England is a burgeoning Kingdom. The lands of England have undergone numerous radical cultural transformations in the last millennium. After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire German invaders conquered and mixed with the local populace to create an Anglo-Saxon culture that became the base of the English people. Centuries later vikings from Scandinavia invaded, weaving themselves into the fabric of England. The viking invasions also sparked a decades long conflict that ended with the House of Wessex uniting the petty kings into a single political entity, cementing a united, southern centered Kingdom as the political entity of England.

Shortly after the conquest of William of Normandy. William and his French courtiers resulted in French becoming the dominant culture amongst the elite. For centuries after England was closely tied to continental politics in France. This culminated in the Hundred Years War against the French monarchs. Ironically, through the fight for the French throne, the Kingdom of England found its own independent identity and planted the seeds that would later blossom into the English nation. English replaced French as the dominant language amongst the elite and the Kingdom lost almost all of its continental holding, detaching it from continental politics. But as England moves ever closer to becoming England, it maintains a split personality.

Her king, Henry VIII is a renaissance man. Charismatic, intelligent, and strong, but also narcissistic, and stubborn. He sees himself as the third side of a triangle of powerful trio of Western European monarchs, the others being Emperor Karel V and King Francis I. But the realm Henry VIII rules is well behind the other two in prestige, economic power and population.

Henry VIII wants to win glory on the battlefield amongst his soldiers. But his armies were repulsed at Pittefaux while the navy, victorious at Solent, fought with growing strength and dominance in the North Sea and English Channel. While Henry VIII appreciates sea power, he desires glory in battle on land above all.

Henry VIII dreams of the glory days of his ancestors. He wants to launch a great war against France. He imagines himself riding through France leaving behind a swath of destruction and glorious victories like Edward III or Henry V. But England lacks the funds to launch such a campaign.

Henry VIII envisions himself reclaiming the throne of France in Paris, the throne that rightfully belongs to him. But even if the French were defeated and his Burgundian allies could be trusted, England has already proven herself incapable of maintaining such conquests. England would be better served by more reasonable conquests.

England is on a collision course with destiny. England’s King dreams of glory and conquest against foes against which she is at significant disadvantage. Henry VIII dreams of once again tying England to the continent as a major military power on land. But her naval strength and geographic position make maritime pursuits the more natural course of action

As England’s fortunes decline on land, they have risen at sea. The Hansa have been broken and English merchants gain increasing shares of the Baltic and North Sea trade. Ironically, as England's allies in the Low Countries descend into greater chaos and destruction it is British merchants who stand to gain. Antwerp, the center of global trade, has its prominence greatly threatened by the French-Habsburg war. But England’s king dreams only of glory and conquest on land, and will stop at nothing to pursue it. He will pursue conquest in France as far as parliament allows him, and perhaps a bit further than that as well.

Already maintaining deep ties in the Baltic grain trade could English merchants supplant their Dutch counterparts in the grain or even spice trade? Will English explorations of Newfoundland grow increasingly profitable as the base of an overseas empire? Will King Henry VIII convince Parliament to fund his war and win against the odds? Or will King Henry VIII perhaps win glory in some other way? Or, will the narcissistic monarch, denied warrior king status, slip into a spiral of depression that sees the popular, renaissance man descend into a madness of cruelty and tyranny? Only God knows.