He gave his councilors more say than Henry VII and he gave them the freedom to initiate policies on many matters. He allowed trusted nobles and ecclesiastics to rule in his name. This included Thomas Wolsey.
When Henry VII was on the throne he had been imposing heavy taxes on the people. The people despised taxes and especially hated the two main taxmen, Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley. So Henry VIII tried to gain the popularity and the support of the people by executing Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley. This definitely gave him the short-term popularity he was after, but without tax, this would affect his finances. Henry VIII’s decision to continue the Hundred Years War cost the government a lot. Around £1.7 million was spent on preparing England and its allies for war. His aim was to seize the French Crown, and make England and himself greater, by means of war. His policy on finance was not like his fathers, he didn’t realise what problems he would face after stopping tax.
His ally in the war was his Father-in-law, Ferdinand Aragon and it was decided that Spain and England would go to war against France in 1512. But Henry VIII’s ideas of conquering France did not succeed. Firstly because the Spanish did not turn up to fight, due to the Pyrenees mountains, on the border of Spain and France. The English troops get dysentery due to the water in France as it was contaminated. Even though Henry VIII failed to attack France, this didn’t prevent him from trying again. In 1513, Henry VIII decided to attack France again, this time with the help of Maximilian who was the Holy Roman Emperor. They both agreed to attack the North of France and this was a success. Henry VIII lead his troops to fight the battle of Spurs.
His policy of making England greater and stronger by the means of war does succeed in a small way as he does conquer the North of France, however his clumsy mistake of leaving his country vulnerable without a King, means that he faced the problem of being attacked. France and Scotland had signed the Auld Alliance and this meant that Scotland would attack England. This happened in 1513, whilst Henry VIII was away fighting in France. Catherine of Aragon took action by organizing troops with the Earl of Surrey and having a battle. The Scottish were defeated at the battle of Flodden.
Henry VIII made a deal with the French, where Henry VIII’s sister, Mary would marry Lois XII. This way England would have another relation based ally, like Ferdinand Aragon of Spain. His two allies would help him on his way to make England stronger and greater it would mean that in any future wars; he would have a chance of winning due to his allies.
Most of Henry VIII’s policies originated from his father, Henry VII. Henry VII’s council was left unchanged. However Henry VIII gave the councilors more freedom, i.e. He allowed them to take some decisions, whereas Henry VII would have only taken advice, and wouldn’t allow any of the councilors to take any decisions. Henry VII collected taxes as a financial policy, this was called Ordinary Revenue, he also used the Acts of Attainder by which he could seize a persons title and all their belongings if they were declared for a crime against the throne, usually treason. Henry VIII on the other hand pursued no new policies about finance, and instead he abolished the Ordinary Revenue policy. Henry VII used the idea of treaties to get his own way, for example he ordered a trade embargo which caused the signing of the Magnus Intercursus which meant that Burgundy could not harbor Yorkist claimants. However Henry VIII took a more dramatic action and went to war to get his own way and as a result a deal was signed in the end. This shows that both Henry VII and Henry VIII wanted a deal to be signed but both had different methods to get to their destination. This shows that Henry VIII pursued a new policy on International relations.
