Tudors - Henry VIII - Wolsey Era Foreign Policy Dates + Details

Wolsey: 1515-1529

Henry VIII: Whole Reign Aims

1509-27: establish himself as a monarch of European standing (peace-making + warfare)

→ peace-making 1515-1521

• £1-2mil spent on war (run out of funds)

  = Field of the Cloth of Gold 1520 + Treaty of London 1518

• England politically isolated in Europe

1527-1533: King’s Great Matter (annulment for CoA marriage)

• CoA birthed a girl + past child-bearing age (needs an heir)

1533-1547: Revival of H8’s personal obsession of glory in war with France (gain territory)

Wolsey: Aims

1515-29

→ establish England as a great power through peace-making (esp. with France)

→ address King’s Great Matter

Henry VIII: Peace-Making Timeline

1515-1521

1515: Louis XIII dies = end marriage alliance (England-France) with Princess Mary (his daughter) and can’t renew as she secretly marries Suffolk weeks later

Francis I to French throne solidifies loss of alliance (personal and political rival to H8)

1517: Treaty of Cambrai (Holy Roman Empire + France)

= England dangerously isolated

1518: Wolsey ends isolation → Treaty of London (peace negotiation with France)

• = Wolsey leading diplomat in western Europe

• Pope Leo X (Pope until 1521) supports as needed united Christian front against Ottoman Empire

  = also appoints Wolsey as papal legate over England

1520: Field of the Cloth of Gold

• meeting between H8 + F1 in France

• lavish → cost £15,000

• BUT diplomatically, nothing signif. happened (F1 promises not to interfere in Scot BUT doesn’t last)

1521: Conflict between F1 +C5

• so Wolsey negotiates Treaty of Bruges with C5

  • hope to: improve relation with the Pope, possibly gain more French territory, marriage alliance between C5 and Princess Mary

Henry VIII: Glory Through Warfare Timeline

1522-1529

1522-23: English armies invade north France with C5

• reach as far as Paris BUT C5 pulls out as troops not large enough

• gained little + costly (parliament had to grant extraordinary taxes to fund)

• after this C5 breaks promise of invading France in the next campaigning season TWICE

  = H8 feels betrayed

1525: Battle of Pavia

• C5 defeats French, capturing F1 and the Pope

• H8 lack of strategic awareness: manipulated by C5 → didn’t allow H8 to join (doesn’t see him as politically signif.)

• Failure of the Amicable Grant 1525 shows lack of support for French invasion too

1526: end of Anglo-Spanish alliance (lean pro-French policy again)

• H8 lent support for the League of Cognac (made by the Pope to counterbalance what he saw as excessive power of C5)

1527: Emperor C5 on poor terms with England (+ CoA his aunt) = hinders King’s Great Matter with Sack of Rome (Pope Clement VII - Pope until 1534 - prisoner of C5)

Treaty of Amiens

• H8 in weak position so offer support to France against the Holy Roman Empire

Wolsey tried to pressurise C5 with a trade embargo BUT leads to widespread unemployment and social issues instead

1529: C5 defeats French at Battle of Landriano