Foreign Policy

• Henry VII’s councillors were determined to maintain the peaceful foreign policy, negotiating a renewal of the Treaty of Etaples in 1510. Henry VIII had the opposite intention, which became evident when he sent the Archbishop of York to Rome to persuade the Pope to enter an alliance against the French, leading to the creation of the Holy league, which joined Spain, England, HRE, Venice and the papacy in an anti-French alliance
• Henry however was unknowingly being used by Ferdinand and Maximilian, for example when they used Henry’s army of 10,000 men under the Marques of Dorset as a diversionary tactic in 1512 while Ferdinand successfully conquered Navarre and Henry gained nothing. In 1513 Henry led a force to north-eastern France where he captured Tournai and Thérouanne and won the Battle of the Spurs though it is debatable how impactful this was
• The more important battle during this time was the Battle of Flodden in 1513, led by the Earl of Surrey against Scotland. Many of the Scottish nobility died in the battle, including James IV of Scotland
• Henry didn’t gain much from his military adventures in 1513, other than discontent about taxes in Yorkshire and the loss of the French pension and his fathers money. He had to liquidate assets to continue the fight. Tournai was eventually returned to France as England couldn’t afford the necessary repairs
• Ferdinand and Maximilian made separate peace with France in 1514 and Wolsey managed to make peace with France in such a way that the Etaples pension was recovered and Henry’s sister Mary was engaged to the French King Louis XII
• by 1514 Henry had run out of money to fund his aggressive foreign policy, meaning he was unable to exploit Scottish weakness following the death of James IV and he had to make peace with France through the marriage of his younger sister to Louis XII. Louis XII died soon after the marriage and was replaced by Francis I whom Henry saw as a rival on personal and political levels
• Henry sought an alliance with Ferdinand and Spain but Ferdinand also died and was replaced by his grandson Charles V who made an alliance with France and The HRE in the Treaty of Cambrai, which left England dangerously isolated
• Wolsey ended the isolation with the Treaty of London in 1518 after being prompted by the Pope who wanted a united Christian front against the Ottoman Turks and as a result, Wolsey was appointed papal legate by the Pope. The treaty would soon be proven to be worthless but it didn’t seem that way at the time. England agreed to return Tournai, France paid the pension to England in return and Albany was kept out of Scotland
• Henry switched sides to Charles V so that he could improve relations with the Pope who wanted to reduce French control over northern Italy, he might gain more French territory, a part of the deal included the marriage between Charles V and Henry’s daughter Mary
• Henry invaded in 1522 and 23 but clearly showed his tactical incompetence by suggesting a joint invasion of France. The contribution at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 was minor and Charles ended up repudiating his marriage contract with Mary.
• Henry then switched to a pro-French policy and supported the League of Cognac that had been set up by the pope to counterbalance the power of the emperor (Charles V) in 1525. However, the timing was horrible and being an enemy of the Emperor proved to create a difficult complication that not even Wolsey could resolve, particularly when the King’s great matter occurred
• England was forced to make an anti-imperial alliance with France in 1527 under the Treaty of Amiens and Wolsey attempted to pressure Charles by imposing a Trade Embargo on Burgundy but the retaliation created vast unemployment and social problems in England
• Charles V's control over the Pope as shown by the peace of Cambrai meant that Henry was unable to get his divorce and he blamed Wolsey, causing his fall from power
• In 1532 Henry once again attempted an alliance with France but due to the weakness of both countries, it remained useless. It then unravelled as Francis sought a marriage alliance between his son Henry and the emperors niece Catherine de Medici
• Considering the circumstances, Henry’s best option was a break from Rome, which though shocking, didn’t have any short-term consequences in terms of foreign policy because Charles was more concerned with the Ottoman Turks. Henry tried to reinforce his position through an alliance with the League of Schmalkalden which was founded on mutual distrust in the 1530s
• Luckily for Henry, the pressure he faced was once again lessened in 1536 with the deaths of Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn and the fact that Francis I and Emperor Charles were fighting again but the relief was short-lived
• In 1538, things got harder again as Charles and Francis made peace with the Treaty of Nice which included an agreement to cut ties with England, The Pope published a bull deposing Henry meaning English Catholics no longer had to obey him, and the Pope sent envoys to rouse support for a Crusade against England. Though Henry’s position wasn’t as weak as it seemed to be, he took precautions, such as the marriage to Anne of Cleves, and publishing the Six Articles Act in 1539
• • In Ireland the relationship between Henry and the Earl of Kildare broke down, so Henry got rid of him, but that made the governing of Ireland harder and also led to a rebellion in 1534, led by his son the Earl of Ossory, which was supressed with great difficulty. An attempt was made to bring it under more direct control of the Crown, but it became a drain on resources
• The large scale of resentment among Gaelic Lords further worsened the situation, and two of them (O’Neill and O’Donnell) invaded the Pale in 1539.
• In 1541 England regained control and established Ireland as a separate Kingdom, imposing English law and creating Counties out of the Gaelic lordships. However the government lacked the resources to follow through with the reforms and there was no residual Irish loyalty to the crown
• In 1542 Henry launched a successful invasion of Scotland, defeating them at the Battle of Solway Moss, however instead of starting a full scale invasion, Henry turned his attention to France. James V died shortly after hearing the news and his infant daughter Mary was left as heir
• Henry tried to organise a marriage contract between Prince Edward and Mary Queen of Scots, which was supported by the Earl of Arran (Scottish Regent). This was made official by the Treaty of Greenwich in 1543 but Scottish parliament refused to ratify the treaty
• In response to the refusal to ratify the treaty of Greenwich, Henry made the Earl of Hertford carry out raids on Edinburgh, Leith and St. Andrews
• Henry agreed on an Imperial alliance to facilitate the invasion of France in 1542 , which he led by himself but he knew that marching on Paris would be a bad idea so he kept his troops by the areas around Calais, eventually capturing Boulogne. The emperor had enough of the conflict and made separate peace with Francis I
• In 1545 Francis sent troops to Scotland for a possible invasion of England from the north and a separate French force landed on the Isle of Wight.
• England was defeated by France at the Battle of Ancrum Moor and Henry’s flagship the Mary Rose sank. France failed to recapture Boulogne and a peace was agreed upon in 1546 as neither side wanted to continue the conflict
• To fund the campaign in the 1540s, Henry had to sell Crown land and debase coins leading to an increased rate of inflation
• The Field of the cloth of Gold 1520