Foreign Relations and Securing the Succession 1509-47

Question 1

Foreign policy involving Spain (8) 2😊 6😔

Answer 1

1. Ferdinand humiliated Henry by using the force sent to SW france in 1512 as a diversionary tactic.
2. When Ferdinand died in 1516, Charles V succeeded. In 1517, he signed the Treaty of Cambrai with the HRE and France, leaving England isolated.
3. In 1518, peace was made with the Treaty of London.
4. In 1521, the Treaty of Bruges was agreed with Charles to invade France (after conflict between Francis and Charles).
5. Henry suggested to Charles to lead a joint invasion to Northern France after the emperor’s crushing defeat at the Battle of Pavia in 1525. Charles didn’t agree to this and repudiated his marriage contract with Princess Mary.
6. Wolsey’s attempt to pressuring the Emporer by imposing an embargo caused widespread unemployment and social problems because of Charles’ retaliation.
7. Charles V’s strength (eg the peace of Cambrai in 1529 showed dominance over the pope) meant that the Kings great matter couldn’t have been solved through diplomatic means.
8. In the Treaty of Nice of 1538, Francis and Charles agreed to sever connections with england.

Question 2

Henry’s foreign policy involving france. (12) 5😊 7😔

Answer 2

1. In 1510, the Treaty of Etaples was renewed. This was the councillors seeking a continuation of peace with france.
2. Christopher Bainbridge was sent to Rome to convince the pope to join an anti french alliance, the holy league. This joined England, Spain, HRE, Venice and the Papacy.
3. In 1512, Henry sent an army of 10,000 to SW France to the Marquis of Dorset. This was, however used by Ferdinand as a tactic to conquer Navarre.
4. In 1513, Henry led a force to NE France, won the Battle of Spurs and captured Thérouanne and Tournai.
5. The succession of Francis I in 1515 was seen as a political and personal threat to Henry. Francis sought to undermine Anglo-Scottish relations through the use of the Duke of Albany, who was a member of the French nobility and heir presumptive to the Scottish throne. He consolidated his position by being appointed regent of Scotland. Any threat was extinguished by the divisions in the Scottish nobility, however Henry was unable to exploit this weakness in Scotland.
6. In 1518, Wolsey was able to end England’s isolation by signing the Treaty of London. This united Christian nations against the Ottoman Turks. It was a non aggression pact agreed by England, France, Spain, HRE and other states.
7. This peace continued - the english gave back Tournai and France gave England a pension for its loss. The French also agreed to keep Albany out of Scotland.
8. These relations were reinforced by the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520 which was an extravagant diplomatic encounter. It cost Henry’s treasury £15,000 and was held in Calais.
9. In 1521, Henry negotiated terms of the Treaty of Bruges to Charles so England invaded northern France in 1522 and 23 (parliament were reluctant to grant revenue). This was done because Henry thought he could gain more territory in France and he could improve relations with the pope, who wanted french control of northern Italy reduced.
10. Henry was forced to form an anti-Imperial alliance with the French with the Treaty of Amiens in 1527.
11. In 1544, Henry led a large army to Calais, capturing Boulogne, but being unsuccessful with Montreuil. The French sent troops to Scotland to invade england, but were unsuccessful in materialising here. The French also invaded the Isle of Wight.
12. Neither could afford to continue, so peace was agreed in 1546

Question 3

Foreign policy involving Scotland. (3)

Answer 3

1. In September 1513, king James had crossed the border, but the earl of Surrey defeated the substantial force. (Battle of Flodden). James and lots of nobility were killed, but this caused lots of problems for Henry: he was forced to liquidate assets from his father to pay for it, the renegotiated french pension was lost, Tournai was sold back, cheaply, to the French and rumbling for taxation occurred again in yorkshire.
2. In 1542, Henry was successful in the battle of solway moss, where james V died and the scots were faced with demands they couldn’t have met. Instead of launching a full scale invasion, which the scots were in no position to repel, Henry showed interest in France.
3. The Treaty of Greenwich of 1543 betrothed prince edward and Mary queen of scots. However the english ambassador, sir Ralph Sadler reported widespread suspicion of english intentions, so they refused to allow Mary to be raised in England, so it lost the support of the Scottish regent. This prompted Henry to send the Earl of Hertford to raid St Andrews, Edinburgh and Leith.

Question 4

Foreign policy involving Ireland.

Answer 4

Henry found it difficult to govern ireland with Kildare, but impossible without him. In 1534, the earl of Kildare was dismissed, which led to a major rebellion, at considerable expense to extinguish. The attempt to refashion Irish government in 1534 failed-it required an irish government with an english born deputy and a substantial military government, so Ireland became a drain on the crowns resources. Irish nobles invaded the pale in 1539, so in return for peerage titles and legal protection, they were expected to abide by english law and establish counties and were established a separate Kingdom in 1541. After 1534, the relationship between England and Ireland were very complicated and religious differences also emerged between the two.