Peace of Etaples

The Peace of Etaples was signed in Étaples (northern France) between the kings Charles VIII Valois of France and Henry VII Tudor of England on November 3, 1492 [S.B. Chrimes 1984 p84] .

History

The treaty served to end an English invasion of France launched in order to stop France's support for the pretender Perkin Warbeck. By this treaty, France agreed to expel Warbeck and pay England an indemnity of £159,000. The treaty was ratified in December.

The terms of the treaty included the English accepting French control of Brittany, the French withdrawing their support for Warbeck and a war indemnity of 742,000 crowns, payable at 50,000 crowns per annum. This increased Henry VII's income by at least half.

The treaty could be spun as a spectacular success, an English military incursion had forced the French to sue for peace, presenting it as 'the English are great again'. French abandonment of support for Warbeck removed one of Henry VII's key enemies, on the negative, Henry VII had abandoned the Bretons and went back on the Treaty of Redon. However this had already happened in 1491, and the benefits seemed to outweigh the costs. He did this whilst maintaining the Treaty of Medina del Campo (1489) with Spain.

After 1492 a reapprochement between England and France occurred, this improvement continued until the end of Henry VII's reign.

ee also

*List of treaties

References