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Advantages
- The capture of the towns Therouanne and Tournai, reflected Henry's strong kingship. Territories not viewed as permanent but instead a bargaining tool for future relations with France
- Wolsey successful peace broker, Treaty of London was his greatest success, binding twenty countries together in peace. London became to centre of peace, importantly England was no longer in diplomatic isolation.
- Events such as the Field of the Cloth of Gold added to the prestige of England abroad
- Even though England had meagre resources and a relatively low income, Wosley was still able to create a flexible and reactive foreign policy. Wolsey was also able to ally effectively with powerful countries to ensure that English security and interests were protected.
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Disadvantages
- Henry's aims for foreign policy were unrealistic, England's resources were small compared to the others, and it was naive to think that the crown of France could be regained
- In short English foreign policy was costly, short sighted and out of date
- Henry's campaigns saw little gains, the campaigns in 1512-3 were expensive and had little long-term gain. During 1511-25 Henry spent £1.4 million fighting wars, squandering the wealth that his father had left
- The cost of warfare rose in which meant Wolsey had to impose parliamentary taxation and forced loans, which caused a serious domestic disturbance in Suffolk and East Anglia. This was down to Wolsey's Amicable Grant (1525) which had to be scrapped and invasion plans dropped. This also impacted on his relationship with the king
- Henry was often outmanoeuvred by more experienced monarchs, such as when Ferdinand used Henry's attack on France as a distraction for him to capture Navarre rather than help him (1512)
- Can be argued that Wolsey was only out for himself, in that Campeggio was not allowed to enter England in 1518 until Wolsey had the position of Legate a latere confirmed by the Pope. Hijacking the Pope plans with the Treaty of London to draw attention to him as the peacemaker of Europe. Field of the Cloth of Gold could also be seen as a promotion of himself
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