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# Meeting of Henry VIII and Francis I at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in June 1520
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/odna-iz-samykh-dorogostoiashchikh-i-bessmyslennykh-gosudarstvennykh-vstrech-v-istorii-proizoshla-v-iiune-1520-goda-mezhdu-molodymi-koroliami-genrikhom-viii-i-korolem-frantsiskom-i-na-sa/
- Published: 2024-03-09T09:28:42.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:38:04.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Monarchies, Mores, Society

One of the most costly and pointless state meetings in history took place in June 1520 between the young King Henry VIII and King Francis I, on the very edge of English territory, between the castles of Guînes and Ardres. The sovereigns arrived with retinues of 12,000 people. The camp astonished with its wealth; it was a colossal demonstration of grandeur and might. Each strove to outdo the other, to show himself the more advantageous of allies. The chief interested party was Francis: he was seeking allies in his struggle against the Habsburg empire.

The retinues of both sovereigns, their camps, tents, feasts and tournaments were so luxurious, so richly adorned and so sumptuous that the place of their meeting was called the Field of the Cloth of Gold, since the whole of it seemed to be covered in precious fabrics.

“After a four-day journey the royal cortège reached a vast plain on which 300 tents of cloth woven with gold and silver had already been pitched. The whole camp presented a grandiose spectacle. Veritable palaces, made only of fabric, formed an entire fairy-tale city that seemed to have sprung out of the earth. Among these airy structures strolled French seigneurs who, wishing to astonish Henry VIII, had dressed so sumptuously that, in the historian’s words, they carried “their mills, forests and meadows upon their shoulders”,” describes the event Guy Breton.

At one of the decisive moments a dragon flew over the tent. What? Yes. Or a salamander. Everyone took it for a bad omen. But the negotiations really did lead to nothing: within a couple of months Henry had drawn close to the Habsburgs, restored his alliance with Charles V, and two years later was already at war with France.

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_11455@09-03-2024_12-28-42.jpg)

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_11456@09-03-2024_12-28-42.jpg)