Henry VIII foreign policy

Henry VIII foreign policy

1. The war with France

   • Holy league was reformed with England, Venice and Spain to try and drive France out of Italy
   • Parliament granted money and a force of 12,000 men because Henry claimed that war was needed to defend the liberties of the catholic church
   • The army was sent out under the Marquis of Dorset to Bayonne and the plan was for England to gain control of Aquataine through a joint Anglo-Spanish invasion
   • However Henry was let down by his Father in law Ferdinand of Spain as he only really wanted to use British troops as a diversion so he could capture Navarre and then made peace with the French
   • The Battle of Spurs (phase 2)
     • The earlier failure meant that Henry was even more determined than ever to gain victory over France and he had learned not to rely on his allies if he wanted to achieve his aims
     • Henry personally led an army of 30,000 over the channel to Calais in 1513 and it was successful as it resulted in the capture of Therouanne and Tournai with not much French resistance
     • Therouanne was given to the Emperor Maximilian while Tournai became the English garrison at great expense so it was the HRE that benefitted the most
     • In reality there was very little confrontation however it was named the Battle of Spurs to highlight the speed at which the French retreated. Some French nobles were also captured and sent back to England to try and enhance prestige of what had really been a one sided encounter

2. The Battle of Flodden 1513

   • Huge victory took place while Henry was leading forces in France
   • Under the Earl of Surrey, the English army defeated King James IV who had tried to take advantage of Henrys absence by launching an attack
   • The two armies met at the boarder between Scotland and England and despite being outnumbered, the English army experienced a memorable victory
   • The Scottish threat was removed for the foreseeable future
   • A large number of the Scottish nobility died, including King James himself
   • Catherine of Aragon was a prominent member in the battle and wanted to sent James' head to Henry to show her victory
   • The new king, James V was only 17 months old and so queen Margaret became regent

3. Anglo-French treaty of St Germaine 1514

   • Henry was forced to make peace with France due to the fact that the Holy Roman Emperor and King Ferdinand had lost interest in attacking France and had been negotiating with Louis XII behind Henry's back
   • The treaty gave England possession of Tournai and France agreed to pay arrears of the pension to Henry VII
   • Henry proposed a joint Anglo-French attack on Spain to try and drive out Ferdinand from Navarre and claim Castille for Catherine. This was unrealistic and did not happen but it highlights the annoyance that Henry felt towards Ferdinands betrayal in the previous year.
   • It secured the marriage of Henrys younger sister Mary to the elderly Louis XII
   • This also sealed Wolseys reputation as a diplomat

4. 1515-1517 difficult period as England is left isolated

   • Louis XII dies in Jan 1515 and Francis becomes king, he was also a renaissance king and wanted glory in war and had the money to do it.
   • Francis sent the Duke of Albany to overthrow the Regency government in Scotland which annoyed Henry as it was his sister who was running Scotland since the death of her husband James IV
   • He also defeated the Swiss which gave him influence in Northern Italy, along with getting a concordat signed with the Pope which angered Henry
   • Wolsey sent a secret subsidy to the HRE in the hope that he would stop Francis in Milan but Max took the money and defected to the French
   • He then tried to get Rome, Venice and Spain to agree to an anti French alliance but this fell apart when Ferdinand (Spain) died and Charles I came to the throne in 1516. Charles didn't want to go to war straight away and made peace with the French.
   • The HRE also joined the Spanish alliance with the Valois in the Peace of Cambrai in 1517 leaving England isolated

5. The treaty of London 1518

   • Treaty of London also known as the treaty of international peace against the Ottomans
   • Made it look like England was at the heart of bringing peace to Europe- Wolsey's role as a peacemaker
   • Non aggression treaty and promised to make war on any ruler who broke the treaty
   • In public made Wolsey made sure that it was known that it was a pure christian treaty
   • Managed to get more French pensions and get the Duke of Albany out of Scotland and a marriage was agreed between Henry's daughter Mary and Francis' son Dauphin
   • Lost Tourani but got 600,000 crowns for it

