Editing Thomas Wolsey (section)

==Foreign policy==
[[File:Thomas Wolsey (1473-1530).jpg|thumb|right|Thomas Wolsey by an unknown artist {{circa|1520}} held in the [[National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom)|National Portrait Gallery]], London.<ref>{{cite web |title=Thomas Wolsey – National Portrait Gallery |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw06903/Thomas-Wolsey |access-date=12 October 2022 |website=www.npg.org.uk }}</ref>]]

===War with France===
The [[Anglo-French War (1512–14)]] gave Wolsey a significant opportunity to demonstrate his talents in foreign policy. A convenient justification for going to war came in 1511 in the form of a plea for help from [[Pope Julius II]], who was beginning to feel threatened by France. England formed an alliance with Julius, King [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]], and [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor]] against King [[Louis XII of France]].{{sfn|Scarisbrick|1968|pp=31–36}}

The first English campaign against France proved unsuccessful, partly due to the unreliability of the alliance with Ferdinand. Henry learned from the mistakes of the campaign and in 1513, still with papal support, launched a joint attack on France with Maximilian, successfully [[battle of Guinegate (1513)|capturing two French cities]] and causing the French to retreat. Wolsey's ability to keep a large number of troops supplied and equipped for the duration of the war proved a major factor in the English success. He also had a key role in negotiating the Anglo-French treaty of 7 August 1514, which secured a temporary peace between the two nations. Under this treaty, [[Louis XII]] would marry Henry's young sister, [[Mary Tudor, Queen of France|Mary]]. In addition England was able to keep the captured city of [[Tournai]] and secure an increase in the annual pension France paid.{{sfn|Mackie|1952|pp=271–277}}

Meanwhile, a turnover of rulers in Europe threatened to diminish England's influence. With Henry's sister, Mary, married to Louis XII on 9 October 1514, an alliance was formed, but Louis was not in good health. Less than three months later, he died and was succeeded by the young and ambitious [[Francis I of France|Francis I]].

Queen Mary had allegedly secured a promise from Henry that if Louis died, she could marry whomever she pleased.{{sfn|Harris|1989|pp=59–88}} Following Louis's death, she secretly married Suffolk, with Francis I's assistance, which prevented another marriage alliance. As Mary was the only princess Henry could use to secure marriage alliances, this was a bitter blow. Wolsey then proposed an alliance with Spain and the [[Holy Roman Empire]] against France.

===Papal legate===
The death of [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]], Henry VIII's father-in-law and England's closest ally, in 1516 was a further blow. Ferdinand was succeeded by [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]], who immediately proposed peace with France. After Maximilian I's death in 1519, Charles was elected in his stead; thus Charles ruled a substantial portion of Europe and English influence became limited on the continent.

But Wolsey managed to assert English influence by other means. In 1517, [[Pope Leo X]] sought peace in Europe to form a crusade against the [[Ottoman Empire]]. In 1518 Wolsey was made [[Papal Legate]] in England, enabling him to realise Leo's desire for peace by organising the [[Treaty of London (1518)|Treaty of London]]. The treaty showed Wolsey as the arbiter of Europe, organising a massive peace summit involving 20 nations. This put England at the forefront of European diplomacy and drew her out of isolation, making her a desirable ally. This is well illustrated by the Anglo-French treaty signed two days afterwards. It was partly this peace treaty that caused conflict between France and Spain. In 1519, when Charles V ascended to the throne of the Holy Roman Emperor, King Francis I of France was infuriated. He had invested enormous sums in bribing the electorate to elect him emperor, and thus used the Treaty of London as a justification for the Habsburg-Valois conflict. Wolsey appeared to act as mediator between the two powers, both of which were vying for England's support.{{sfn|Gwyn|2011|pp=58–103}}

===Field of the Cloth of Gold===
Another of Wolsey's diplomatic triumphs was the [[Field of the Cloth of Gold]] in 1520.{{sfn|Scarisbrick|1968|pp=74–80}} Wolsey organised much of this grandiose meeting between Francis I and Henry VIII, accompanied by 5,000 followers and involving court activities more than military discussion. Though it seemed to open the door to peaceful negotiations with France if the king wished, it was also a chance for a lavish display of English wealth and power before the rest of Europe, through flamboyant celebrations and events such as jousting, with the two kings competing, though not against each other. With France and Spain vying for England's allegiance, Wolsey could choose the ally that better suited his policies. Wolsey chose Charles mainly because England's economy would suffer from the loss of the lucrative cloth trade industry between England and the Netherlands had France been chosen instead.{{sfn|Mackie|1952|pp=310–312}}

Under Wolsey's guidance, Europe's chief nations sought to outlaw war among Christian nations. [[Garrett Mattingly]], who has studied the causes of wars in that era, found that treaties of non-aggression such as this one could never be stronger than their sponsors' armies. When those forces were about equal, the treaties typically widened the conflict. That is, diplomacy could sometimes postpone war, but could not prevent wars based on irreconcilable interests and ambitions. What was lacking, Mattingly concludes, was a neutral power whose judgements were generally accepted either by impartial justice or by overwhelming force.{{sfn|Mattingly|1938|pp=1–30}}

