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In 1520, King Henry VIII of England, his wife, Queen Catherine, and virtually the entire English court traveled across the English Channel for a meeting with King Francis I of France, for the purpose of establishing a political alliance. These two monarchs were rivals, both politically and personally, and each prided himself on the splendor of his court.
The meeting was to take place between the villages of Ardres and Guines, near Calais, but as the castles at both villages were in very poor condition, separate camps were established for the French and English courts in fields near the villages--Henry's court at Guines, and Francis's court at Ardres.
Each camp occupied about 2.5 acres (1 hectare) of land, and included a large pavilion to serve as a great hall, another for a large chapel, and numerous gilded tents to house the kings’ enormous retinues (which numbered in the thousands at both camps). The silken tents were richly decorated with cloth of gold and precious gems, as were the throngs of courtiers and ladies in waiting. A temporary gilt fountain was built, with three separate spouts for claret, spiced wine, and water.
For three weeks (June 7-June 24) the two courts strove to outdo each other in displays of wealth and splendor. There were jousts and processions, masques, balls, banquets, sporting events, and even fireworks. Queen Catherine sat beneath a canopy of estate entirely lined with pearls to watch her husband and King Francis joust against one another. Each day the monarchs and their entourages appeared in more sumptuous and elaborate costumes.
The lavish expenditures at the Field of Cloth of Gold nearly bankrupted both the French and the English treasuries, and yet the meeting between Henry and Francis proved to be of no political value. On June 25, the English court returned to Calais. Two weeks later, King Henry met with the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V of Spain, who was Queen Catherine’s nephew. Catherine, who was after all a Spanish princess, had always favored an alliance with Spain rather than France, and had acquiesced only reluctantly when their daughter Princess Mary had been betrothed to Francis’s heir, the Dauphin of France. Now Henry concluded a treaty with Charles, with each agreeing not to make any new alliance with France for at least two years. Cardinal Wolsey arranged to have Mary’s betrothal to the Dauphin broken, and instead Mary was betrothed to Charles.
Two years later King Henry declared war on France, and his ally, the Emperor Charles, did likewise soon afterward. Nevertheless, by 1525, the betrothal between Mary and Charles had been broken also, and a new treaty had been arranged with France. Throughout his reign, King Henry continued to manipulate these two powerful monarchs, and to be manipulated by them, as each jockeyed for political ascendancy in Europe. The Field of Cloth of Gold had a negligible impact on these political machinations, but it made a great impression on those who were witness to such splendor.
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