6. The Field of the Cloth of Gold 1520

   • Jan 1519 Emperor Maximilian died and Charles I of Spain became HRE making Francis and him big rivals giving Henry the opportunity to act as the arbiter of peace
   • Charles was able to gain more support so it was more beneficial to establish links with France, and so the Field of the Cloth of Gold was arranged in Calais in 1520
   • It lasted 2 weeks and many senior elites came from both sides (3000 of each)
   • It cost one year of Henry's annual income
   • Some say it was just a show piece and meant nothing which was partly true due to the fact that no political agreement was signed
   • However bit did put pressure on Charles to sign an agreement and showed off Henry as a renaissance King

7. The treaty of Bruges 1521

   • Met with Charles to make sure that he knew that he wasn't taking sides after the field of the cloth of gold so just proves that it was pointless
   • An alliance with the HRE was important because there was traditional rivalry between England and France and an alliance would annoy Francis, there were important trade links (Antwerp) and the Pope was also anti French because of the fear of expansion into Northern Italy
   • When it became clear that Francis I intended to invade Northern Italy with military action against the HRE Charles V called on England to come to his assistance to halt him, and so in August 1521 Wolsey met with Charles and agreed that an army would invade France unless Francis made peace with the HRE.
   • Some think that Wolsey was being over confident and that he thought that the threat of invasion by us would scare off Francis but really he was buying time as he hoped that the threat would be dissolved and English assistance would not be needed

8. Siege on Boulogne and attack on Paris 1523

   • By 1523 it was clear that England was going to have to honour their commitments to Charles V as Francis ignored their warnings, however at first it looked like a French defeat was likely because Charles V had managed to get the Duke of Bourbon to rebel against Francis I so a three pronged attack was planned: England, HRE and Bourbons rebels against the French
   • An English force costing £400,000, but the rebellion never took off and the English troops fell apart due to bad supplies in the cold winter
   • The blame could be put on Bourbon however it still left Henry and Wolsey desperate to be released from the terms of the Treaty of Bruges so that general peace with France could be made with France

9. The Battle of Pavia 1525

   • Charles defeated France at Pavia in Northern Italy in February, and Henry saw this as the ideal time to invade France and capture what he saw as his rightful inheritance
   • Henry sent a convey to France to tell Charles of his plans but they were dismissed quickly by Charles as he had no money and wanted peace. He even called off his marriage alliance with Mary and married Isabella of Portugal so that he could use her dowry to pay for war
   • Wolseys attempts at raising money for the war with the amicable grant led to 10,000 rebelling. It was withdrawn by Henry

10. Treaty of the More 1525

    • As a result of the Battle of Pavia
    • Louise of Savoy signed on Francis' behalf because he was still Charles' prisoner
    • France agreed to pay 2million crowns to the English and agreed to stay out of Scottish affairs and Henry gave up his claims to France
    • Could be described as a watershed because England turned against her alliance with Spain and HRE

11. The Treaty of Cognac 1526

    • In 1526 Francis had been released but he had promised Charles that he would not threaten imperial interests in Italy and Charles had kept his sons hostage to make sure
    • United France, England and the Italian states against the Italian imperial forces however England never joined it
    • In 1527 alliance was strengthened due to the treaty of Westminster where Princess Mary was presented as a marriage offer to Francis or his son
    • Charles was also threatened with military power if he did not make peace with France, however it was an empty threat as they did not have the military power to defeat him

12. The imperial sack of Rome and the peace of Cambrai 1527-1529

    • 6th May 1527 Charles' troops under the Duke of Bourbon invaded and sacked Rome, taking the Pope Clement VII prisoner which was a disaster for England as the annulment that Henry wanted could not happen because the Pope was now under the control of Catehrines nephew
    • Charles was released in early December but he still remained all over Italy and war was declared on the HRE even though England could not afford it and no army was mobilised
    • Treaty signed between France, Spain and the Papacy and England was not informed until the last minute, It left England isolated, Charles in charge of Italy and ruined the chances of Wolsey getting an annulment