Henry VII's Foreign Policy Flashcards
What were Henry’s Foreign Policy aims?
- Avoid invasion from neighboring countries (National Security)
- Make alliances to weaken dynastic threat
- Avoid expensive war
- Improve economic position through trade
Breton Crisis (1487 - 1491)
Only part of France which still had freedom
Regent of France wanted to marry her brother to daughter of Duke of Brittany
Duke’s daughter to marry Maximilian (HRE)
France sent in a force (1488) to enforce their idea
Troops sent from Ferdinand of Aragon and Maximilian to support Brittany
Henry tried to negotiate between Brittany and France, but Bretons refused and were defeated
Death of Duke meant his daughter became rules who was captured by France
England couldn’t risk a war with France alone, as they were much weaker than France
Treaty of Redon provided Brittany with 6,000 paid troops to aid Brittany (HRE)
Invasion of France (1492)
War would be costly and may make Henry’s position vulnerable
A year was spent gathering an invasion force
By the time the fleet arrived, the campaign season would be over meaning any battle would be short
French king more interested in invading Italy
Charles VIII soon offered Henry peace
Signed the Treaty of Etaples agreeing to give no aid to English rebels, pay the arrears of the Treaty of Piquigny and pay most of Henry’s expenses in Brittany
Annual pension of £5,000
Post treaty of Etaples (November 1492 onwards)
League of Venice (1495) established with the aim of driving France out of Italy
Renamed “Holy League” and included England in 1496
Ferdinand of Aragon feared England would ally France if not included
Henry secured trade deal with France without destroying Holy League friendship.
Anti-Ferdinand alliance with England, France and Netherlands
France pulled out through fear of antagonising Spain
France and Spain had an agreement over Italy
Better relations with France meant Scotland was less of a threat
Reasons for avoiding conflict with Scotland (1486 - 1503)
Scots preferred Henry VII to Richard, as Richard supported raids into Scotland, however Henry wished for peace.
Accession of 15 year old James IV made invasion from Scotland much less likely.
Maintenance of contacts in Scottish court:
- Earl of Angus
- Signing of a 9 year truce
- Henry gave shelter to Scottish nobles who’d been ousted
Warbeck’s invasion was a fiasco
Scottish fear that England were preparing for pre-emptive invasions which would be damaging to them
Treaty of Ayton (1497) and Treaty of Perpetual Peace, however didn’t abandon the Auld Alliance.
Marriage of Henry’s daughter (Margaret) to James IV
How successfully did Henry meet his trade foreign policy aim in Burgundy
England conducted most of its cloth trade with Antwerp
From 1493 - 1496, Henry placed an embargo on trade with Burgundy while Margaret was supporting Warbeck
The Magnus Intercursus - An agreement made to restore trade with Burgundy in 1496
Agreement allowed English merchants to sell goods anywhere in Phillips’ land except Flanders, without paying toll or customs
Henry was able to negotiate more fairly as Phillip was forced to seek shelter from storms in England.
3 advantages this gave English merchants was trade with Burgundy would be free, Phillip wouldn’t impose duties on the sale of English cloth, and Phillip not to exclude England’s cloth from his land
The result of the Malus Intercursus unpopularity in 1507 was the previous state of affairs (Magnus Intercursus) was restored
How successfully did Henry meet his trade foreign policy aim in Spain and Portugal
Henry renewed an early trade agreement with Portugal
Henry imposed the negotiation acts of 1485-86 which limited foreign control of English trade
Spain retaliated and forbade the export of goods from Spain if foreign ships were available
The treaty ended restrictions and benefited both with countries enjoying the same rights in each others countries
Henry was disappointed Spain didn’t allow England access to trade in the New World which was one of his hopes
How successfully did Henry meet his trade policy aim in the Baltics
The Hanseatic League was a group of German ports and cities.
They gained lower taxes from England in 1471 due to them supplying Edward IV with ships
This had little impact as he tried to limit the privileges through the navigator acts
Henry signed treaties with Denmark and Norway in 1489and 1490
This similar policy was attempted with Riga but had failed in 1499
Henry was forced to settlement in 1504 as he was concerned that the Hanse might give support to the Yorkist Earl of Suffolk
How successfully did Henry meet his trade policy aim in the Mediterranean
One lucky reason why Henry had some success was due to the Italian Wars
Much of this trade was dominated by the Venetians
The imposed heavy duties (by the Venetians) were from Levant to England on Malmsey wine
Henry retaliated through imposing heavy duties against the Venetians and approaching Florence as a potential trade partner
This policy established an English Spale (market) for cloth at Pisa and limited English sales of wool too Venice. Venice then became embroiled in the Italian Wars.
