Chapter 3: Henry VIII and Wolsey

• How old was Henry VIII when he came to the throne?

  17
• When did Henry VII die?

  1509
• Henry VIII's interests

  jousting, hunting, falconry, music, & theology
• How was Henry VIII's accession greeted?

  joy & support
• demonstrations of Henry VIII breaking from his father

  • Empson & Dudley executed
  • married Catherine of Aragon (had been kept prisoner by Henry VII)
  • aspirations of war glory
• Which kings did Henry 8th aspire to be like?

  King Arthur & King Henry V (conquests in France)
• Why was Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon seen as a good thing?

  • Henry VII had kept Catherine a prisoner in England so their marriage was seen as chivalrous
  • restored valuable Spanish alliance & gave Henry an ally
  • helped Henry to build reputation as warrior king
• Henry 8th's advisors' feelings about war

  • against war (expensive)
  • Bishop Fox & Archbishop Warham wanted to continue Henry 7th's policies
  • 1510 -> tricked H8 into renewing truce w/ France
• When did Fox & Warham trick Henry 8th into renewing the truce with France?

  1510
• When did Henry 8th take Therouanne & Tournai?

  1513, Battle of the Spurs (great propaganda victory)
• Why was the Battle of the Spurs an important victory?

  • great propaganda victory
  • gave Henry glory he desired
  • some French nobles captured
• Tournai/Therouanne/Battle of Spurs (1513)

  • Henry invaded France in 1512 after being tricked into renewing treaty (1510) -> achieved nothing
  • second expedition 1513
  • French avoided full battle -> Henry took Therouanne (unimportant)
  • then took Tournai (internationally known)
  • skirmish agst French = Battle of the Spurs
• negative effects of the Battle of the Spurs, and capture of Therouanne & Tournai

  • exhausted England financially
  • overshadowed by victory agst Scots at Flodden
• positive effects of the Battle of the Spurs, and capture of Therouanne & Tournai

  • reached aim of glory
  • French agreed to pay arrears of French pension
  • Henry kept Tournai & Therouanne
  • Henry's sister Mary married Louis XII
• Henry 8th domestic policy

  • little interest in day-to-day
  • brought in Wolsey (helped organise 1513 campaign)
• Wolsey's roles in 1515

  • took care of all matters of govt (by 1514)
  • Lord Chancellor
  • cardinal
• How did Henry 8th win back support of nobility?

  • aggressive policies
  • creation of new nobles
  • lavish spending & vibrant court
• Henry 8th foreign policy aims

  • military glory
  • asserting claim to French throne
  • securing succession & dynasty
  • achieving imperial ambitions -> uniting Scotland & England
  • protecting England from invasion -> subduing Scotland
• new monarchs of Spain & France (1515-20)

  Charles I of Spain & Francis I of France
• Treaty of London (1518)

  • Wolsey hijacked papal initiative to launch a crusade agst Turks
  • turned into international peace treaty
  • showed Henry 8th to be a pivotal power, England = centre of diplomatic activity
  • gains were short-lived & power balance changed when Charles I became HRE
• Why was Henry's position weakened internationally (1515-20)?

  • two new & ambitious monarchs (Charles I of Spain & Francis I of France) wanted to assert themselves & had greater resources
  • Mary (Henry's sister) married Duke of Suffolk after Louis died (unable to use her on European marriage market)
  • French victory in Italy at Marignano
  • peace between France, Spain & HRE -> England = isolated
• When was the Treaty of London?

  1518
• Field of Cloth of Gold, 1520

  • Charles visited England (May 1520)
  • Henry met Francis, near Calais (meeting known as Field of Cloth of Gold)
  • achieved nothing of significance
  • cost a year's income
  • reinforced as England was at war with France in 1521, & when Henry met Charles again, they agreed not to make peace w/ France
• When was the Field of Cloth of Gold?

  1520
• Henry 8th war with France (1523-25)

  • 1523 -> sent an army to aid Charles but was soon abandoned (more concerned w/ Italy)
  • English returned
  • cost £400,000 & England was forced to make peace
  • Battle of Pavia (1525), Charles captured Francis
  • Henry saw this as his chance to claim French throne & ordered Wolsey to raise funds
  • could not be raised due to previous financial demands
  • Charles refused to attack France so H's plan collapsed
• When was the Battle of Pavia?

  1525
• Battle of Pavia (1525)


  battle ending with Charles I of Spain capturing Francis I of France
• Battle of Pavia (1525)


  battle ending with Charles I of Spain capturing Francis I of France
• Treaty of the More (1525)


  • where England allied with France after failing to get Charles' support in his attack on the French
  • reinforced by Treaty of Westminster & Treaty of Amiens
• League of Cognac (1526)


  • consisted of England, France, Milan, Venice, Florence & the Pope (anti-Spanish)
  • tried to reverse the Battle of Pavia
• When was the Battle of Flodden?

  1513
• When did Mary marry Louis XII?

  1514
• Henry's diplomatic revolution (to 1529)

  • failed to get Charles' support
  • England allied with French (Treaty of the More, 1525)
  • League of Cognac est 1526
  • alliance w/ France = reinforced by Treaty of Westminster & Treaty of Amiens
  • England declared war agst Spain (1528)
  • France made peace with Spain
  • England was only invited to talks last minute, seen as a minor power
• King's Great Matter

  policy was influenced by Henry's desire to annul his marriage to Catherine (she was Charles' aunt so divorce = difficult, required military victory)
• Why Wolsey rose to power in the early years of Henry 8th's reign?

  • hard-working & had talent
  • supported Henry's foreign policy
  • was a flatterer
  • Henry was less interested in domestic affairs
  • had been Henry 7th's chaplain & was sent on diplomatic missions for him
  • shown organisational skill in 1513 expedition to France
• Wolsey's role (1514-29)

  Chief Minister
• Wolsey's legal reforms

  • civil law = more important than common law (as it led to unjust verdicts based on technicalities)
  • used system for his own benefit against those he had a grudge agst
  • ensured courts dispensed cheap & impartial justice (available to poor)
  • Star Chamber used to hear cases agst the powerful
  • Court of Chancery used to hear cases brought by poor
  • so many cases that the courts couldn't cope
• Wolsey's financial reforms

  • introduced subsidy (standard parliamentary tax & replaced fifteenth and tenth) in 1523
  • unable to raise the £800,000 hoped for in 1523 -> only £300,000
  • tried to raise funds via the non-parliamentary Amicable Grant (led to unrest in East Anglia)
  • tried to increase revenue from crown lands but had limited success
  • raised £820,000 through taxes by 1520 (didn't meet £1.7 million Henry had spent on war)
• Wolsey's social reforms

  • "champion of the poor"
  • attacked the practice of enclosure -> established an enquiry in 1517
  • limited impact -> 1523, Wolsey accepted all existing closures in return for parliamentary subsidy
  • many of his actions were against the nobility & gentry (vendetta agst them)
• Wolsey's administrative reforms

  • scarcely summoned parliament (only in 1515 & 1523, when funds needed for war - disliked it, had poor relationship)
  • concerned with Privy Chamber
  • 1526 -> introduced Eltham Ordinances (aimed to improve finances & efficiency of Privy Chamber, possibly to control access to King & ^ influence after Amicable Grant failure)