Italian War of 1542–1546 and six decades of conflict. Italian War of 1542–1546 The Italian War of 1542–46 was a conflict late in the Italian Wars, pitting Francis I of France and Suleiman I of the Ottoman Empire against the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Henry VIII of England. The course of the war saw extensive fighting in Italy, France, and the Low Countries, as well as attempted invasions of Spain and England. The conflict was inconclusive and ruinously expensive for the major participants. The war arose from the failure of the Truce of Nice, which ended the Italian War of 1536–38, to
Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton expansion of the Pensioners from 50 to 350 members was an expansion that signalled the resurgence of the conservative noble faction at court during the 1540s. Queen Catherine Howard's conviction and execution for adultery signalled that the political pendulum was swinging away from Norfolk once more. On 13 November 1542, Secretary Wriothesley was sent to announce the bad news to members of the Queen's Household at Hampton Court; all her chamber were dismissed and sent home. In 1542 it was said that Wriothesley governed almost everything in England. He sought to bring about an alliance between England and Spain in