Foreign Alliances: Cardinal Wolsey

Henry's foreign relations were complicated. Even while indulging in the pleasures at court and listening to the Oxford reformers, be was planning to take a part in affairs abroad. Just after his accession he had married Catherine of Aragon, his brother's widow, less from love than from a desire to keep up the alliance with Spain. In 1511 he had joined the Holy League, founded by Pope Julius II, with Maximilian, the emperor, and Ferdinand, king of Spain, against France, whose king, Louis XII, was making himself too strong in Italy.

This policy of opposition to France was popular in England because the people had not forgotten the days of Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt. A statesman arose at this time who, though a churchman, was to display greater genius in matters of diplomacy than in matters of religion. Thomas Wolsey had been royal chaplain in 1506, and during the years that followed, had shown himself successful in various diplomatic missions intrusted to him by the king. He took up the French war with enthusiasm, and planned an invasion of France by way of the Netherlands. On August 17, 1513, was fought, at Guinegate, the battle of the spurs," in which the French were defeated, fleeing from the field of battle as fast as their horses could carry them.

This war with France naturally aroused the Scotch, the time-honored allies of France. Taking advantage of Henry's absence, James IV, whose love for Scotland was greater than his love for his brother-in-law (Henry VIII), invaded England, but was met by an English army, under the earl of Surrey, at Flodden-Field, near the Tweed, September 9, 1513. The day of Flodden was a sad day for Scotland. James IV was slain, and with him the bravest of the Scottish lords, the flower of Scottish chivalry. All Scotland wept for its king, and for twenty years remained quiet within its borders.

Wolsey s Diplomacy

Henry soon discovered that as his relationship with the Scottish king had not saved England from attack on the north, so his relationship with Ferdinand, who was his father-in-law, and with Maximilian, whose son, Philip, had married his wife's sister, Joanna, was not going to help him in his desire to make conquests in France. In fact, Ferdinand and Maximilian were using Henry as a cat's-paw. Therefore Wolsey, who completely controlled the foreign policy of the king, determined to effect a change. In 1513 secret negotiations were opened with France, and a marriage was arranged between Henry's sister, Mary, and Louis XII. This would probably have accomplished the desired result had not, unluckily for all except Mary, Louis XII died in 1515. As Ferdinand of Spain died the next year, and Maximilian, the emperor, in 1519, the diplomatic negotiations had to be all done over again, and Wolsey showed wonderful skill in piloting his king through the delicate and complicated situation created by these changes. Francis I succeeded Louis XII in France, and Charles I not only succeeded Ferdinand in Spain, but in 1519, when a new emperor was elected in Germany, was also chosen to succeed his grandfather, Maximilian, under the title of Charles V. Charles I of Spain became Charles V, the emperor, and having Spain, the Indies, Sicily, Naples, the Netherlands, and Germany under his rule, became the most important sovereign in Europe.

At first Wolsey determined to preserve a neutral attitude toward both Charles V and Francis I. He arranged a meeting between Henry and Francis near Calais, where the display was so extravagant as to give to the place of meeting the name of the Field of the Cloth of Gold. But the meeting did not mean very much, for shortly afterward an interview took place between Henry and Charles at Gravelines, where a secret understanding was reached against France. This decidedly double-faced policy could not long be maintained, for as soon as Charles V and Francis began their first war in Italy (1521-1526), Wolsey, compelled to decide either one way or the other, finally advised Henry to assume his former attitude of friendship for Spain, Germany, and the papacy.