How Far Do Sources 1, 2 and 3 Suggest That Henry Was Successful in Becoming Arbiter of Europe in the Years 1514-1522?

809 Words4 Pages
How far do Sources 1, 2 and 3 suggest that Henry was successful in becoming Arbiter of Europe in the years 1514-1522? Both source 1 and source 2 suggest that Henry was successful in becoming Arbiter of Europe as they illustrate him giving England power and success although Source 2 highlights Wolsey’s success rather than Henry’s, however, source 3 suggests that Henry was very unsuccessful at becoming Arbiter and made conflicts between countries even worse. Source 1 suggests that Henry was completely successful in his role as Arbiter of Europe. ‘If not the equal of mighty France and Spain, at least the makeweight that could tip the balance between them.’ shows that England took a central position within the countries and had the power to keep them at peace which was the aim of Henry’s role. ‘… made provision for perpetual peace in Europe.’ suggests that there will be an on going peace in Europe which means that Henry was very successful in his role. Source 1 is unlikely to be biased because it was written by a historian in 1979 so he would not have personally known Henry, which means that he would be likely to be objective. Also, it was taken from a history book which the purpose would be to inform factual information so it is even more likely to be objective. This source is also the most reliable and trustworthy because it focuses on the Tudors as a whole, where as source 2 is taken from a book about Wolsey, so may be more likely to talk about Wolsey over Henry and source 3 is taken from an extract on the Field of the Cloth of Gold which only focuses on one aspect on Henry’s role of Arbiter and doesn’t take into account what he achieved as Arbiter. Similarly, Source 2 also suggests that Henry was successful as Arbiter of Europe, ‘the king delighted that his minister was fast becoming the first minister of all Europe’ suggests that Henry was successful because
Open Document