had a "hysterical pregnancy" -- she had convinced herself so that her body responded as if she were pregnant. It has also been supposed that she might have had an ovarian cyst that not only prevented her from conceiving a child, but could have contributed to her early death in 1558. Mary's foreign affairs had also met failure as well. Encouraged to ally with Spain by Philip in a war against France, Mary lost Calais, the only English held possession in France. Sadly, in 1558, deserted by her husband who went back to Spain to claim the Spanish throne, Mary realized that she would not be able to provide an heir, and was forced to recognize her sister, Elizabeth, an Anglican Protestant, as the next ruler of England.  Although at several points Mary threatened and put pressure on on her sister to convert to Roman Catholicism, she successfully resisted, survived, and became Queen Elizabeth I. 

I have an absolute obsession with King Henry VIII. I read any historical fiction book I can get my hands on. I always wanted to write my own version of something surrounding him, however, the market is already quite saturated with stories that I have decided not to. 

I am actually in the process of writing a historical fiction novel about Henry VIII in his early years, times that I've not seen covered much. I don't know much about Mary after her ascension but I do know that she went a little mad in her later years. Claiming false pregnancies and the like. Good luck!