Henry VIII - Foreign policy Flashcards
The First French War
Henry’s desire for war was driven by his xenophobia and craving for conquest. He was driven into the Holy League, and an Anglo-Spanish agreement to attack France signed in 1511.
Allied to Ferdinand, Maximilian & the Pope, Henry led an own army of 25000 into Northern France in 1513, seizing towns of Thérouanne and Tournai after sieges. Henry’s cavalry won the Battle of the Spurs after a detachment of French cavalry, and captured notable prisoners, & won the Battle of Flodden against Scotland.
However, the captured towns were on the French / Burgundian border, so only Maximilian benefitted. Maximilian and Ferdinand made peace with Louis XII in August 1514. Henry followed up with an Anglo-French peace treaty.
Henry kept Thérouanne and Tournai, and his sister Mary married Louis XII. It marked the emergence of Thomas Wolsey, who efficiently organised the campaign.
Diplomacy in Europe 1515 - 21
In 1515, Francis seized Milan in the Battle of Marignano, & an Anglo-Spanish treaty was signed to attack France.
However, plans changed.
Ferdinand of Aragon died and was replaced with Charles V, who made peace with France.
Maximilian, HRE, made peace with France
Henry had to follow up.
Treaty of London
October 1518, an Anglo-French peace Treaty was signed.
Pope Leo X sent a representative to England to campaign agains the Ottomans - Wolsey hijacked the Papal initiative, turning it into an international treaty of peace and friendship to defend Catholicism.
Francis I, Charles V, Maximilian and the pope were part of it, and it was hailed as a moral, political, and diplomatic triumph.
The Field of Cloth of Gold
FOCOG was a meeting between Henry VIII and Francis in June 1520 outside of Calais.
Both Francis and Charles wanted to ally Henry before the Habsburg-Valois war broke out - Henry was happy to be led by the leading lights in Europe.
This resulted in a fortnight long jousting tournament, with Henry and Francis being the most skilled. Wolsey organised the event and brought 6000 English people, and it cost a years worth of revenue.
However, nothing diplomatic was achieved, and the 2 countries were at war within 2 years.
The Second French War
Francis and Charles fought for an advantage in the Hapsburg-Valois war, with Francis declaring war on Charles after invading Luxembourg in 1521.
In August, Wolsey met Charles in Calais and signed the Treaty of Bruges, agreeing to declare war if Francis refused to make peace.
In 1522, England declared war on France, but made ineffective raids in Picardy after lack of support from Charles who’s attention was on recovering Milan in Italy.
In 1523, Duke of Bourbon took up arms against France, and the Duke of Suffolk led 11000 troops into Paris, but Charles attacks from the Netherlands and lack of support from Spain led to the army retreating.
Battle of Pavia
In 1525, Francis I army was routed by Charles V forces in northern Italy - 10,000 French soldiers killed, and Francis captured after being trapped under his horse.
Henry tried to persuade Charles to attack France to become the King of France, but Charles refused and annulled the marriage between him and Mary.
As a result, Henry cemented a new French entente by the treaties of More, Westminster, and Amiens (to attack Charles V), and England and France didn’t go back to war till 1543.
Events in Scotland - Henry’s later foreign policy
Henry was worried about the security of his Northern Frontier due to James V pro-french foreign policies in the 1540s. Henry’s negotiations were humiliating as James V didn’t show up for talks.
In 1542, Henry sent Duke of Norfolk to attack Scotland, resulting in English victory in Solway Moss and with the death of James V.
Henry’s proposal of a marriage alliance between his son Edward, and Mary, Queen of Scots, in the treaty of Greenwich failed, leading to more conflict.
Events in Ireland
Henry had problems with the Fitzgerald family in Ireland as they supported his opponents. They led a 1536 rebellion supporting the pope and Charles V, protesting Henry’s role as the head of the church, but lost.
In 1540, Henry declared a new kingdom of Ireland, with land surrendered by the crown and loyalty sworn to Henry. The Policy of plantations extended English law across Ireland and broke-down feudal territories.
The Third French War
The reopening of the Hapsburg Valois war led to England declaring war on France in 1544. In June, Henry sailed to Calais with an army of 48,000 men. Norfolk captured Monetreuil, and Henry besieged Bolougne.
However, Henry abandoned Charles while doing this.
In 1545, Francis failed to invade Bolougne, and Treaty of Ardres signed in 1546 - The war cost £2 million, but Francis agreed to pay off the French pension.
