Timeline of British diplomatic history
Wikipedia list article
This timeline covers the main points of British (and English) foreign policy from 1485 to the early 21st century.
16th century
Henry VII becomes king (1485–1509), founding the Tudor dynasty and ending the long civil war called "Wars of the Roses". His foreign policy involves an alliance with Spain, cemented by the marriage of his son Arthur, Prince of Wales to the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon. However, after 5 months, Arthur dies at the age of 15. Henry VII reverses the Plantagenet policy of acquiring more French territory; he generally pursues a more defensive, Anglo-centric policy
1485–1509: The king promotes the woolen trade with Netherlands; helps English merchants compete with the Hanseatic League; sends John Cabot to explore the New World (1497); launches the Royal Navy
1489–91: England sends three expensive military expeditions to keep Brittany out of French control, but fails.
1502: Treaty of "perpetual peace" signed with Scotland. The marriage of King James IV of Scotland to Margaret Tudor will eventually lead to the Stuart succession to the English throne.
1509–47: Henry VIII becomes king; he revives the old claim to the French throne but France is now a more powerful country and the English control is limited to Calais
1511–16: War of the League of Cambrai allied with Spain against France; on losing side.
1513: English defeat & kill King James IV of Scotland at Battle of Flodden Field; he was allied with France.
1520: 7 June: Henry VIII meets with Francis I of France near Calais at the extravagant "Field of the Cloth of Gold"; no alliance results.
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This entry incorporates text from “Timeline of British diplomatic history” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.