Intercursus Magnus - Intercursus Malus

Intercursus Malus

Continuing frictions with the merchants, combined with Henry's desire to secure Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk, the leading Yorkist heir, sheltering in Burgundy, led Henry to attempt further negotiations. A shipwreck in 1506 left Philip stranded in England en route to claiming the Castilian inheritance of his wife, Joanna the Mad. This enabled Henry to negotiate the Intercursus Malus ("evil treaty", so named from the Dutch perspective for being far too favorable to English interests), intended to replace the Intercursus Magnus. This replacement removed all duties from English textile exports without reciprocity and with little compensation for the Burgundians. 49-year-old Henry, widowed three years previously, also arranged to be married to Philip's sister, the twice-widowed 26-year-old Margaret, dowager duchess of Savoy.

Margaret's objection — both to the marriage and the treaty more generally — meant that, on Philip's death that September and Margaret's appointment as Burgundian governor (and de facto duchess in her own right), the treaty was not ratified being replaced instead by a third treaty in 1507, repeating the terms of the first. Margaret did not marry again and died in December 1530 without issue, leaving her lands and titles to her nephew, who had been crowned Holy Roman Emperor (as Charles V) earlier that year.