Foreign policy

• Henry's foreign policy aims


  • Maintain positive relations with foreign powers
  • Ensure national security
  • Ensure recognition of the Tudor dynasty
  • Defend English trading interests
• Henry's response to French threat to Brittany


  1. Summoned Parliament to grant him extraordinary revenue

  2. Raised an army against the French
• Reasons for Henry's response to French threat to Brittany


  • Sense of obligation to the Bretons
  • Fear that direct control of Brittany could increase a potential French threat to England
• England and Brittany's agreement

  1. Treaty of Redon in February 1489

  2. Duchess Anne would pay for a small English army to defend Brittany from the French threat
• Henry tried to strengthen his position


  By an alliance with Maximilian (HRE)
• Maximilian had contracted a marriage-by-proxy with Duchess Anne of Brittany and had no desire for the Duchy of Brittany to fall into French hands
• The English army went to Brittany but Anne, fearing the futility of prolonged resistance to the French, surrendered and reluctantly married Charles VIII
• This left the English army marooned in Brittany, and also meant that Maximilian lost interest in the matter, which left Henry in a difficult position
• Perkin Warbeck seeking French backing for his claim to the English throne

  Made the situation worse for Henry
• Henry's response to the French invasion in 1492


  1. Launched an invasion of French invasion

  2. Signed the Treaty of Etaples in November 1492

  3. Charles VIII agreed to withdraw his support for Perkin Warbeck

  4. Charles VIII agreed to pay a pension to Henry to compensate him for the expense of having recruited an army of invasion
• Henry's strategy had proved successful and he had managed to defend national and dynastic interests
• Henry had improved his financial position and ensured a period of relative cordiality in Anglo-French relations
• Importance of good relations with Burgundy, the Netherlands, and the Holy Roman Empire


  Bulk of English exports went through the ports of the Netherlands e.g. Antwerp
• Margaret of Burgundy, sister of Edward IV and Richard III, was the leading upholder of the Yorkist cause
• Henry's response to Perkin Warbeck being hosted in Burgundy


  1. Put an embargo on English trade with Burgundy

  2. This brought Henry's foreign policy aims of securing the dynasty and encouraging trade into conflict
• Giving priority to his dynastic interests, Henry showed himself prepared to sacrifice the commercial interests in London and east-coast merchants, which did nothing for his popularity
• Improvement in Anglo-Burgundian relations


  1. Warbeck left Burgundy

  2. Henry and Philip agreed the Intercursus Magnus in 1496 which brought the trade embargo to an end
• Anglo-Burgundian relations became central to Henry's foreign policy in 1504 following the death of Isabella, Queen of Castile
• The Intercursus Malus came out of the Treaty of Windsor


  1. Henry demanded a trade deal which would have given a much stronger trading position to English merchants in the Netherlands

  2. Philip and Maximilian agreed to hand over their Yorkist fugitive, the Earl of Suffolk, whom Henry imprisoned in the Tower
• The Treaty of Medina del Campo 1489


  • Mutual protection in the event of attack
  • Not to harbour rebels or pretenders
  • Marriage alliance between Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon
• Problems in the Treaty of Medina del Campo: Ferdinand was reluctant due to dynastic instability, arguments over the size of Catherine's dowry, the death of Arthur in 1502
• Henry VII suggested Catherine marry Prince Henry


  But Ferdinand was reluctant
• In 1504 Isabella died, making Ferdinand a weaker political figure
• Succession struggle between Ferdinand and Juana (Catherine's sister)

  Henry supported Juana
• The Treaty of Windsor (1506)


  1. Juana and her husband Philip of Burgundy took refuge in England when their ship was wrecked at sea

  2. Henry secured stronger relationships
• The Treaty of Windsor 1506


  • The Intercursus Malus restored trade relations between England and Burgundy
  • The return of the Earl of Suffolk further secured the Tudor dynasty
  • A proposed marriage alliance between Henry and Philip's sister Archduchess Margaret
  • Henry's recognition of Juana and Philip as rulers of Castile which strengthened their claim to the Spanish throne
• Philip of Burgundy's death in September 1506 was disastrous for Henry
• Ferdinand said Juana went mad in her grief, giving Ferdinand the opportunity to become regent of Castile
• Henry was diplomatically isolated
• Ferdinand made sure the marriage between Prince Henry and Catherine would not happen in Henry's lifetime
• Problems arose when James IV came of age and in 1495 offered hospitality to Perkin Warbeck


  Warbeck stayed for two years at the Scottish court receiving a pension from the king and an aristocratic marriage to the king's cousin Lady Catherine Gordon
• James IV's attempt at an invasion of England with Warbeck in 1496


  The army retreated over the border when word was received that an English force was making its way north from Newcastle
• This attempt at an invasion lead Henry to raise a larger army to launch an invasion of Scotland, which prompted a taxation rebellion the following year
• Improvement in Anglo-Scottish relations

  1. 1497 Truce at Ayton

  2. 1502 Treaty of Perpetual Peace - James to marry Henry's daughter, Princess Margaret
• The improvement in relations with Scotland lasted until the end of Henry's reign
• Henry's control in Ireland


  • Power only extended to the 'Pale'
  • Rest of Ireland dominated by Anglo-Norman barons - Fitzgeralds and the Butlers
• Henry's response to the Earl of Kildare's Yorkist sympathies


  • Appointed his infant son Prince Henry as Lieutenant of Ireland
  • Appointed Sir Edward Poynings as Kildare's deputy
  • Implemented 'Poynings' Law' in 1495 - Irish parliament could pass no law without prior approval of English Crown
  • Implemented English law in Ireland
• This strategy proved too expensive for Henry's liking, and the financial problems were made worse when Warbeck returned to Ireland in 1495
• In 1496 Kildare had decided there was no benefit in supporting the Yorkist cause any longer and decided to serve Henry loyally
• By 1500 Henry had secured some level of peaceable and cheap authority over Ireland