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Marina B. Nebro
December 1, 2013
Henry VIII and the Field of the Cloth of Gold
The period of the sixteenth century in Europe proved to be one of internal
and external tensions. Christendom was being threatened both by the likes of
Martin Luther and his ninety-five theses in 1517, and the expanding Islamic power
of the Ottoman Empire. Though still a Renaissance era, and not yet the Baroque or
Counter-Reformation epoch, the Church sought to exhibit its power within the realm
of Europe, maintaining internal piece between feuding kingdoms, and focusing
negativities outwards. The 1518 Treaty of London did just that, though this essay
will focus primarily on the peace agreement between Henry VIII of England and
Francis I of France. The Field of the Cloth of Gold, taking place on continental
English soil in the year 1520, proved not to be of actual political importance or
necessity, as terms were agreed upon two years prior during the treaty. The
spectacle, instead, was a move towards increasing the public image of both
monarchs, though this paper is mainly interested in Henry VIII, exhibiting their
power and majesty not only to their own people, or the opposing faction, but also to
the rest of Europe.
Henry VIII, son of the first Tudor on the throne, still experienced difficulty
with many of the nobles and aristocrats scattered around his realm. Though the
fifteenth century War of the Roses placated the threat of much of the nobility by
removing many of their standing armies, there were still several powers that
attempted to usurp the king’s power.1 Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, was
one such noble that seemed to drop out of royal favor due to traitor-like tendencies.
1
Charles L. Mee Jr. Playing God, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993), 56.
It was said he was a very popular aristocrat and that he “might easily obtain the
Crown if the King died without heirs.”2 He was later executed in 1521 at the Tower
of London, the first of many future executions.
From the above-mentioned example, it can be extrapolated that Henry had a
desire to keep the rest of his nobility in check. Everybody who was anybody made
his or her way across the English Channel with the king to support his peace-making
mission with France. “It was said that England, that June, was stripped of its
nobility, its courtiers… and its high-born women,” says author Charles L. Mee Jr.3
Not only was it necessary to keep an eye on his inferiors, but Henry desired to
display their inferiority as well. Each class was assigned specified rules when it
came to vestments and adornments. In this way, Henry was able to clearly delineate
the status of each and every one of his subjects, as well as convey to Francis and his
subjects that he had tight control on the people of his realm.
Shakespeare was correct when claiming, “all the world’s a stage.” Every
aspect of the meeting between the monarchs at the Field of the Cloth of Gold was
highly planned and choreographed to evoke the greatest emotion and effect from
the on looking subjects. Originally quoted from Frances A. Yates, “the Renaissance
had at its disposal a repertory of images, systematized by learned experts, which
formed a language used by art and literature in all European countries to which the
Joycelyne G. Russell, The Field of the Cloth of Gold: Men and manners in 1520, (New
York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1969), 7.
3 Mee Jr., Playing God, 50.
2
learning of the humanists had penetrated.”4 Every aspect of the princely meeting
was documented an analyzed as is proven in Edward Hall’s Chronicles of the event.
If one could imagine the entire occasion taking place on a stage, it would not
be far fetched to assume a man on a higher platform is more powerful than a man
standing on low ground. Before the first encounter between monarchs, land was
leveled and evened so that the first eye contact between Henry and Francis would
be from equal footing across the field.5
Their initial contact is described as a dance, introduced by music and fanfare
interspersed with bone chilling silence, climaxing with the charging of horses, and
concluding with twenty embraces. The people on both the French and English side
exhibited anxiety towards each other and towards the alliance. Russell describes
this latent animosity as a permeating Francophobia, as the tensions between the
kingdoms can be traced back to as early as the Norman Conquest. The encircling
dance steps and embracing movements of the kings lessened and eased this fear
among their subjects. Tournaments in jousting and wrestling were also highly
choreographed, as the practice of true knightly fighting practice was a vestment of
the Middle Ages. It is important to note that Henry’s losses were conveniently left
out of publication by the likes of historians such as Edward Hall, showing the highly
censored nature of the time, and the desire for this occasion to show his majesty and
power.
Just as clothing was meant to convey class and societal status among the
lesser nobles and Henry’s inferiors, it was also used to convey political messages.
4
5
Russell, The Field of the Cloth of Gold, 11.
Mee Jr., Playing God, 60.
Edward Hall spent much of his time “decoding” the embroidered imagery on the
clothes of both kings and the drapery on their horses. One of Henry’s messages
appeared on “his horse’s bard… decorated with waves… obviously [signifying] ‘the
Lordeshippe of the narowe sea.’”6 The narrow sea being the English Channel, Henry
used this imagery to show the power of England, as this small strait of water was a
natural barrier for many attacks.
The spectacle of the Field of the Cloth of Gold, as mentioned before, also let
other kingdoms know of Henry’s power and majesty over his realm. At this time,
Charles V of Spain was the newly appointed Holy Roman Emperor, and also held
power over the Low Lands in Northern Europe. His landholdings and economic
power threatened England’s wool trade, and “if England and France entered an
alliance against [him], the two of them could close off the English Channel against
[his] ships and cause the empire extreme hardship.”7 This impending opportunity
gave England the upper hand, enabling Henry to wield deals between both France
and Spain.
Ultimately, the Field of the Cloth of Gold was merely an elaborate
performance. Within a year, peace in Europe began to crumble once again between
England, France, Spain, and the entire Holy Roman Empire. The event created an
“atmosphere of total unreality”8 amongst the people in attendance, and proved to be
unrealistic in its end goals. The terms of the Treaty of 1518 between France and
England were unmet, as Princess Mary never ended up marrying Francis’s son, but
Ibid, 67.
Ibid, 74.
8 Ibid, 73.
6
7
rather Philip of Spain. Considering the purpose of the tents clad in golden cloth was
not for purely political agreement but for political ostentatiousness and the
displaying of monarchical power, Henry VIII was successful. From this point
onwards, he became a well-known figure in Europe.