‘The desire to increase his international prestige was the most important motive behind Henry VII’s foreign policy.’ Explain why you agree or disagree with this view. [25 marks]

Created by: charlottemurphy29
Created on: 05-01-19 12:31


	‘The desire to increase his international prestige was the most important motive behind Henry VII’s foreign policy.’ Explain why you agree or disagree with this view. [25 marks]
	Advantages International prestige can be seen the driving force behind the foreign policy aims because when international treaties were signed a prestige followed due to his power being evident in the evasion wars and in the politically beneficial marriages which arose through the majority of the treaties. If recognition of his dynasty was achieved then consequently international prestige would also be achieved. Prestige is evident as a motive in the treaty of medina del campo in 1489 with Spain where aforementioned Politically beneficial marriage was secured with Catherine of Aragon and prince Arthur who was first in line with the English Throne. Due to this marriage we can see that Spain viewed England as an equally powerful counterpart derived from Henry VII's concurring of Richard the third at Bosworth with ended the war of the roses a notorious war known across Europe. Henry was able to further reinstate his prestige when Arthur dies in 1502 (just 6 months after his marriage) when he was able to gain permission from the pope which allowed Henry VIII to marry Catherine of Aragon- this clearly displays the power of England at the time due to having only one remaining male heir yet Spain still wanted to marry into the English throne. The desire for international prestige can also be seen in the treaty of Ayton also known as the treaty of perpetual peace in 1497, a treaty struck with Englands long standing traditional enemy Scotland. James IV had come to support and welcome perkin warbeck who subsequently helped an invasion in the same year as the treaty. Scotland was in deed a prestigious enemy with support from France (who was possibly the wealthiest country at the time) and who held the easiest course of invasion due to having a neighbouring border with England. This was particularly significant due to a peace treaty not being established with Scotland since 1328 (over a hundred and fifty years earlier) this held significant prestige due to painting Henry as a powerful political European monarch ; reaffirmed in the marriage of King James IV with Margaret Tudor in 1503. Additionally this motive can be seen with the dominative way Henry dealt with Foreign trade; as seen in the navigation which were passed stating that if english ships were available they were to be used instead of foreign ships and the 1489 laws which forbade the trade of raw wool with foreign merchants who intended it for foreign manufacturing and also forbade selling raw wool to foreigners before english merchants had bought what they wanted. Subsequently this gave Henry the monopoly on wool and cloth and portrayed England as prestigious traders with an excessive amount of power of foreign traders.	Disadvantages Happy accident-to his foreign policy aims which consisted of securing the Tudor dynasty through politically beneficial marriages, insuring International security in a cost effective manner by replacing international wars with beneficial treaties and finally to use trade agreements to lower the threat of invasion It can be argued that national securing and a thirst for power drove his foreign policy aims with the need to cut the foreign support for the pretenders who had a spread of support across Europe in France, Burgundy and Scotland- this can be seen in the treaty of Etaples with the French king Charles VIII in 1492 where one of the clauses in-bedded in the treaty was the promise to end all support for Perkin Warbeck who was a possible contender for the throne due to posing as Richard of York (one of the princes in the tower). This is a significant clause due to the treaty arriving from one of the few times that Henry sent soldiers abroad to prevent the French from gaining access to the English channel via Brittany and was not struck due to the harbouring of the pretender. Although marriages can be seen as seeking prestige they could also be a happy side effect of foreign treaties which focused on avoiding potentially costly and ineffective wars. As seen yet again in the treaty of Etaples in 1492 which arose from Henry sending a small force to help defend Brittany but it the fact that these troop were sent nearing the winter months that showed Henry had no desire for a war and these troops were sent during the french invasion of Italy was meant they were preoccupied thus saving Henry both money which he was gathering effectively for his successor but was still short of from the wars of the roses, and resources such troops which would be needed if the pretenders gathered enough support so would need to be in good conditioned and faithful to Henry which could be achieved through not sending them away on an abundance of wars. On the other hand the trade agreements may have been made under the motivation for money and Henry's perceived greed due to the 1489 cloth trading laws being highly beneficial to english traders to allow them to sell cloth which was in greater demand and sold at greater prices therefore allowing henry to collect more in custom duties. This hunger for money can also be seen in the Magnus Intercursus a trade deal signed with burgundy which allowed English merchants to trade throughout Burgundy freely without the implication of taxation. The motive of pure greed can be supported by numerous accounts which called Henry a miser saving great sums counted and checked through his own hands.
	Evaluation In conclusion i partly agree with this view because for Henry to achieve his goal of recognition for his dynasty he needed to first achieve international prestige which would allow foreign powers to recognise him as the true monarch and would hep to secure his dynasty. However as seen through many of the treaties signed with international powers the search for prestige is a welcomed side effect with power and greed being at the for front of his securing national security in a cost effective manner by replacing wars with treaties and in his aim to use trade agreements to lower the threat of invasion whilst adding to his countries wealth. Therefore prestige was a motive for henry but a minor one with power and greed the most sort out for whilst still allowing international prestige to come about.

