Foreign Policy (1471-1483) Flashcards
BACKGROUND: FRANCE (4 points)
1) Highest wealth and population out of England, France, Brittany, and Burgundy.
2) 1453 - Won the Hundred Years War
3) Domestic regional tensions
4) Aim of the French king (Louis XI) was to control Burgundy and Brittany and avoid war with England
BACKGROUND: BURGUNDY (4 points)
1) Equal wealth and resources as England.
2) It was an independent duchy - which was had trade deals with England (Wool and Cloth)
3) Burgundy wanted to maintain independent and feared war with France
4) An Anglo-Burgundian treaty was Frances worst nightmare
BACKGROUND: ENGLAND (3 points)
1) Priority was making sure that Burgundy did not fall to the French - because this would mean France would have access to the Channel ports (thus could invade England)
2) The reopening of the Hundred Years War was known as Edward IV’s ‘Great Enterprise’
3) Keeping Brittany independent was also important.
BACKGROUND: BRITTANY (4 points)
1) A independent duchy in the north west of France
2) Not as powerful as Burgundy
3) Their aim was to stay independent from France - which meant they would rely on English support
4) They would be an ideal base for France to attack England
Summer 1472
Louis XI invades Brittany. Edward sends aid to Brittany, a contingent of archers led by Earl Rivers and Edward Woodville. Louis withdraws.
11 September 1472
Alliance agreed between England and Brittany at Chateaugiron.
October 1472
Parliament grants Edward a tax to fund a campaign against France.
1473 (2 points)
1) Further taxation granted by parliament as not enough of the first taxation was
raised.
2) Truce agreed between England and Scotland which is meant to last until 1519.
1474 (3 points)
1) February - Truce agreed between England and the Hanseatic League.
2) July - Treaty of London agreed between England and Burgundy. This is a war alliance against France. It is stipulated that the joint forces of England and Burgundy will invade France by 1 July 1475.
3) Edward also concludes agreements with Castile and Aragon (emerging as the
greatest power in Spain), and Denmark.
July 1475
4 July - An English army led by Edward lands at English-held Calais. Its commanders include Hastings and Richard, duke of Gloucester. This marks the start of the invasion, Edward’s ‘Great Enterprise’.
14 July: Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy meets up with Edward and the English army. Unfortunately, Charles does not bring his army with him (his army being caught up and battered in a siege of Neuss in the Rhineland).
18 July: Despite the lack of Burgundian support the English begin their invasion, advancing towards Champagne.
August 1475
12 August: With a French army nearby, the envoys of Edward and Louis begin
negotiations.
* 29 August: Treaty of Picquigny concluded between England and France.
Treaty of Picquigny terms
1) Edward agrees to end his campaign. 2) Louis agrees to pay Edward a lump sum of £15,000 (75,000 crowns) and an annual pension of £10,000 (50,000 crowns).
3) Seven-year truce agreed
4) Promise that the French Dauphin (Louis’s son and heir) will marry Elizabeth, Edward’s eldest daughter.
5) Several high-ranking English nobles
are also paid gifts by Louis.
How did Richard and Hastings respond to the Treaty of Picquigny?
Richard and Hastings take no part in the negotiations, angry at the campaign being abandoned (although Richard did later receive a gift of
cannon from Louis).
1477
Charles the Bold dies during the siege of Nancy and his heiress daughter Mary who then marries the Archduke Maximilian of Austria. Edward liked Maximilian
What is significant about Edward IV and Mary of Burgundy?
Edward IV rejected the proposal that his brother Clarence should marry Mary of Burgundy.
1478 (2 points)
1) Margaret of Burgundy strenuously pushes for an English alliance. She visits Edward in England in late 1478 – 1479. Edward refuses to commit to such an alliance as he does not want to lose the French pension.
2) Skirmishes on the Anglo-Scottish border. Edward blames James III; James III blames the English. Edward possibly has his sights set on regaining Berwick
1479 (2 points)
1) July: Marriage alliance agreed between Edward’s daughter Anne and Maximilian’s
infant heir Philip.
2) August: Burgundy defeats France at the Battle of Guinegate.
1480 - Scotland
Edward delivers an ultimatum to James III of Scotland: James must pay reparations to Englishmen who have lost out due to the skirmishes; surrender Berwick to England; hand his son to English care to ensure his marriage to Edward’s daughter,
Cecily of York – if these terms are not met England will go to war with Scotland.
August: The Scottish earl of Angus burns Bamburgh. Edward calls of negotiations with James III - looks like he has no control over his own country.
1480 (2 points)
1) May: Richard, duke of Gloucester, is appointed Lieutenant-General in the north with the power to raise an army.
2) August: Treaty between England and Burgundy. Maximilian agrees to replace the payments of Edward’s lost French pension… as France stops paying the pension.
1481 (4 points)
1) Summer: Marriage alliance agreed between Edward’s son and heir (Edward, Prince of Wales) and the heiress to Brittany, Anne.
2) Temporary rapprochement (harmonious rel/) between England and France. Louis resumes paying
Edward’s pension.
3) October: Edward calls off marriage agreements between England and Scotland. He seeks finances to fund a Scottish campaign. Potential Scottish campaign is aborted.
4) Winter: Further skirmishes on the Anglo-Scottish marches.
Burgundy - 1482
1) January: Edward advises Burgundy to conclude a truce with France. (The French position seems weak, Louis being seriously ill and his son, the Dauphin, is only aged 12).
2) 27 March: Mary of Burgundy dies in a riding accident. The heir to Burgundy is her four-year-old son Philip. The cities of Flanders opposed the regency of Maximilian. England had renewed its agreement with France in 1481 meaning Maximilian could
not look to England for support.
Scotland - 1482 (2 points)
1) 11 June: Agreement concluded for a Scottish campaign. The Duke of Albany, brother of James III, is to claim the Scottish throne with Edward’s support. The campaign is to be led by Richard, duke of Gloucester.
2) Summer: Richard leads an English army into Scotland. The English advance as far as Edinburgh. Berwick is captured (had been handed over to Scotland by Margaret of
Anjou back in 1461).
France - 1482 (1 point)
1) 23 December: Treaty of Arras concluded between Maximilian and Louis. Maximilian’s daughter Margaret is betrothed to the Dauphin. England is excluded from the negotiations. Louis stops paying Edward’s pension and English-held Calais is now surrounded on three sides by hostile powers.
