King Henry VIII Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

King Henry VIII - Essay Example In 1503, Henry became the Prince of Wales and in that very year his mother and grandmother were gathered unto their forefathers. In the year 1509, his father passed away and he ascended the throne as Henry the VIII (HENRY VIII (r. 1509-1547)). At that time England was an isolated kingdom in Europe. It had limited natural resources. England was surrounded by the sea on three sides. Scotland was to its north. The Scots were inimical to the English they joined forces with France, which was also an enemy of England. His father Henry VII had strived hard to restore independence to England and to enrich it in all respects. In order to achieve these goals, Henry VII had executed his opponents and enemies and annexed their properties in England. He had increased the amount of taxes to enrich the crown. He was disinterested in wars as they depleted the wealth of the nation. His son had totally different ideas in this respect and after his coronation; he adopted novel means to expand the power of England and to make it the greatest power in Europe (Kishlansky). Henry VIII was inimical of France and in the year 1513, he mounted a successful campaign against the French. This infuriated the Scots who waged a war against England. This engagement was famous as the Battle of Flodden Field. In that battle, the armies of Henry established their supremacy over that of the Scots. James IV, the king of Scotland was killed in that battle (Kishlansky). Henry VIII played the role of an arbitrator between France and Spain. He provoked these countries to wage war against each other, in order to assume a superior position in Europe. His subsequent military operations were failures. In the year 1520, Henry met with the king of France, Francis I, in France. Their meeting was a spectacular event in Europe. Despite, the existence of diplomatic relations with each other, they were unable to stop the