Essay On Henry Vii's Foreign Policy

Foreign Policy can be seen as the most significant part of Henry VII’s reign for many reasons; this includes the many treaties and alliances made throughout his reign, such as the Treaty of Perpetual Peace with Scotland, the Treaty of Etaples with France, and the alliance Henry made with Maximillian I of the Holy Roman Empire. These events occurred due to Henry’s foreign policy simply being to retain peace among Europe, and to ensure prosperity in trade and England’s power when possible. This attitude towards foreign policy was highly impactful, as it allowed Henry to improve other areas of his reign, such as help to remove threat from pretenders by, through alliance with Maximillian I, persuaded the then current pope, Pope Innocent VIII, to

excommunicate all pretenders to the English throne, an action that was not only a great advantage in his reputation among other notable figures in Europe at the time, due to having the Pope’s support and a large portion of Europe being Catholic, but also helped him to establish his dynasty, and carry on the Tudor house as the monarchy, as it made Henry seem more like the rightful king in his subjects’ (and foreign figures’) eyes, as the Pope was seen as God’s representative on earth, and to be supported by the Pope, implies being supported by God as a monarch. Henry’s foreign policy was also a great achievement due to the impact it had on the money possessed both by Henry himself, and England as a whole, as the treaties and he made alliances - particularly the Intercursus Magnus formed with multiple foreign powers - allowed a flourish in trade amongst other European countries, increasing the country’s wealth.
Another factor of success to consider was his handling and victories over the pretenders and uprisings during his reign. There were two main pretenders during Henry’s reign, Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck. First came Lambert Simnel who, after originally planning to imitate Richard, Duke of York (one of the two Princes in the Tower of London, son of Edward IV), was pretender to the throne by claiming to be Edward Plantagenet, another claimant to the throne. Simnel managed to gain the support of Margaret of Burgundy, sister of Richard III, and John de la Pole, from whom Simnel was given troops and later battled with the King’s army in 1487. Henry quickly defeated Simnel, and proved his claim wrong by revealing Edward to still be alive, under his custody. Henry, however, pardoned Simnel, and allowed him to live as a servant in the royal kitchens. This mercy to a significant pretender made Henry seem calm and powerful against challenges to his claim to the throne, particularly when faced with threat from significant, powerful figures such as Margaret of Burgundy. After Simnel, came Perkin Warbeck, who claimed to be Richard, the Duke of York. This time, however, not only was Margaret of Burgundy a supporter of a pretender, even more powerful allies were made with Warbeck, the King of France, and the King of Scotland. Henry dealt with this pretender by quickly defeating him when there was conflict, forming treaties that caused Warbeck’s alliances to fall, and soon Warbeck was captured. Henry once again decided to be a merciful king, and spared Warbeck’s life, however Warbeck abused the clemency shown by Henry and was executed. This again showed Henry’s power not only to his subjects, but other powers, as it showed that whilst Henry was willing to forgive and give clemency to those who had crossed him, he was not willing to do it for a second time, and would execute those who abused his mercy. Whilst much of Henry’s success was due to his stoic nature when faced with opposition, and use of his power, a large reason for his successes against the pretenders was his success in foreign policy, particularly in the case of Perkin Warbeck, and the treaties made with countries that allied him. This may have made foreign policy a more significant “triumph” than his defeat of the pretenders, due to its reliance on foreign policy to succeed.
Additionally, Henry had large success in increasing the power he held, and the increased the affluence of the English monarchy.

By the end of his reign, Henry had managed to more than double the money possessed by the monarch, through many means, such as his taxation policies, but his main source of monetary increase was from the nobility. One example of the methods used by Henry to obtain the money and land of the nobility, to strengthen his own power over them, was through his Lord Chancellor, John Morton, who put into effect “Morton’s Fork”, an idea stating nobility that wore expensive clothes were well off enough to give money to the king, but if they appeared poor and struggling, it was because they were a miser, and could still afford to give money to the king. Morton encouraged the nobility to offer “loans” to the crown, to show their loyalty to the king, and through Morton’s Fork, convinced many to do so, and while gave him great financial gain, it also asserted his power over them and discouraged them to oppose him. Henry also showed his power over the nobles –again gaining money in the process- by no longer giving land to nobles who showed their loyalty, but by giving them titles, such as the Order of the Garter, which cost him no money. He also gained loyalty from those who had fought against him in the Battle of Bosworth by providing them with the ultimatum of either paying for their previous disloyalty by a large sum of money and land and/or imprisonment, or by paying smaller amounts over a period of time and possibly providing the king with their men. This caused fear in the nobles, as they did not wish to anger the king and risk loss of all their fortune and possibly their freedom. A notable example of this is Lord Burgavenny, who was forced to remain in the king’s favour to remove his risk of ruin. Financial and power gain did not come solely from the nobles, however, as Henry enforced taxes upon the general population which not only showed his

power over the lower classes and citizens of his country, but also made profit from them. Taxes were brought in from previous times and monarchs, allowing any disdain for the taxes to not be placed on Henry, whilst gaining money from many aspects of life. Examples of these taxes were clerical taxes, which taxed churches, and custom duties taxing anything entering or leaving the country, affecting merchants and traders. Whilst this success of Henry’s reign had little to do with foreign policy, it allowed for other successes such as the establishment of the Tudor dynasty, as his successor, Henry VIII, inherited from Henry VII a magnitude of money, and the power he had managed to obtain over the people and nobility.