‘Henry VIII successfully achieved his foreign policy aims’.
Assess the validity of this view.
From the very beginning of his reign in 1509, Henry VIII had very dis nct foreign policy goals
that he wanted to achieve on the European scale. In order for the foreign policy to be
deemed successful, Henry sought to achieve a plethora of goals, such as gaining more
French territory and thus earning the tle of the King of France. Henry also wanted to secure
his dynasty through foreign marriages for both himself and his children, whilst also
maintaining posi ve rela onships with foreign powers.
In 1513, Henry embarked on his rst war with France and in doing so Henry managed to
capture French territories of strategic value such as Tournai and Thérouanne. Henry’s
leadership and presence at the Ba le of the Spurs also served as strong propaganda to
promote his image as a warrior king. However, historian Geo rey Elton believes it was
‘Nothing but a fu le sideshow’. This is because in the grand scheme of the wars against
France, the Ba le of the Spurs could be seen as insigni cant and too costly for the land
gained. In the same year however, Henry also defeated Sco sh King James VI at the Ba le
of Flodden thus highligh ng the early successes that Henry had in pursuing his foreign policy
aims. As his reign progressed, Henry’s foreign policy against France became increasingly less
successful. This was seen in his later invasion of France in 1544 whereby military failures
were common as demonstrated by the failed besieging of Montreuil. Ul mately, the war led
to the Peace of Ardes (1546) which represented Henry’s failures, as he lost the vast majority
of land he had gained during the successful periods of his reign. Also, this further distanced
him from his goal of achieving the tle of the King of France. Thus in terms of establishing
foreign territories (one of the major criterias for Henry’s success) Henry was largely
unsuccessful by the end of his reign in 1547.
Apart from gaining pres ge on the European stage by claiming more territory, Henry VIII also
sought to secure his dynasty and promote his image by securing foreign marriages for both
himself and his children. Throughout his reign however, his marital alliances proved to be
unsuccessful, ini ally demonstrated by his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Though ini ally
the marriage was successful, Henry was frustrated by Catherine’s inability to provide him
with an heir and therefore had his marriage annulled. Not only did this move sever his es
with Spain, it also meant that Henry had to break with Rome to secure his annulment.
Henry’s failures in establishing his dynasty by foreign marriages was also apparent in the
‘Rough wooing’ of 1544. His invasion of Scotland further weakened the chances of a
marriage between his only male heir Edward VI and Mary Queen of Scots. This is because
rather then in mida ng the Sco sh into submission it proved to further antagonise them.
At the same me, this manoeuvre accentuated the ‘Auld alliance’ between France and
Scotland and thus highlighted Henry’s lack of ability to secure marital alliances.
In 1522 Mary I betrothed to Charles V of Spain. Fell through because Charles V was 15 years
older then Mary I. Also Charles V understood that in comparison to the Holy Roman Empire,
England was very weak on an interna onal stage, so the marital alliance would provide li le
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