Foreign military intervention itself wasn’t so much a problem for Henry: there were no large-scale invasions of England during his reign and for the most part he managed to avoid war altogether. But Henry was constantly worried about the threat of an invasion and pretenders like Perkin Warbeck and Lambert Simnel only served as irritants to make him even more worried and to show him that he didn’t have the full support of important powers like France. One of his main purposes in life was to secure the throne for his future dynasty. Therefore the avoidance of foreign invasion was of the utmost importance to Henry as he couldn’t stand the thought of having his throne usurped.
With what success did Henry VII achieve his objectives in foreign policy?
During his reign, Henry VII had three main objectives regarding his foreign policy: security, trade and prestige. The most important of these three is security as it includes the security of England as a country as well as the security of Henry’s own dynasty, something that he was incredibly eager to uphold. Also, of course, trade was very important for the economic structure of England and Henry relied on other countries in Europe to supply and purchase goods. And then there was prestige; something which so many kings worried about and which was of great importance to the country.
Henry wanted, above all things, to keep himself on the throne and secure his dynasty. Five out of the last seven kings had been deposed when Henry came to power in 1485 and he was adamant that his throne would not be usurped and that he would have a long and successful dynasty. Therefore it was important that he defended England as well as he could, firstly to prevent anyone invading and stealing the throne and secondly to gain his subjects’ favour and be popular, again lessening the chances of rebellions.
At the beginning of his reign, Henry was faced with threats from pretenders. Therefore it was important for him to build up good relationships with the countries around him to ensure that no pretenders would be able to generate support abroad. In 1489 Henry gave military help to Maximilian to help him fund his civil wars. This was shrewd on Henry’s part as it ensured Maximilian’s appreciation and so he didn’t support pretenders. And Henry didn’t only offer military help to foreign powers: he also offered financial helps. During his reign he gave out huge amounts of money in the form of loans, such as huge loans to the Habsburgs from 1505 to 1509. This was, in a sense, ‘protection’ money as it helped Henry to build up strong relationships with foreign powers and prevented them from invading or turning against England.
For the safety of his kingdom, Henry also had to form good relationships with foreign powers so that there would be no threat of invasion or war. Traditionally England was allied strongly with Brittany and Burgundy. However, when the Duke of Brittany died in 1488, Charles VIII claimed wardship of Anne, his daughter, and married her, making him the ruler of Brittany. Seeing as France was a traditional enemy of England, it would seem that Henry had lost an ally. But he invaded France in 1492 and the Treaty of Etaples was drawn up. Charles agreed to pay Henry annual pensions and agreed not to assist rebels against the English monarchy. So Henry had used the French invasion of Brittany to his advantage and come out on favourable terms with one of his enemies.
Defence was also an important part of security for Henry. During his reign he made the navy a permanent feature in England and set up dockyards to hold the ships when not in battle. He also expanded the navy and tried to regulate and organise a permanent army (this was also to his advantage as it would quell the problems of retaining if he no longer had to rely on the nobles’ private armies to fight wars).
England, of course, was not self sufficient and therefore looked abroad for goods such as wool and wine. Good relationships with foreign countries would ensure easy, reasonably priced trading and the satisfaction of Henry’s subjects. Henry wanted to promote trade as well because if he could have other countries depending on England to supply them with goods or relying on England’s trading, there was less chance of fighting between countries.
Henry successfully forged favourable trade terms with Spain and Burgundy which included political bonuses for himself. In 1489, Henry negotiated the Treaty of Medina del Campo which reduced customs duties between England and Spain to make trade easier and also created a union with Spain, meaning they were less likely to support Henry’s enemies. He also forged the ‘Magnus Intercursus’ with Burgundy in 1496 to restore the rights of English merchants in Antwerp. He even attempted to persuade Philip of Burgundy to agree to the ‘Malus Intercursus’ in 1506, but this was so favourable to English interests that the government in the Netherlands would not accept it.
Then, of course, Henry wanted prestige for himself and for his country. Henry had to be seen as great by his contemporaries in order to establish himself as an important, powerful monarch. He also wanted to establish his dynasty: the Tudors. Therefore political marriages were very important and Henry made some very strategic matches: he married his daughter Margaret to James IV of Scotland, creating a truce with one of England’s oldest enemies; he married his other daughter Mary to Charles of Ghent, giving England strong links with Burgundy, the Holy Roman Emperor and, soon, Castile; Catharine of Aragon was married to Arthur to link the newly unified Spain with England, but when Arthur died and Catharine was betrothed to his brother, Henry, the link soon became less important when her mother, Isabella of Castile, died and Spain looked set to lose its unity and power.
Henry also wanted to show his power off at home and display his shrewd diplomacy by ensuring a lot of public celebration when Arthur and Catharine of Aragon married and inviting a lot of important foreign guests to the wedding. This was a form of propaganda and Henry used it to his full advantage.
Then there was international prestige: Henry wanted to show off his artillery and large army and navy to show his power. He didn’t go to war often, for the sake of his country, but when he did he put in a lot of effort to show that England was not an easy country to defeat. He also helped to settle problems between other countries e.g. between the Netherlands, France and Gelders in 1506.
In conclusion Henry was very successful in achieving his objectives in foreign policy. He kept the country secure, avoiding large-scale invasions and maintaining good relationships with most foreign powers. He also maintained good trade agreements with foreign powers for most of his reign, keeping the economy of the country in balance. And he fulfilled his most important objective (to him), that is, ensuring the success of his dynasty. He was not usurped and the Tudors continued to reign for successfully for years after Henry died.