Reviewing Henry VII's Foreign Policies Towards France And Spain

Ir is well known that the Tudor Dynasty was a very important dynasty in English history. As the founder of the Tudor Dynasty, Henry Vll made great achievements not only in politics, economy and culture, but also in diplomacy, However, the academic circles of our country have not done any detailed research on Henry Vll's foreign policies over a long period of time due to various reasons. In view of that, this thesis tries to study his foreign policies. As far as I am concerned, the research about Henry Vll's foreign policies towards France and Spain will be of great academic significance to us.Apart from the prelude and conclusion, this thesis comprises three parts, illustrating Henry Vll's background of the times and his foreign policies towards France and Spain respectively.In the first part, I illustrated Henry Vll's background of the times. In my opinion, it is not only very important, but also it is very necessary. It's not an easy thing to illustrate Henry Vll's foreign policies towards France and Spain because of the very complicated situation at that time. The Tudor Dynasty was founded after the Hundred Years War and the Rose War. In the Hundred Years War, England was defeated by France. After the Rose War, England was further weakened. Furthermore, changing fortunes on the continent, the tergiversations, the intrigues, rapid shifts, and turns manifest in the international politics of Europe at this period make more than usually difficult the discernment of any clear principles in the relations between the rulers concerned.In the second part, I tried my best to illustrate Henry Vll's foreign policy towards France in detail. During the reign of Henry VII, France was a powerful country in Europe. In January, 1488,Charles VIII, the French King, attacked Brittany, which greatly threatened the benefit of England. Therefore, Henry VII supported Brittany against Charles VIII. In order to restrain France, Henry VII united the other European chief powers. In 1492,Henry VII concluded the Treaty of Etaples with France. So the Breton question was settled, and Anglo -French relations were defined for the time being. In 1494, Charles VIII invaded Italy, which was a turning-point in continental history. In 1496, Henry VII agreed to become a member of the Holy League which designed to restrain Charles VIII's aggrandizements. And he appeared as a significant European monarch.In the third part, I also did my best to illustrate Henry VII's foreign policy towards Spain in detail. During the reign of Henry VII, Spain was also a very powerful country in Europe just like France. Therefore, Henry VII made up his mind to unite Spain so as to restrain France. In 1488, the project for an Anglo-Spanish matrimonial alliance was first mooted, and the Treaty of Medina del Campo in 1489 set up a basis for further negotiations with Spain. In November, 1501,Prince Arthur was married to Catherine. However, Prince Arthur died in April, 1502, so the marriage of Arthur and Catherine was terminated. Afterwards, the question of Catherine's being married to Prince Henry(Henry VIII)had been mooted. In November, 1504,lsabella of Castile died, so the question of the succession to Castile was raised to the forefront. Ferdinand of Aragon was anxious to become king of Castile. In order to get support of France, he concluded the Treaty of Blois with Louis XII in 1505. So Henry VII supported Philip against Ferdinand. In February, 1506,Henry VII concluded the Windsor Treaty with Philip. After Philip died in September ,1506,Henry VII supported his father Maximilian against Ferdinand. In addition, Henry VII tried to want his little daughter Mary to marry Maximilian's grandson Charles. In April, 1509,Henry VII ordered Prince Henry to keep the promise with Spain before his death. In June,1509,Prince Henry married Catherine. In February, 1503,Henry VII's queen Elizabeth died. Henry VII planned three matrimonial schemes for himself. Although in the few months that remained for Henry VII, he was not able to carry any of his own matrimonial schemes to fruition, it didn...