It had always been a sport of English kings to wage war on France and traditionally there were English claims to the French throne. France was the biggest power in Europe combined with the largest army so Henry had to tread carefully. Henry could not afford to take the same policy towards France. In 1485 Henry negotiated a one year truce with France, which was later extended to January 1489. Henry did not want to appear weak in front of his people but did not mention English claims to the French throne. Fortunately France had domestic problems at this time and it was in their interests not to fight with England.
Burgundy was a difficult sector for Henry. England had traditionally been allies with them against the French but following the death of Charles the Bold Duke of Burgundy his wife, Margaret Duchess of Burgundy, was now an influential factor. She was loyal to the Yorkists and had supported them in the Lambert Conspiracy of 1487. Henry stopped the rebellion at the Battle of Stoke but this emphasised his vulnerability and the need to keep a close eye on the courts of other countries to prevent this from happening again. His lack of vigilance in Burgundy could have cost him the support of the people if the rebellion had spread. This was a factor that would have weakened his position at home.
The ruler of Burgundy was Maximilian of Austria who had married Charles the Bold’s daughter. He felt threatened by the truce between England and France but was not in a position to deal with it as he had his own problems in Austria. In effect, due to Maximilian’s other priorities, it was Margaret who ran Burgundy.
Soon after Henry’s triumph at Stoke he was faced with a crisis in Brittany. If France were to take Brittany it would provide, another, ideal platform to invade England. This was a very critical time in Henry’s reign as had to avoid offending both Brittany and France. Again Henry was faced with the possibility of appearing weak in front of his people if he did nothing, but having amicable relations with the two opposing sides there was little he could do. Also if Brittany fell Southern England would be in the same situation with the French as Northern England was with the Scots. If this happened the people would demand action, not only to protect their land but also to protect England as a whole. Brittany fell in July 1488 and Francis II of Brittany died in September of that year. In quick succession the French regent, Anne of Beuajeu, claimed wardship of Francis II’s daughter, Anne of Brittany, who had inherited the throne when her father had died. It was at this point when France effectively ruled Brittany and Henry intervened by signing the Treaty of Redon in which Henry promised to protect Brittany’s independence and send a force of 6,000 English troops, paid for by Brittany. In a further attempt to secure Brittany Henry signed separate treaties with Maximilian and Ferdinand of Spain. The Treaty with Spain was called Medina Del Campo in it was outline the following points:
- That neither side would harbour or support each others rebels;
- That both states would assist each other in defending their lands against any enemy whatsoever;
- To reduce custom duties between the two countries, to the mutual advantage to their trade;
- That neither side would assist France or sign an alliance or treaty with France without the agreement of the other and
- that betrothal negotiations for the eventual marriage of Arthur and Catherine would proceed.
Before I continue with the Brittany issue I will outline how this treaty benefited the English people in relation to the question. The first point of the treaty is a major benefit to Henry would cut off another avenue of escape for Yorkists or other rebels and would reduce the threat of uprising thus strengthening his position. The second point is a massive, but necessary, commitment for Henry to make. With the power of Spain behind England the threat of invasion decreases, the people feel safer and again Henry’s position is strengthened. Easier trade is always good especially with such an economically viable country as Spain and would improve relations further, with English and Spanish people interacting on a regularly basis. The next treaty point I will leave to later in the essay as it has relevance to Brittany. Finally a marriage between two countries as stated in the last point seals the relationship and unites them in a way that cannot be broken
Point 4 of the treaty above gives Brittany a much better chance of surviving against France and combined with point 2 it all but guaranties Brittany two allies. The treaty as a whole was a massive benefit to England and provided the English with tangible evidence that their King’s diplomacy was working to defend, strengthen and establish England as a prominent power in Europe. However Brittany did not have long to live as when English troops went into action in April 1489 its allies were nowhere to be seen. Spain was busy with it’s long planned re-conquest of Granada and Maximilian was over stretched defending Austria Habsburg. In 1490 Maximilian tried to stop French attempts at gaining control by marrying Anne of Brittany by Proxy but this was not legally binding. Finally after a long and drawn out death Brittany had no choice but to accept defeat and Anne Married Charles VIII of France. France now controlled the coast running alongside the channel and posed a direct threat to Henry.
