While the burnings of heretics were going on, Mary was working diligently behind the scenes to rebuild and strengthen England in many ways she is not remembered for. She is not remembered for the mass amount of support she put into music and drama, the expeditions she funded towards East Asia and Russia, the production of a highly detailed series of maps of the known world entitled "The Queen Mary Atlas," which depicted all of South America and parts of Eastern North America with great precision. [105]

(A snippet of the Queen Mary Atlas that depicts a map of portions of Africa and South America)

Furthermore, she is not recognized for the incorporation of local governments under the crown to effectively extend the administration of government lands for education, poor relief, and public works. [106] She is not praised for stabilizing the English currency, after both King Henry VIII and Edward VI debased the coinage, and for bringing in new revenues to the crown through an extensive overhaul of age old customs and excise, which drove increased trade as the tariffs were applied to non-essential imported goods. [107] She is not respected for cutting back on royal household expenses beginning in 1555, the first crown household overhaul since 1519 [108] After being brought to her and her council's attention by Philip II, Mary helped strengthen England's navy after it had fallen into despair during the reign of Edward VI. Mary increased the navy five times its original size in less than a year. In 1555, England had went from 3 miserable ships to 15 warships, restoring respect to England's navy-quite possibly the same navy that served as a foundation for Queen Elizabeth to use against King Philip's armada in 1588.

(Depiction of English forces under Queen Elizabeth defending England against the Spanish Armada led by Queen Mary's husband King Philip II after she passed away. Elizabeth used a navy that was revitalized under Queen Mary's administration.)

In fact, many of Queen Elizabeth's successes were built upon the foundation established by her older sister Mary. Her encouragement of the arts and theater stemmed from Queen Mary's support of the same fields years before Elizabeth's reign. Mary had sent out expeditions in the name of the English crown much like Queen Elizabeth had done years after. Elizabeth is known as being a queen for the poor, yet she is in debt to Mary who solidified control of local governments through the granting of charters that allowed local governments to lease land for the production of poorhouses, education, and public works. The list of Mary's achievements all played an important role in establishing a solid foundation for Elizabeth to work with. Yet the most important legacy bequeathed onto Elizabeth by Queen Mary has been diminished throughout the ages-Queen Mary proved that a woman was fit enough to rule in her own right. [109]

Elizabeth, upon her ascent to the throne, is famously reported to have uttered in Latin, "This is the Lord's doing: it is marvelous in our eyes." [110] Mary makes possible Elizabeth's view of herself as almost a Christly figure. If Elizabeth was the metaphorical Christ, then Mary was the metaphorical John the Baptist, who prepared the way of the Lord. The biggest challenge Elizabeth faced was converting a population that was mostly Catholic back to Protestantism-which showed that Mary's religious policies did work. [111] Porter would note that if Mary had been given another ten years, all of England would be Catholic. [112]