===Alliance with Spain===
The Treaty of London is often regarded as Wolsey's finest moment, but it was abandoned within a year. Wolsey developed links with Charles in 1520 at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. At the Calais Conference Wolsey signed the Secret [[Italian War of 1521–1526|Treaty of Bruges (1521)]] with Charles V, stating that England would join Spain in a war against France if France refused to sign the peace treaty and ignored the Anglo-French treaty of 1518. Wolsey's relationship with Rome was also ambivalent. Despite his links to the papacy, Wolsey was strictly Henry's servant. Though the Treaty of London was an elaboration on Pope Leo's ambitions for European peace, it was seen in Rome as a vain attempt by England to assert her influence over Europe and steal some papal thunder. Furthermore, Wolsey's peace initiatives prevented a crusade to the [[Holy Land]], which was the catalyst for the Pope's desire for European peace.{{sfn|Scarisbrick|1968|pp=31–36}}

Cardinal [[Lorenzo Campeggio]], who represented the Pope at the Treaty of London, was kept waiting for many months in Calais before being allowed to cross the Channel and join the festivities in London in what may have been a display by Wolsey of his independence of Rome. An alternative hypothesis is that Campeggio was kept waiting until Wolsey received his legacy, thus asserting Wolsey's attachment to Rome.

Though the English gain from the wars of 1522–23 was minimal, their contribution certainly aided Charles V in his defeat of the French, particularly in 1525 at the [[Battle of Pavia]], where Charles's army captured Francis I. Henry then felt there was a realistic opportunity for him to seize the French crown, to which the kings of England had long laid claim. Parliament, however, refused to raise taxes. This led Wolsey to devise the [[Amicable Grant]], which was met with even more hostility, and contributed to his downfall. In 1525, after Charles V had abandoned England as an ally, Wolsey began to negotiate with France, and the [[Treaty of the More]] was signed, during Francis I's captivity, with the Regent of France—his mother, [[Louise of Savoy]].{{sfn|Bernard|1986|p=}}

The closeness between England and Rome can be seen in the formulation of the [[League of Cognac]] in 1526. Though England was not part of it, the League was organised in part by Wolsey with papal support. Wolsey's plan was that the League of Cognac, an alliance between France and some Italian states, would challenge Charles's [[League of Cambrai]]. This was both a gesture of allegiance to Rome and an answer to growing concerns about Charles's dominance over Europe.

The final blow to this policy came in 1529, when the French made peace with Charles. Meanwhile, the French also continued to honour the "[[Auld Alliance]]" with Scotland, stirring up hostility on England's border. With peace between France and the Emperor, there was no-one to free the Pope from Charles, who had effectively held [[Pope Clement VII]] captive since the [[Sack of Rome (1527)]]. There was thus little hope of securing Henry VIII an annulment from his marriage to Charles's aunt [[Catherine of Aragon]]. Since 1527, Wolsey's desire to secure an annulment for his master had dictated his foreign policy, and by 1529 none of his endeavours had succeeded.{{sfn|Scarisbrick|1968|pp=140–162}}

===Annulment===
[[File:Catalina de Aragón, por un artista anónimo.jpg|thumb|upright=1.05|Queen [[Catherine of Aragon]], by an unknown artist]]
Henry's marriage to Queen [[Catherine of Aragon]] had produced no sons who survived infancy; the [[Wars of the Roses]] were still within living memory, leading to the fear of a power struggle after Henry's death. Henry felt the people would accept only a male sovereign, not his daughter [[Mary I|Mary]]. He believed God had cursed him for the sin of marrying the widow of his elder brother, and that the papal dispensation for that marriage was invalid because it was based upon the claim that Catherine was still a virgin after her first husband's death. Henry argued that Catherine's claim was not credible, and thus the dispensation must be withdrawn and the marriage annulled. His motivation has been attributed to his determination to have a son and heir, and to his desire for [[Anne Boleyn]], one of his wife's [[maids-of-honour]]. Queen Catherine had no further pregnancies after 1519; Henry began annulment proceedings in 1527.{{sfn|Scarisbrick|1968|pp=149–159}}

Catherine, however, maintained that she had been a virgin when she married Henry.<ref name=":0" /> Because she opposed annulment and a return to her previous status as Dowager Princess of Wales, the annulment request became a matter of international diplomacy, with Catherine's nephew Charles V pressuring Clement not to annul the marriage. Clement faced a dilemma: he would anger either Charles or Henry. He delayed his decision as long as possible, infuriating Henry and Anne Boleyn, who began to doubt Wolsey's loyalty to the Crown over the Church.

Wolsey appealed to Clement for an annulment on three fronts. First, he tried to convince the Pope that the dispensation was void as the marriage clearly disobeyed instructions in the book of [[Leviticus]]. Second, Wolsey objected to the dispensation on technical grounds, claiming it was incorrectly worded. (Shortly afterwards, a correctly worded version was found in Spain.) Third, Wolsey wanted Clement to let the final decision be made in England, which, as papal legate, he would supervise.{{sfn|Scarisbrick|1968|loc= ch 7, 8}}

In 1528 Clement decided to allow two papal legates to decide the outcome in England: Wolsey and Campeggio. Wolsey was confident of the decision, but Campeggio took a long time to arrive, and when he finally did, he delayed proceedings so much that the case had to be suspended in July 1529, effectively sealing Wolsey's fate.