‘The desire to increase his international prestige was the most important motive behind Henry VII’s foreign policy.’ Explain why you agree or disagree with this view. [25 marks]

Advantages

International prestige can be seen the driving force behind the foreign policy aims because when international treaties were signed a prestige followed due to his power being evident in the evasion wars and in the politically beneficial marriages which arose through the majority of the treaties. If recognition of his dynasty was achieved then consequently international prestige would also be achieved.
Prestige is evident as a motive in the treaty of medina del campo in 1489 with Spain where aforementioned Politically beneficial marriage was secured with Catherine of Aragon and prince Arthur who was first in line with the English Throne. Due to this marriage we can see that Spain viewed England as an equally powerful counterpart derived from Henry VII's concurring of Richard the third at Bosworth with ended the war of the roses a notorious war known across Europe. Henry was able to further reinstate his prestige when Arthur dies in 1502 (just 6 months after his marriage) when he was able to gain permission from the pope which allowed Henry VIII to marry Catherine of Aragon- this clearly displays the power of England at the time due to having only one remaining male heir yet Spain still wanted to marry into the English throne.
The desire for international prestige can also be seen in the treaty of Ayton also known as the treaty of perpetual peace in 1497, a treaty struck with Englands long standing traditional enemy Scotland. James IV had come to support and welcome perkin warbeck who subsequently helped an invasion in the same year as the treaty. Scotland was in deed a prestigious enemy with support from France (who was possibly the wealthiest country at the time) and who held the easiest course of invasion due to having a neighbouring border with England. This was particularly significant due to a peace treaty not being established with Scotland since 1328 (over a hundred and fifty years earlier) this held significant prestige due to painting Henry as a powerful political European monarch ; reaffirmed in the marriage of King James IV with Margaret Tudor in 1503.
Additionally this motive can be seen with the dominative way Henry dealt with Foreign trade; as seen in the navigation which were passed stating that if english ships were available they were to be used instead of foreign ships and the 1489 laws which forbade the trade of raw wool with foreign merchants who intended it for foreign manufacturing and also forbade selling raw wool to foreigners before english merchants had bought what they wanted. Subsequently this gave Henry the monopoly on wool and cloth and portrayed England as prestigious traders with an excessive amount of power of foreign traders.

Disadvantages

Happy accident-to his foreign policy aims which consisted of securing the Tudor dynasty through politically beneficial marriages, insuring International security in a cost effective manner by replacing international wars with beneficial treaties and finally to use trade agreements to lower the threat of invasion
It can be argued that national securing and a thirst for power drove his foreign policy aims with the need to cut the foreign support for the pretenders who had a spread of support across Europe in France, Burgundy and Scotland- this can be seen in the treaty of Etaples with the French king Charles VIII in 1492 where one of the clauses in-bedded in the treaty was the promise to end all support for Perkin Warbeck who was a possible contender for the throne due to posing as Richard of York (one of the princes in the tower). This is a significant clause due to the treaty arriving from one of the few times that Henry sent soldiers abroad to prevent the French from gaining access to the English channel via Brittany and was not struck due to the harbouring of the pretender.
Although marriages can be seen as seeking prestige they could also be a happy side effect of foreign treaties which focused on avoiding potentially costly and ineffective wars. As seen yet again in the treaty of Etaples in 1492 which arose from Henry sending a small force to help defend Brittany but it the fact that these troop were sent nearing the winter months that showed Henry had no desire for a war and these troops were sent during the french invasion of Italy was meant they were preoccupied thus saving Henry both money which he was gathering effectively for his successor but was still short of from the wars of the roses, and resources such troops which would be needed if the pretenders gathered enough support so would need to be in good conditioned and faithful to Henry which could be achieved through not sending them away on an abundance of wars.
On the other hand the trade agreements may have been made under the motivation for money and Henry's perceived greed due to the 1489 cloth trading laws being highly beneficial to english traders to allow them to sell cloth which was in greater demand and sold at greater prices therefore allowing henry to collect more in custom duties. This hunger for money can also be seen in the Magnus Intercursus a trade deal signed with burgundy which allowed English merchants to trade throughout Burgundy freely without the implication of taxation. The motive of pure greed can be supported by numerous accounts which called Henry a miser saving great sums counted and checked through his own hands.

Evaluation

In conclusion i partly agree with this view because for Henry to achieve his goal of recognition for his dynasty he needed to first achieve international prestige which would allow foreign powers to recognise him as the true monarch and would hep to secure his dynasty. However as seen through many of the treaties signed with international powers the search for prestige is a welcomed side effect with power and greed being at the for front of his securing national security in a cost effective manner by replacing wars with treaties and in his aim to use trade agreements to lower the threat of invasion whilst adding to his countries wealth. Therefore prestige was a motive for henry but a minor one with power and greed the most sort out for whilst still allowing international prestige to come about.

Get Revising

‘The desire to increase his international prestige was the most important motive behind Henry VII’s foreign policy.’ Explain why you agree or disagree with this view. [25 marks]