Henry VIII and the quest for

International influence
Key dates
1512 England join Spain in
an alliance against France.
1513 Emperor Maximilian
joins Ferdinand, Henry and
the Papacy against France.
1513 (August) Battle of the
Spurs.
1513 (September) Battle of
Flodden. Tournai captured.
1514 Henry makes peace
with France.
1515 Francis becomes
King of France.
1516 Princess Mary
born.
1518 Treaty of London.
1519 Charles V
becomes Holy Roman
Emperor.
1520 (May) Henry meets
Charles V in England.
1520 (June) Field of
Cloth of Gold.
1520 (July) Henry meets
Charles on Calais.
Key dates
1521 Charles V agrees to joint
invasion of France.
1523 Attack on France fails
under Suffolk as winter sets in.
1525 (February) Battle of
Pavia.
1525 (August) peace with
France.
1527 offensive alliance against
France signed with France.
1528 England and France
declare war on Chalres V.
1529 - (July) Legatine Court over
Great Matter is adjourned.
1529 (August) Treaty of
Cambrai.
1529 (October) Wolsey
dismissed.
1533 diplomatic links made
with Lutheran Princes.
1536 (January) Catherine of
Aragon dies.
1536 (May) Anne Boleyn
executed.
1537 Prince Edward born.
1538 Papal Bull of deprivation
1540 (January) Henry marries
Anne of Cleves.
1540 (July) Cromwell executed
and Henry marries Catherine
Howard.
Key Players
France 1515 Francis I
became King. Kingdom
largest in Europe. He
inherited conflict in Italy
against Habsburgs.
Determined to uphold
French honour.
The Holy Roman Empire
HRE was a collection of 400
semi-autonomous states at
heart of Europe, where modern
day Germany is. The office of
Holy Roman Emperor was
very prestigious. Charles of
Habsburg was Emperor from
1519
Spain 1516 Charles of
Habsburg became
Charles I of Spain. Spain
was devoutly Catholic.
Spain had only recently
united with marriage of
Ferdinand and Isabelle
The Papacy The Pope
defended Catholic
interests throughout
Europe. Papal power
could rival all of European
Kings. Key in Henrys
divorce.
War against France 1512-13
Henry wanted to remove himself from his fathers
conservative ministers who wanted to avoid war. This
conservatism had resulted in a peace treaty with France
in 1510 which very much annoyed the young war eager
King Henry. In 1512 Henry managed to get permission
from his councillors to go to war against France as he
portrayed it as a Holy War as a result of France
annoying the Pope during the Holy League. Henry was
badly let down by his father-in-law Ferdinand in this
campaign as he waited for his troops to arrive and
support the English. Ferdinand however was only using
this as a diversion so that his own troops could capture
another part of France.
The Battle of the Spurs (1513)
Henry personally led an army of 30,000 to
Calais in June 1513. He had learnt from ill-fated
wars with France 1512-13 that he had to look
after English interests without relying upon other
nations. The campaign resulted in Therouanne
and Tournai being captured. Therounne was
given to Emperor Maximilian while Tournai was
kept as an English garrison. Very little fighting
actually occurred and English propagandists
named the Battle of the Spurs in recognition of
the French retreat. Some important French
nobles were captured.
The Battle of Flodden (1513)
Big victory against Scotland under command of
the Earl of Surrey. James IV of Scotland tried to
take advantage of Henrys absence in France to
launch an invasion of England. The two armies
confronted each other at Flodden Edge. The
core of the Scottish army died, including the
Scottish King. James son James was only a boy
and with Henrys own sister (Margaret) as
regent, Henry could expect little trouble North of
the border.
What had Henry actually achieved
by the end of 1513?
Henry had stamped his
presence on European
affairs. He had fulfilled a key
ambition of waging war. He
had headed an army into
battle in France.
He had worked towards
ambition of taking over
France and taking throne. He
wanted a renewed offence in
1514.
Wolsey managed to rise to
prominence especially
through organising the
logistical nightmare of 30,000
men invading France.

Deceived and by
Ferdinand.
Therouanne and Tournai
were soft targets and the
actual Battle of the Spurs
was not much of a fight.
The cost of the campaign
was huge. Henry spent
960,000 in 1511-13
when his yearly income
was only 110,000. This
made a 1514 campaign
very unrealistic.