Henry’s response, knowing that inaction would make him very unpopular, was to start raising money for a war against France. Two issues restricted his actions:
- England could not support long term action against France and
- It was firm in Henry’s mind that Henry VI had suffered humiliating defeats at the hands of the French.
As you can tell from this essay public opinion has always supported action against the French and this time was no different. The force landed in Calais in October 1492 and the fact that Henry had left the invasion so late in the campaigning season showed he did not have long term intentions. Henry laid siege to Boulogne, which brought Charles to the negotiating table. The treaty of Etaples was the result, which is summed up in the following sentence. Don’t help the Yorkists, make up back payments for Edward IV pension agreed by an earlier treaty (effectively giving Henry his own French pension) and cover the costs of Henry’s military intervention in Brittany. This was a huge result for English moral and removed France from the list of concerns.
This treaty was not without it’s problems, by signing he had provoked a negative reaction from his counterparts. Spain was annoyed as Henry had not fully consulted them on the details of the treaty as outlined in the treaty of Medina del Campo. Also Maximilian had felt abandoned by Henry and I response he appeared to condone Margaret of Burgundy’s decision to take in Warbeck, a Yorkist pretender.
This was still a major problem for Henry as Warbeck had already led one uprising in England and still lived to do it again. There was some speculation that Warbeck was an impostor but the name still held some weight and as long as he existed it was a threat to Henry’s position.
Henry had now established himself, and England, as major player in Europe. Despite this there were still problems with the Scots and the breakthrough Henry had been looking for finally came in 1495 when the proposed marriage between James VI of Scotland and Henry’s daughter looked set to take place. Disaster struck soon after this as the Yorkist pretender Warbeck left Ireland to be welcomed in by the Scots. Soon after this the border raids started up in 1496. Henry did have plans to launch what would have been a very popular campaign against the Scots until the Cornish rebellion distracted him. Throughout his reign Henry had been troubled by Yorkist uprisings and Warbeck was the last remaining chance for one to happen. The day Henry arrested him would be a tremendous victory for him as there would no longer be a direct threat to Henry’s throne.
The Scottish issue was soon to be laid to rest as the truce of Ayton was signed in 1497 with the help of Spanish diplomats after Warbeck had left Scotland. This truce ended the state of war between the two countries which was followed by the treaty of Ayton in 1502 and a marriage alliance resulting in the marriage of James IV and Margaret (Henry’s daughter). This sequence of events ended the threat to his border and Warbeck now had another country closed to him. This was another immense victory for Henry and if we relate back to the question, I think, it was the biggest achievement for his Foreign policy and undoubtedly strengthened his position.
Two more countries became closed to Warbeck when Henry was included in the Holy League, which was an alliance of countries against France to stop Charles VIII from taking Italy. Again Ferdinand of Spain was instrumental in getting English support for this action by persuading Burgundy and the Holy Roman Empire to close their borders to Warbeck also getting Burgundy to restore trade with England. Spanish persistence paid off when England was accepted into the Holy League in 1496. Fortunately as Henry had retained some independence relations with France were not damaged. Henry now found himself on amicable or better terms with most of Europe almost completely removing the threat to him.
Relations with France were strengthened when the treaty of Etaples was renewed with the new king of France, Louis XII, in 1498. Henry, almost for the first time in his reign looked secure. Also Arthur had reached the age of consent in 1500, he married Catherine by Proxy and then later in 1501 in person massively strengthening Anglo-Spanish relations. Tragically Arthur died in 1502 leaving a 16 year old widow.
In the following years Henry’s foreign policy deteriorated for reasons beyond his control. The death of his son was the catalyst for this decline however the best aspects did remain such as peace with Scotland and France. From the start of the reign till 1502 Henry’s foreign policy was exemplary. What other countries did with powerful armies he accomplished through diplomacy. By 1502 he had removed almost all the threats to his position and it was at this time that he was at his strongest, in the terms of his position. He had only gone into military action with other countries twice. In effect Henry’s foreign policy strengthened his position at home and England’s in Europe with three main aspects. His treaty with Scotland, Spain and France, which enabled him to bring a relative stability to England.
