Foreign policy

• 1509-14


  1. Councillors sought a continuation of peace and negotiated the renewal of the Treaty of Etaples in 1510

  2. Henry commissioned a translation of his warlike predecessor Henry V

  3. He sent Christopher Bainbridge, Archbishop of York, to Rome to persuade the Pope, Julius II, to enter an alliance against the French

  4. This bore fruit with the creation of the Holy League, which joined England, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, Venice and the Papacy in an anti-French alliance
• Henry didn't realise the extent to which he was being used by his shrewd father-in-law Ferdinand of Aragon, and the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I
• 1512


  1. Henry sent a substantial army of 10,000 men to southwest France under the command of the Marquis of Dorset

  2. This achieved nothing

  3. Was used as a diversionary tactic by Ferdinand while he successfully conquered Navarre
• 1513


  1. Henry led a force to northeastern France

  2. Won the 'Battle of the Spurs' which was little more than a skirmish but claimed in propaganda to be a stunning victory

  3. Captured the towns of Thérouanne and Tournai
• To Geoffrey Elton it was nothing more than a futile sideshow
• September 1513


  1. Anglo-Scottish conflict at the Battle of Flodden

  2. King James IV crossed the border with a substantial force, but was defeated by a smaller English army hurriedly put together and capably led by the veteran soldier the Earl of Surrey

  3. James IV and much of the Scottish nobility killed
• This left the throne in the hands of the infant James V, but Henry VIII did little to build on the advantage which Flodden had given him
• Nothing was gained from Henry's military adventures of 1514
• The war was very costly and Henry was forced to liquidate his assets inherited from his father to pay for it
• There were rumblings about the taxation in Yorkshire, which only narrowly failed to turn into a full-scale revolt
• The renegotiated French pension was lost
• Tournai was eventually sold back to the French for rather less than the English had paid to repair its defences after the siege
• A further campaign was contemplated in 1514, but it was quickly abandoned once Ferdinand and Maximilian had made separate peace with France
• 1514-26


  1. Wolsey was able to pick up the pieces

  2. Recovered the Etaples pension

  3. Securing a marriage alliance between Henry's younger sister, Mary, and the King of France, Louis XII
• England remained a relatively minor power and could not compete on level terms with the major powers of France and Spain
• Henry significantly overestimated English power; Wolsey then had to frame the details of foreign policy based on that false assumption
• The 'auld alliance' between France and Scotland remained strong
• When England and France were on amicable terms there tended to be few issues with Anglo-Scottish relations and vice versa
• By the end of 1514 Henry VIII had run out of money to continue a warlike foreign policy which had two major consequences
• He was unable to exploit the weakness of Scotland following the death of James IV at Flodden
• The death of Louis XII left the French throne in the hands of Francis I, who Henry saw as a personal and political rival
• However Ferdinand died in 1516 and his grandson and successor Charles V, sought an alliance with the French, leaving England dangerously isolated
• English isolation offered Francis I to undermine Anglo-Scottish relations because the Duke of Albany, heir presumptive to the Scottish throne, was a member of the French nobility
• Albany consolidated his position by being appointed as regent to the Scottish throne
• This alarmed Henry and Wolsey who saw Albany as simply a French agent
• Any threat from Albany was minimised because of the poisonous divisions among the Scottish nobility
• Conversely, Henry was incapable of exploiting divisions and weaknesses within Scotland
• Wolsey emerged as the leading diplomat in western Europe
• Its scope widened and eventually became a 'treaty of perpetual peace', a non-aggression pact agreed to by England, France, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and numerous smaller states
• It was a diplomatic coup for Wolsey
• The Pope appointed Wolsey as papal legate over England
• In 1518 Wolsey was undoubtedly at the height of his power and prestige as Henry VIII's chief minister
• England agreed to return Tournai to France, but the French once again agreed to pay the English a pension to compensate for its loss
• The French agreed to keep Albany out of Scotland, which ensured more peaceable relations on the Anglo-Scottish border
• The French were concerned about the increased power which Spain could exert with the election of the Spanish king to the post of Holy Roman Emperor which encouraged the French change of attitude
• Diplomatically nothing was really achieved
• The event cost Henry's royal treasury about £15,000
• Good relations were reinforced
• Event lost some of its attraction in Henry's eyes because he was defeated by Francis in a wrestling match
• Henry had compelling motives to side with Charles


  • He could improve his relations with the Pope, who was anxious to reduce French control over northern Italy
  • He believed that he might gain more territory within France
  • Part of the deal entailed a marriage alliance between the emperor and Henry's young daughter, the Princess Mary