Foreign policy Info – cross reference
Introduction – Henry’s four main aims were;
1) To regain control of the former French territories – the main thing throughout his whole reign
All English Kings since Edward III had claimed to be King of France. Waging war against France was also a means of gaining
support from the nobility, who could use their military skills on the battlefield and gain property at the same time. Henry
VIII himself hoped to collect the French pension which had been paid to English Kings every year in compensation for the
lands lost by England in France. Attacking France had implications for relations with Scotland due to the Auld Alliance
between the two countries.
2) To establish himself as an equal with Francis and Charles V
Henry VIII was very concerned about his reputation. He wished to recreate the glory of Henry V, who had defeated the
French at the battle of Agincourt in 1415. Henry had been a warrior prince. Gaining honor and glory, particularly through
war, was a major driving force for Henry VIII.
3) To secure his families inheritance
Henry’s father had demonstrated the importance of linking the English royal line with that of other royal families in Europe
through marriage alliances. Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon had been part of an attempt to solidify the anti –
French alliance.
Internet Research
Class notes
John Guy Book
“No ruler in Henry's position could possibly manage his foreign relations alone; he was bound to take advice and it is in the
nature of that advice and the extent to which the king could be manipulated that some of the main problems lie.”
Before Wolsey Wolsey After Wolsey/Cromwell
Summery/overview Summery/overview Summery/overview
Henry VIII’s campaigns achieved Wolsey’s scope for action was far more Most of Cromwell’s formidable
few concrete gains and often seem limited than circumstances suggest energies during the 1530s with
to have been conducted for this because English interests were closely channelled into domestic affairs but he
allies’ benefit rather than his own. tied to those of Charles V. This was partly could not escape involvement in
because Henry was married to Catherine foreign policy, a field in which Henry
The costs of Henry VIII’s wars were of Aragon but principally because himself took a continuous and often
extremely high. Henry spent England’s economy was so reliant upon detailed interest. English power was a
£960,000 in 1511-13 and £430,000 the Flanders cloth market. Where Henry significant, the limited factor in this
in 1523-5 on warfare. In other VII had been able to resort to economic gigantic struggle. Henry the eighth
words, he spent £1.4 million warfare against Burgundy, this avenue never had the men or the money to
fighting wars between 1511 and was closed to Henry VIII, because the complete on equal terms with either of
1525 – while his ordinary income profitability of English cloth was his great continental neighbours
was about £110,000 a year – and dependent on the rising economic England was a second-class power in
with little to show for it. It seems strength of Flanders. In other words, as terms of resources - but he could play
that he was trying to match the much as Wolsey might have tried to play an important role by threatening to put
ambitions of wealthier monarchs off Francis I and Charles V in his search his support behind either Charles or
such as Francis I and Charles V, for the best deal for Henry VIII, he Francis. Each, therefore, wanted
whose annual incomes totaled probably never intended before 1527, English support or at the very least
£350,000 and £560,000 the year in which Charles V’s unpaid benevolent neutrality in their contest.
respectively. The relative expense army sacked Rome, to ally with France.
of these wars becomes clearer still Instead, Wolsey’s objective at the Calais The years after 1529 were marked by a
when one realizes that Henry Conference and at the Field of the Cloth foreign policy which was very different
wasted the wealth which his father, of Gold was to put pressure on Charles V, from that which Henry VIII and his chief
Henry VII, had painstakingly saved. in order that he would provide England minister Wolsey had pursued in the
The campaigns of 1511-14 were, with a better deal in a treaty to which 1520s. The main cause of the shift was
according to Richard Hoyle, largely Wolsey was already necessarily the increasingly fractious relationship
funded from the wealth which committed (this was signed in 1521 with the Vatican. The pressure placed
Henry VII bequeathed to his son. following negotiations in Bruges, on the Pope by the Holy Roman
negotiations which were kept secret Emperor to insist on the rightness of
1510 from the French). So, Wolsey was playing the marriage between Henry VIII and
The Council agreed the Treaty of a double game, but only ever with the Catherine of Aragon left very little
Etaples with France intention of putting pressure on Charles room for manoeuvre in foreign affairs
V. and was itself costly in terms of energy
1511 and resources. Although trade links and
Henry enters the Holy League 1515 the continuation of the Habsburg-
against France with Spain, Holy Louis XII of France died and 21-year-old Valois conflict had placed Charles V in a
Roman Empire and Venice. Francis I became King. He invaded position where friendly relations with
northern Italy and recaptured Milan from England might have been
the Holy Roman Empire. Defeated Swiss advantageous, this position was not
1512
, Henry sent an army of 10,000 mercenaries at the Battle of Marignano particularly close, even in the years
soldiers to southwest France under which was a more significant victory than before the annulment.
