Character & aims

Question 1

Henry VIII aims in Judgement?

Answer 1

• Accession to the throne brought glee in 1509
• Henry removed unpopular elements of his fathers reign
• Henry had little interest in government/bureaucracy but acted ruthlessly when things affect him personally
• Early years his main aim was to establish himself as King
• For the rest of his reign his aims changed due to circumstances, though military glory & securing of the succession were recurrent themes

Question 2

What was the legacy of Henry VII?
(4 things)

Answer 2

• Money - left £300,000 for Henry
• Unpopular mechanisms for extracting wealth e.g. Council Learned in law
• Peaceful foreign policy
• Conciliar government

Question 3

How did these elements of his Father’s reign disappear under Henry VIII?

Answer 3

• Money spent on aggressive foreign policy against France
• Conciliar government disappeared in short term, Thomas Wolsey came the focus of government & Thomas Cromwell
• Council Learned abolished Jan (1510) Richard Empson & Edmond Dudley executed (1510)

Question 4

Who helped dispose of ‘wrong doers’ in Henry’s government?

Answer 4

• Richard Fox, assisted by Sir Thomas Lovell & Richard Weston

Question 5

At what points in the reign did conciliar form of government return?

Answer 5

• 1529-32
• 1540-47

Question 6

What were Henry VIII early aims?

Answer 6

• Establish status among European Monarchs through marriage
• Re-establish role of nobility
• Establish himself as a warrior king through an aggressive foreign policy

Question 7

How did Henry establish his status among European monarchs?

Why could marriage be argued to be a failure?

Answer 7

• Treaties with European powers: Treaty of Etaples (1510), reaffirmed peace with France (didn’t last long)
• creation of the Holy league, Spain, HRE, Venice & Papacy
• Marriage to Catherine of Aragon (11 June 1509)
• Catherine was the daughter of Isabella of Castille (died 1504)
• Established international tie to Spain
• Mid 1520s Henry would regret marrying Catherine once she was not youthful & able to provide a male heir

Question 8

How did Henry re-establish the role of Nobility?

Reason to show Henry VIII was somewhat suspicious of the nobility?

Answer 8

• Henry relished military culture of the aristocracy, of difference to his father who restricted nobility influence during a peaceful FP
• Sons of nobility were friends with Henry through pageantry, sports, hunting & tournaments
• Nobility accompanied Henry to war in northern France/Marquis of Dorset south-west France/Earl of Surrey to Scotland
• Removed unpopular ways of extracting wealth from nobility as they were taxed heavily
• Execution of Duke of Buckingham 1521 on charges of treason - suspected of intending to kill the King
• Buckingham was a descendant of Edward III, like Henry
• Nobles did not achieve prominence they hoped for as Henry promoted Wolsey who organised military campaigns in France & was instrumental in Buckingham’s execution

Question 9

How did Henry establish himself as warrior king?

Answer 9

• Henry sought to overthrow his father’s peaceable FP which coincided with the re-establishment of nobility
• Entered wars against France
• Sent Christopher Bainbridge (Archbishop of York) to Rome to persuade Julius II (Pope) to enter an alliance against the French, creating the Holy league
• 1512 sent 10,000 men to south-west France under Marquis of Dorset
• 1513 Henry led a force to northern France, winning Battle of Spurs, capturing towns of Tournai & Therouanne
• Battle of Flodden September 1513

Question 10

Who & what was Henry VIII trying to emulate by establishing himself as a warrior King?

Answer 10

• Henry V
• Hundred years war

Question 11

What aims of Henry’s were recurring themes?
How did he destroy his fathers legacy?

Answer 11

• Warrior King
• Securing succession
• Through warfare & extravagance

Question 12

How did Henry VIII destroy his fathers legacy?
(3 para’s)

Answer 12

1. Financially (destroyed coffers)
2. Aggressive FP (destroyed peace)
3. Government (destroyed conciliar)