1514-1526

• Foreign Policy 1514-1526, rulers

  • france, Louis XII died in 1515, accession Francis I
  • Holy Roman Empire, Maximilian died in 1519, election of Charles V (I of spain and Duke of Burgundy, Henry's step nephew)
  • scotland, James IV was killed in the battle of flodden in 1513, accession of baby James V (MQoS dad)
  • spain, Ferdinand of Aragon died in 1516, accession of Charles the I (see bullet point 2)
  • europe was almost entirely ruled by young arrogant men in the early 1500s
• Foreign Policy 1514-1526, key features

  there was no clear theme to the foreign policy under wolsey, alliances were made and broken just as quickly, but there were three key features

  • england remained a minor power that couldn't compete with powers like france and spain
  • henry overestimated english power, wolsey had to frame his policy around that false assumption
  • the "auld alliance" between scotland and france held, so england's relationship with france dictated the relationship with scotland
• Foreign Policy 1514-1526


  • victories against scotland and france gave henry what he wanted short term, military adventures to bring him popularity at home and respect abroad, but it wasn't an era of english greatness in europe
  • the challenge wolsey had was to try and find a role for england to play in european affairs, his survival as minister depending on his building 8s reputation and delivering victories
  • european power balance shifted with the deaths of louis, Ferdinand and Maximilian. europe was populated with young monarchs competing with henry as centres of attention.
• Foreign Policy 1514-1526, no money


  by 1514's end 8 had run out of money to continue his warlike foreign policy which meant he:

  • couldnt exploit scotlands weaknesses following flodden
  • had to make peace with france (proably partially because of wolsey's influence, there's a pattern over the reign that when supervised by a minister, henry is less all out war) reinforced through his younger sister mary's marriage to Louis XII but that ended quickly with his death in 1515 due to their age gap. Mary remarried the duke of suffolk two weeks later, falling out with 8 as she lost her diplomatic purpose
• Foreign Policy 1514-1526, beginning of isolation


  • the death of Louis XII led to the accession of Francis I, a charismatic young king 8 saw as a personal (henry wanted to hold a good rep as the goodliest king) and political rival.
  • he tried to get an alliance with ferdinand but he died in 1516, his successor charles sought alliance w/ france, Treaty of Cambrai, and the HRE with his grandad Maximilian. this isolated england left it surrounded by enemies especially with scotland there to kickstart invasion
  • and charles had control of a vast empire from the americas through europe to africa
• Foreign Policy 1514-1526, end of isolation

  • wolsey ended the isolation with the treaty of london in 1518, prompted by Pope Leo X who wanted a united christian front against the Ottoman Turks. it started as a peace treaty with france but became a "treaty of perpetual peace" between E, F, S + HRE
  • initially viewed as a sucess/victory for wolsey who became papal legate. (the popes representative, could be argued wolsey used foreign policy as a means to advance his position)
• Foreign Policy 1514-1526, treaty of london outcome

  • england became pivotal in the european power balance, W arranged each country sign the treaty separately with england rather than all sign one document. it brought fame to 8, upstaging even the pope and dispelled english isolation
  • they attempted to act as power brokers in european politics for the next years allowinf them the prestige 8 craves without having to finance pursual of war.
  • but charles becoming HRE wrecked their plans, future conflicts (england invading france in 1522 and battle of pavia) might suggest the treaty was worthless
• Foreign Policy 1514-1526, francis and charles

  • good relations continued with france, england returning tournai and france agreeing to a pension to compensate england losing it. additionally, the french agreed not to get involved in any succession problems in scotland, so anglo-scottish relations improves
  • the french became concerned with the power Charles after his election to HRE, his empire encircling france. francis and charles were in direct opposition of each other and war was immenant, charles determined to regain Milan which was in french ownership
• Foreign Policy 1514-1526, field of the cloth of gold

  • the dilemma of choosing a side arose, 8 tried to preserve his image as neutral power brokers, meeting with both sides but couldnt afford to be stuck to the collapsing treaty of london nor stand losing his prestige by not being involved.
  • 8 met with francis at the field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520, and with charles before and after.
  • it was in Calais held by the english, expensive costing £15k, focused on dining and entertainment, 8 lost a wrestling match w francis
  • nothing diplomatic was achieved, conflict arose between f + c in 1521.
• Foreign Policy 1514-1526, treaty of bruges

  • Wolsey negotiated Treaty of Bruges with charles. there were more advantages siding with him, better relations with the pope, territory in france, marriage alliance between him and his daughter Mary
  • as a result, england invaded france in 1522 and 23 depite wolsey's reservations, they acheived little but were expensive, parliament reluctant to grant the extraordinary revenue to cover it
• Foreign Policy 1514-1526, pavia

  • france was defeated in the Battle of Pavia in 1525, part of the italian wars which involved the french and spain/HRE competing for italy, so england was sidelined.
  • during the battle Pope Francis I was captured by Charles.
  • 8 tried to take advantage and gain french territory but charles disagreed as england hadn't helped much in securing victory
  • seemed that charles had used england to distract france and given nothing in return, his army following up the victory by taking control of most of the italian peninsula, known as the "sacking of Rome"
• Foreign Policy 1514-1526, amicable grant, exiting the war

  • the amicable grant was part of what funded the war with france during pavia, which faced major public outcry, showing there was little public support for further war
  • it had major consequences, 8 had to back down with a bruised ego, he resented charles even more as he backed out of the marriage with mary and wolsey's reputation never recovered
• Foreign Policy 1514-1526, end of the period


  • due to now negative relations with charles, 8 and W were forced into a more pro-french foreign policy
  • 8 lent support to the league of Cognac (put together by the pope to counterbalance charles' excessive power following pavia)
  • but it proved to be a bad time to be on poor terms with charles, made worse by the King's Great Matter complicating foreign policy further
  • even wolsey found the foreign policy difficult to parse, which caused his fall