the Marquis of Dorset. This Henry’s capture of Tournai.
achieved nothing and was used by When seeking recognition for the
Ferdinand as a diversionary tactic 1516 annulment of his first marriage and his
whilst he captured Navarre. Henry Ferdinand of Aragon died, and 16-year- subsequent marriage to Anne Boleyn,
had been unaware about how old Charles became King of Spain. He also Henry had turned to Francis I. The
much he was being used by became Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 overture on the French was not,
Ferdinand and Maximilian. when Maximilian died. Charles made however, turned into a formal alliance.
His campaign in Aquitaine in south- peace with Francis at Noyon and this The French did not need the support of
western France in 1512 collapsed gave land to France. England, as between 1529 and 1536
because his army contracted there was peace between Charles V
dysentery, got drunk and mutinied. and Francis I.
1517
Treaty of Cambrai was agreed between
1513 Maximilian (Holy Roman Emperor) and England’s foreign policy from 1540–47
Second invasion of France Francis of France. At the same time, the was a disastrous exhibition of
organized by Thomas Wolsey. Duke of Albany (heir presumptive to the disorganization, military error, and a
Henry led a 25000 soldiers to Scottish throne) was sent by Francis to lack of efficient communication
northwest France. Gained Tournai Scotland to stir up trouble between between Henry VIII and his foreign
and Therouanne. Defeated the Scotland and England. However, the allies. These failures caused England to
French at the Battle of the Spurs threat from Albany was minimised become financially bankrupt, militarily
however the capture of the towns because of divisions between the insignificant, and overly isolated.
strategically benefitted Ferdinand. Scottish nobles although Henry could not
exploit this. 1530
James IV invaded Northeast During most of the 1530s the main
England to divert troops from 1518 European powers were focused to the
France. At the Battle of Flodden, Treaty of London. Pope Leo X requested south. The Ottoman Turks under their
the English lost 1500 men but the a general crusade to stop the Ottoman warrior leader, Suleiman the
Scots lost 1000, including James IV. Empire from spreading. Wolsey used this magnificent, had taken over most of
Scotland was now ruled by a minor, as an opportunity to have universal the eastern Mediterranean and were
James V. peace and to make Henry a leading threatening south-east Europe,
diplomat. England, France, Spain, Holy including parts of the Holy Roman
1514 Roman Empire and other countries Empire and Spanish territories - both
Treaty of Saint Germaine-en-Laye signed the treaty which agreed to avoid ruled by the Emperor Charles V
which was negotiated between war or risk being attacked by the other
England and France by Wolsey. countries. Each country had to sign the 1531
England possessed Tournai and document separately. The Treaty of In north Germany, part of the Holy
Therouanne, and Henry gained a London led to Wolsey’s appointment as Roman Empire, many of the princes
pension for giving up claim to the Papal Legate. had turned to Lutheranism, in part as a
French throne. In 1518, Wolsey found an ingenious way means of preserving their semi-
to put Henry's name on the lips of every independence from the Habsburg
ruler in Christendom. He first persuaded Emperor, Charles V. To help achieve
Henry to sell Tournai back to Francis and this aim they had formed the
make a new Anglo-French alliance. Then, Schmalkaldic League in 1531 and were
when Pope Leo unveiled a plan for a looking for Protestant allies. Cromwell
general European truce and a crusade made overtures to the League, but
against the Ottoman Turks, he hijacked nothing was agreed about a possible
the diplomacy, turning it into a dazzling alliance against the Habsburg and
Treaty of Universal Peace, making France. The situation in Europe was
London the hub of pan-European affairs very fluid in the later 1530s, which did
and Henry the arbiter of international nothing to help Cromwell’s search for
disputes under the blessing of the pope stable allies. Because Henry and his
It was just bad luck that the Holy Roman government had angered the Emperor
Emperor, Maximilian I, died a year later. Charles V over his divorce from
Wolsey sought to remedy the situation Catherine, the natural ally to seek was
by courting Maximilian's successor, France. However, nothing of
Charles V, Katherine of Aragon's significance was achieved - with the
nineteen-year-old nephew, with a view concentration in England being on the
to a fresh treaty. But the odds were political and religious changes
stacked against him. Already King of stemming from the process of the
Spain after Ferdinand's death in 1516, Reformation.
Charles - with his calculating mind and
