Henry VIII: Foreign Policy

• Henry wished to become a 'Warrior King' and emulate Henry V at Agincourt, whilst Wolsey wanted to put England in the centre of diplomacy and please the Pope (in order to later become Pope himself)
• 1510: Treaty of Etaples renewed
• 1511: Anglo-Spanish agreement to attack France and regain lost lands in Aquitaine.
• 1512: Start of 1st Anglo-French war. Marquess of Dorset took 12,000 troops to Bayonne whilst Ferdinand used them as a distraction to attack Navarre. England captured no land - disaster.
• 1513: Battle of the Spurs - June - Henry led 30,000 to Calais. Captured Therouanne and Tournai, gave the former to Maximilian of the HRE. Wolsey made Bishop of Tournai despite calling it a 'dog-hole.' Tournai garrisoned until 1518 despite it being expensive to do so.
• September 1513: Battle of Flodden. Catherine of Aragón and the Earl of Surrey defeat James IV, killing him and making Margaret Tudor regent for James V.
• 1514: Treaty of Saint-Germaine-en-Laye - Anglo-French Treaty. Henry's spending of £960,000 was too much given that the annual income was only £110,000 a year.
• 1515: Francois I succeeds Louis XII of France, invades Italy
• 1515: Charles V, Catherine of Aragón's nephew and future Holy Roman Emperor, succeeds Ferdinand as King of Spain.
• 1517: Peace of Cambrai - Treaty between France and the Holy Roman Empire - England excluded from European affairs.
• 1518: Treaty of London - 20 countries agree to peace after Pope Leo X's call for a crusade against the Ottoman Empire. Wolsey organised this, helped put England at the centre of affairs. Tournai returned to France for a pension, Wolsey made Papal legate and Mary betrothed to the Dauphin of France.
• 1519: Charles V succeeds Maximilian I as Holy Roman Emperor
• 1520: Field of the Cloth of Gold, meeting between England and France with various friendly tournaments. Also secret meeting with HRE at Gravelines. England likely to remain neutral.
• 1521: Wolsey arranged to meet the Holy Roman Emperor, agreed to invade France
• 1522: Mary promised to Holy Roman Emperor

  Earl of Surrey led failed invasion of Calais - HRE did not send support
• 1523: Three pronged attack between Bourbons, Holy Roman Empire and England against French Rebels. 400,000 men under Suffolk were beginning to fail so Wolsey signed the Treaty of Bruges.
• 1525: HRE Victory at Pavia. Charles' marriage to Mary called off, Anglo-Imperial alliance in trouble.
• 1525: English Kings gave up rights to French throne via Treaty of More
• 1526: Treaty of Cognac - England never joined but helped finance and establish it.
• 1528: Rome sacked and Pope captured by Charles
• 1529: Charles V and Francis I sign the Treaty of Cambrai after France's defeat at the Battle of Landriano, Wolsey managed to use diplomacy to get England included.
• 1529: Ottoman siege of Vienna
• 1531: Shmalkaldic League formed. Cromwell was friendly with it but never agreed to anti-Habsburg/anti-Bourbon alliance.
• 1536: Earl of Kildare led rebellion in Ireland in response to the Act of Supremacy. Brutally crushed
• 1538: Henry excommunicated.

  Truce between France and HRE caused fear of invasion of England

  James V of Scotland marries Mary of Guise
• 1539: Attempted marriage between Henry and Anne of Cleves
• 1540: Anne of Cleves fiasco

  New 'Kingdom of Ireland declared,' all Irish land ceded to Crown
• 1541: France and HRE descend to war

  Henry declares himself King of Ireland
• 1542: Franco-Ottoman alliance

  Battle of Solway Moss. James V dies of illness and Mary, Queen of Scots becomes Queen.
• 1543: Treaty of Greenwich - attempt to unite Great Britain, rejected by the Scots.
• 1544: Seymour leads raids over Scottish Border

  Henry captures Boulogne with a force of 48,000

  Franco-Imperial peace treaty at Crépy
• 1545: Failed French invasion of England
• 1546: Treaty of Ardres - French pension to England to resume, Boulogne to return to France in 1554. War had cost Henry £2,000,000