How far did Henry VIII achieve his aims 1509 - 1514?

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How far did Henry VIII achieve his aims 1509-14?

From 1509 to 1514 Henry had some success in achieving his aims, which were to have glory in war with France, to appear different from his father whilst keeping his good ideas, to successfully manage matters of government and finance and to deal successfully with nobles and the Yorkist threats. He did, however, not totally succeed them, as there were failures in each aim. For his first aim, which was to have glory in war with France, he was victorious in his battles, but he also had a number of setbacks, which resulted in his victory not being as impressive as the one of his ancestor, Henry V. In appearing different to his father whilst keeping his good ideas, Henry VIII achieved this, possibly the most successfully, as he was different to Henry VII in nearly all matters including foreign policy and his relation to the nobles, whilst keeping good ideas, for example bonds. With government and finance, he did succeed partly, in that he found the competent Wolsey to do his day to day work, but Henry VIII also had problems of complaints and record keeping. Henry also had problems with Nobles and the Yorkist threat, as Oyer et Terminer failed because a large number of the complaints were petty. There were also a number of successes in this aim, as Henry managed to get the majority of the nobles on his side but arresting Epsom and Dudley, and letting the nobles into his private life more, which made them feel more important and involved with the king’s affairs.

From the start of his reign in 1509 up until 1514, Henry had succeeded in gaining glory in battle with France, but not fully to the extent he wanted. Henry VIII sought similar victory to that of his forefather, Henry V, who had great victory in defeating France almost one hundred years previously. Henry VIII’s attempts were also overall victorious as he secured an alliance with Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the Pope forming ‘The Holy League’ against France. This meant that Henry had lots of allies to help him invade France, and gave him a positive start. On June 1513 Henry invaded northern Calais, and succeeded in his attempts, causing the French troupes to retreat, which then caused the battle to be named, “The battle of the Spurs,” as the spurs of the horsemen flashed in the sun, as they galloped away from the English troupes. This victory won Henry Tornai and Therouanne, and the marriage of his sister, Mary, to King Louis VII in the Treaty of Germaine. This success meant that Henry had established himself as a successful warrior with the rest of Europe, as well as showing he was different from his father, who would never have entered into the war. This also meant that he had achieved his aims, to a certain extent. However, there were many failures which compromised whether, overall, his aim was successful. One main failure was that Henry had tried to invade France a year before, in 1512, but his army had embarrassingly failed due to the distractions of drink and women, and then contracted dysentery. This would have been an embarrassing setback for Henry, as it delayed his victory and made his army a laughing stock amongst the French. Another reason why this aim wasn’t completely successful, was that after the Battle of the Spurs, Henry tried to go to war again, however Spain and the Holy Roman Empire had recently made peace with Spain, as  Henry had already spent a million pounds on the wars, he was persuaded out of it, by Wolsey. This meant that Henry had to settle for the relatively minor victory, compared to Henry V’s. Therefore Henry VIII did achieve glory in war with France, but not to the extent he intended, as his first attempt was unsuccessful, and he couldn’t continue the war due to lack of support, and over expenditure.

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In matters of government and finance Henry partially succeeded in completing his aim, by using Thomas Wolsey, to handle his day to day affairs, but Henry also received a number of complaints and failures to record keeping systems. Although Henry wanted to be successful in this area, he hated having to deal with day to day jobs, like his father had done, and so instead appointed Wolsey, who was incredibly competent and hard working, and still implemented Henry’s policies whenever the king wanted him to. This meant that Henry was still in control, whilst Wolsey successfully dealt with the mundane ...

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