Henry VIII after 1529 foreign policy Flashcards
Foreign policy as a success
- Henry married Anne of Cleves to cement German alliance
- Death of CofA eased relations between Charles V and Henry, mutual fears of France furthered good relations
Foreign policy not successful
Costly failure- £2mil spent (10 years’ worth of regular income), consumed resources gained from dissolution of the monasteries
Long term economic problems- coinage debased in order to raise extra funds
-Renewal of Habsburg-Valois war rendered success of German alliance short lived
What led to the war with Scotland?
- James did not attend arrangement to meet Henry at York in 1541
- Long term grievances with Scotland
- Signing of the Anglo Imperial alliance
How truthful was the claim that James not attending to meet Henry cause the war between Scotland and England?
Truth to claim it caused war as it looked bad for his prestige in a time where the image of a king was extremely important
What were the long term grievances with Scotland?
James had been loyal to France in the 1530s when England would have benefitted from their support e.g twice marrying french princesses, protecting rebels who had fled north from PofG.
Why was the signing of the Anglo-Imperial alliance (1542) the most important reason for the outbreak of war with Scotland?
French-Scottish alliance. Scots undertook border raids in England, prompted Henry to send a large army under the DofN into Scotland-decisive English victory in November 1542. James V died 10 days later, Scotland was in a weak position as heir was a baby, Mary.
How did Henry solve the problems with Scotland?
NOT BY WAR INITIALLY- Treaties of Greenwich in 1543- Henry proposed to marry Edward to Mary. To win over Scottish nobility, bribes were given.
Why was Henry’s attempts to solve the problems with Scotland through the proposed marriage of Edward to Mary unsuccessful?
The Scots didn’t hand over Mary, and the parliament rejected the treaties. Change of policy- Henry moved to force
How successful were Seymour’s raids on scottish towns in 1544 and 1545?
Very unsuccessful. Failed to win over Scots, and Mary was promised to French Dauphin. Not enough troops to inflict major damage on Scotland (being used in the war against France).
French and Scottish driven closer together, overall achieved very little.
Arguments that Henry’s campaign against France was not successful
- Drained the nations’ financial resources- cost £2mil, using all the dissolution money and resulted in borrowing on Antwerp money market, necessitated need for debasement, heavy taxation and forced loans.
- Capture of Boulogne was symbolic at best
- Claim it was to ‘recapture his youth’ in a similar fashion to marrying Catherine Howard
- Henry was without allies- Habsburgs had made peace with France and Scotland with the auld alliance
- French fleet able to sail into the Solent and land raiding party on the IoW- security wasn’t great
Arguments that Henry’s campaign against France was successful
- Managed to capture Boulogne in 1544 which was more than Charles or Francis achieved in this period.
- He did it without the help of an ally
- Restored his honour and claim to glory, showed England was a military force to be reckoned with
- Treaty of Camp (Ardres) in June 1546 allowed England to retain Boulogne for 7 years and France had to pay all outstanding pension payments
Foreign policy arguments
- Henry failed to achieve successes he should have, wasted a large amount of money trying to gain military glory
- Henry maintained England’s position in Europe, securing the northern border by defeating the Scots and improving England’s hold over Calais by capturing Boulogne
