Abstract
The Field of Cloth of Gold was a meeting in June 1520 between King Francis I of France and King Henry VIII of England. They met to affirm a treaty of peace and alliance between them, which was itself the centre of an international peace between most European princes. The presiding intelligence over the meeting was Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, simultaneously the Lord Chancellor of England and Pope Leo X’s legate a latere in England. This article looks at the context of that event from Wolsey’s perspective, examining how the Universal Peace of 1518 was used in his own ambitions as well as those of Henry VIII. It shows how Wolsey strove to use the international situation at the time to obtain legatine authority, principally to advantage his own king, and himself, rather than the pope whose legate he was, and in whose name he ostensibly acted.
Highlights
The Field of Cloth of Gold was a meeting in June 1520 between King Francis I of France and King Henry VIII of England
The Field of Cloth of Gold had its inception in plans for international Christian peace first laid out by Pope Leo X when, on 6 March 1518, he proclaimed a fiveyear international truce among European sovereigns and states, as the necessary prelude to a crusade to retake Istanbul from the Ottomans
One of the foreign rulers upon whom Leo felt he could rely for similar cooperation was Henry VIII of England, assisted by Thomas Wolsey, the Archbishop of York, Lord Chancellor, and Henry’s chief advisor
Summary
By the time Wolsey greeted his Italian colleague, he was far ahead of the pope in his own plans for the good of Christendom, and for the greater glory of himself and his master. On the surface at least, as he gathered more information about the papal plan and continued negotiations with the French ambassadors, Wolsey acted in accordance with the terms of his legateship to reform the English clergy, to raise clerical taxation, and to arrange Henry’s participation in a Christian truce, in preparation for action against the Ottomans With this in mind, Cardinal Campeggio’s formal reception into the kingdom of England was minutely stage-managed by Wolsey. On 27 August, Leo did issue a further extension of Wolsey’s legatine powers (with Campeggio) to reform monasteries, but not the secular clergy as well.21 Even as he had been participating in these ceremonies, Wolsey had received news that Francis I was planning to send one of the largest and most splendid embassies ever seen in England to conclude the Anglo-French alliance. “Large bowls, filled with ducats and dice” were placed before the company by masked dancers, and further informal dancing followed until midnight. More than not fully informing the pope what he was doing with his legatine authority, Wolsey was actively deceiving Leo about it
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