The Anglo-French Treaty (1514)
Henry had to make peace with France. Both
Spain and HRE lost interest in war with France
and concluded separate peace treaties. The
new Pope Leo X favoured peace in Europe and
with Henrys poor financial situation he had very
little option. This Treaty officially gave England
possession of Tournai. Henry proposed a joint
Anglo-French attack on Spain. Although this was
very unrealistic it shows Henry was still annoyed
with Ferdinand for double-crossing him three
years ago. The Peace Treaty also sealed the
marriage of Henrys younger sister Mary to the
elderly Louis XII.
Wolsey the peacemaker 1514-18?
1515 Louis XII died and was succeeded by his 20 year
old cousin Francis I. Henry was desperate to make his
mark on Europe but monetary issues massively held him
back. The Anglo-France Treaty soon disappeared as
Francis spread unrest in France to dislodge the regency
government of Henrys sister. Envious of Francis I and
his series of wars around Europe Henry was desperate
for war but Wolsey was trying to avoid all out conflict with
finance his key reason. Wolsey tried to negotiate a
series of anti-French arrangements throughout Europe
but despite his best efforts England was left isolated as
Kings and Princes jumped to the French side.
The Treaty of London (1518)
Wolsey took the Popes agenda of a crusade
against the infidel Turks and placed England
back into the middle of European affairs. The
Treaty bound the major powers in a Christian
alliance against the Muslim Turks. More
importantly the Treaty also guaranteed non
aggression between the powers and included
collective security so that any aggressor would
be rounded on by the other states. This Treaty
heaped prestige upon Henrys reign.
Alliances with France or Spain?
1519 HRE Maximilian died and left a power
vacuum between his grandson Charles of
Burgundy (King of Spain) and Francis I (King of
France). With the matter close the seven
electors of the Emperor had to chose. With
Charles linked to Habsburg and Francis to
Valois this created great tension between two
power brokers. When Charles won it appeared
that Charles encircled France with HRE and
Spain. Wolsey and Henry tried to present
themselves as peace makers in this Habsburg-
Valois conflict whilst Francis and Charles both
courted their support.
The Field of Cloth of Gold (1520)
Over 3,000 nobles were present from
France and England as Henry met Francis
in English occupied France. Both sides
were trying to impress the other. No
expense was spared. Little diplomatic
progress was made as Henry explored
alliances with both France and HRE.
Francis was desperate to impress with the
Habsburg-Valois conflict building.
The Diplomatic Revolution.
Given name by the historian G. R.
Elton. In 1525 Charles army
heavily defeated Francis and
captured him. Henry wanted to
benefit from this by being given
the French crown but Charles did
not want to share! As a result of
this Wolsey opened alliance talks
with France. The Treaty of More
was signed where Henry gave up
his claim to the French throne in
return for an annual pension from
the French crown. Within a year
Francis was released by Charles.
Francis was determined to not let
Charles dominate northern Europe
and the Treaty of Cognac was
signed that grouped England,
France and several Italian states
together. This saw England move
away from their traditional Anglo-
Spanish/Imperial alliance and
more towards France.
England threatened Charles but
did not have the military might to
carry it through. The League of
Cognac achieved little and in 1527
Imperial troops took over Rome
and the Pope was taken prisoner.
This was a disaster as Henry now
had his foreign policy linked with
the Great Matter. The Papal
situation put Wolsey in a poor
position to gain the King a divorce.
Wolseys Diplomatic Revolution
moved Henry away from Charles
and this went against him in the
Great Matter. Also Catherine of
Aragon was Charles aunt. Foreign
affairs from 1525-9 went against
Wolsey and ultimately led to his
downfall with the Great Matter.
How successful was Wolseys foreign
policy?
Capture of Therouanne and
Tournai in 1513.
Successful peace broker at
Treaty of London put England
central to European politics. Also
events like Field of Cloth of Gold
were Wolseys work.
Financial restrictions meant
foreign policy was flexible and
reactive. Protected English
security and interests was central
to policy changes.
Henry has unrealistic aims with
the small resources he had.
Costly policy on unrealistic
aims.
Campaigns yielded very few
results. Henry spent
1.4million fighting wars
between 1511-25. Wolsey
forced to increase taxation and
forced loans to cover this. As a
consequence of events like
Amicable Grant domestic
disturbances occurred.
Diplomatic Revolution put
Wolsey on the wrong side and
unable to resolve the Great
Matter.
How important was religion in
shaping foreign affairs from 1530-40?
The completion of the Great
Matter and subsequent Royal
Supremacy created problems in
foreign affairs. Francis I did not
want to be associated with
heretical England so the Wolsey
legacy of alliance fell apart.
Henry feared the onslaught of
catholic Europe. Charles strongly
disliked Henry because of the
treatment of his aunt. Henry and
Cromwell kept out of European
conflicts and let the Habsburg-
Valois rivalry take its course.
Inevitably France and Spain went
to war leaving England alone.
This continued until the Treaty of
Nice in 1538 when the conflict
stopped and left England
vulnerable again.
Papal calls for an anti-English
crusade were strong at this time.
This was promoted by Cardinal
Pole and Henry retaliated by
brutally purging his family in
England. In 1539 Henry passed
the Act of Six Articles which were
designed to show the rest of
Europe that the English Church
was not heading towards
Lutheranism. Henry was reluctant
to join himself to Lutheran Princes
through fear of European
onslaught. Henry eventually
aligned himself with the Lutheran
side by marrying Anne of Cleves
on the basis on a Holbein painting
in 1540.