page_title: History of the foreign relations of the United Kingdom
section_title: Henry VIII
hierarchical_section_title: History of the foreign relations of the United Kingdom / English foreign policy before 1700 / Tudor foreign policy / Henry VIII
caption_attribution_description: English: Henry VIII with Charles V and Pope Leon X circa 1520. Français&#160;: Les vêtements que portent les personanges sont anachroniques.
context_page_description: The history of the foreign relations of the United Kingdom covers British foreign policy from about 1500 to 2000.
  Britain from 1750 to the 1910s took pride in an unmatched economic base; comprising industry, finance, shipping and trade that largely dominated the globe. Foreign policy based on free trade kept the economy flourishing. The overseas British Empire recovered after the loss of the Thirteen Colonies in 1776, and reached its zenith about 1920. Foreign policy made sure it was never seriously threatened.
  After expending enormous energy on the defeat of the First French Empire and Napoleon, British policy focused on achieving a conservative balance of power within Europe, with no one country achieving dominance over the affairs of the continent. This had been the basic reason behind the British wars against Napoleon, and the British commitment in World War I and World War II. The chief enemy down to 1815 was France, with its much larger population base and its powerful army. The British were generally successful in their many wars, with the notable exception of the American War of Independence.
context_section_description: King Henry VIII  (reigned 1509–1547) was one of the most flamboyant and famous of all English monarchs. In military terms, he paid special attention to expanding the English Navy, to protect the rapidly expanding merchant fleet.  He also commissioned privateers from the merchant fleets to act as auxiliary warships that captured and resold enemy merchant ships.  Some of his foreign and religious policy revolved around annulling his marriage to Catherine in 1533 despite the opposition of the pope—his solution was to remove the Church of England from the pope's authority, thereby launching the English Reformation.
  In 1510, France, with a fragile alliance with the Holy Roman Empire in the League of Cambrai, was winning a war against Venice. Henry renewed his father's friendship with Louis XII of France, and signed a pact with King Ferdinand of Spain. After Pope Julius II created the anti-French Holy League in October 1511, Henry followed Spain's lead and brought England into the new League.  An initial joint Anglo-Spanish attack was planned for the spring to recover Aquitaine for England, the start of making Henry's dreams of ruling France a reality. The attack failed and it strained the Anglo-Spanish alliance. Nevertheless, the French were pushed out of Italy soon after, and the alliance survived, with both parties keen to win further victories over the French.
  On 30 June 1513, Henry invaded France, and his troops defeated a French army at the Battle of the Spurs – a relatively minor result, but one which was seized on by the English for propaganda purposes. Soon after, the English took Thérouanne and handed it over to Maximillian; Tournai, a more significant settlement, followed. Henry had led the army personally, complete with large entourage. 
  His absence from the country, however, had prompted James IV of Scotland, to invade England at the behest of Louis.  The English army, overseen by Queen Catherine, decisively defeated the Scots at the Battle of Flodden on 9 September 1513, in which James IV and many senior Scottish nobles died.
  Charles V ascended the thrones of both Spain and the Holy Roman Empire following the deaths of his grandfathers, Ferdinand in 1516 and Maximilian in 1519. Francis I likewise became king of France upon the death of Louis in 1515, leaving three relatively young rulers and an opportunity for a clean slate. The careful diplomacy of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey had resulted in the Treaty of London in 1518, an early non-aggression pact among the major kingdoms of western Europe.   In a significant follow-up, Henry met Francis I on 7 June 1520 at the Field of the Cloth of Gold near Calais for a fortnight of lavish and extremely expensive entertainment.
  The hope that warfare was past proved futile. Charles brought his Holy Roman Empire into war with France in 1521; Henry offered to mediate, but little was achieved and by the end of the year Henry had aligned England with Charles. He still clung to his previous aim of restoring English lands in France, but also sought to secure an alliance with Burgundy, then part of Charles' realm, and the continued support of Charles.  Charles defeated and captured Francis at Pavia and could dictate peace; but he believed he owed Henry nothing. Henry had repeatedly raised taxes to pay for his foreign operations until upscale passive resistance in 1525 forced the ending of the newest tax known as the "Amicable Grant."  Lack of money ended Henry's plans for an invasion of France and he took England out of the war with the Treaty of the More on 30 August 1525.
caption: Henry with Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (right) and Pope Leo X (centre), c. 1520
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