The Field of Cloth of Gold: 6000 Englishmen in France for 18 days - How did they do it?
Presented by Joanna Mabbutt

In 1520 the Field of Cloth of Gold took place in the Pale of Calais between Guines & Ardres.  The event was organised for the two Kings Henry VIII and Francois I to meet and celebrate the signing of the Anglo-French Peace Treaty.  The celebrations were held over 18 days with the Tournament as the main event and at the heart of the celebrations.  The young Kings, Henry aged 28 and Francois aged 25, were both educated, cultured, strong and ruthless and this gathering was as much as anything a way for them both to show their great wealth and generous hospitality.

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The signing of the Peace Treaty had taken place a year earlier in 1519 which gave them a year to organise this huge event.  The apparel of the King was high on the list of priorities, along with the construction of a temporary palace and a tournament to organise.  Cardinal Wolsey was behind much of the organisation, assisted by Sir Charles Somerset.

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Taylors and jewellers were employed to make the clothing using luxury fabrics including velvets and damasks.  Gold cloth was only to be worn by the Royal family and close friends.  Broderers were employed to ensure all clothing and materials were embroidered with the royal motifs, including the letters H & K (for Henry and his wife Katherine) and jewels such as pearls and diamonds had been stitched onto the fabrics including furnishings and harnesses for the horses and falconry hoods for the birds of prey.     The pavilions on the site were lined with canvas and then again with tapestries and fabrics that had been decorated with Tudor motifs such as the fleur de lys and roses in Tudor livery colours.

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All the armour for the knights had been imported from Italy, Flanders and Germany.  Everything was entirely silvered.  3,217 horses were transported by the armoury in ships across the Channel and then up the river to Guines and Ardres.  The horses, who would be taking part in the tournament, were considered very valuable and each one was held in a sling on board the ships so that they could not fall over and injure themselves.  

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For the hospitality, a banqueting hall was built for the King and his guests.  Everyone else congregated around a huge catering tent with a brick bake house and roasting range.  200 kitchen staff were employed to feed the 6,000 Englishmen for 18 days.  40,000 gallons of wine and beer were consumed and £8,839 was spent on food and drink (equivalent of approximately £3 million today).

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The tournament field was approximately the size of 4 football pitches end to end.  Two viewing galleries were built either side and triumphal arches at each end.  Trumpeters, both English and French played a very important role in announcing the arrival of either King to the tournament.  Everything was very carefully choreographed so that the Kings appeared at the same time.  Heralds supervised the contests and were able to watch the tournaments and see who wins each match, from the raised platform on which two artificial trees had been built in the middle of the tournament field.  These trees, one raspberry, one hawthorn to represent the two nations, were adorned with all the coat of arms of the Knights taking part.

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The most spectacular part of the whole site was the temporary palace – getting it’s style and design right was very important to Henry.  It was built as a quadrangle with the entrance at the front and a Chapel at the back.  The stone foundations were about 8 ft high and then 30 ft timber frames were built on to the foundations and painted to look like stonework.  The timber was imported with 80% coming from our local Alice Holt Forest!  Canvas was rolled across the roof, again, painted to look like slate tiles.  Many of the building elements were ready made before being shipped so that construction could be fast.

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Many of the Royal Palaces were stripped of their silver and gold and taken across to the site, not so much to be used but to be seen.  Tapestries, too, were taken and hung in the temporary palace and many of the pavilions. 

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What happened to the site and all the buildings afterwards?  Many of the decorative pavilions made of canvas were taken back to England and stored in royal palaces and houses to be used at any future events.  Plain wood was burnt.  Some painted boards have come to light at Ightham Mote House in Kent and are said to be from the Field of the Cloth of Gold and are now in the Chapel roof.  Wolsey’s quadrangle layout for Christ Church college in Oxford and Hampon Court Palace are said to be taken from the design of the temporary palace, a legacy that can be seen today.

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In all, this extraordinary and extravagant event is said to have cost a total of £63,000 (approximately £60 million today). The Royal Collection owns a huge painting that shows this event and all its magnificence.  It was completed in 1545, 25 years after the event. Cardinal Wolsey and Queen Katherine are both dead and the Reformation has also taken place and England is once again at war with France. 

Vicki Cowan