Henry VIII Takes the Field of the Cloth of Gold

The illusion of power - the spectacle of politics - as it is used to dazzle one’s own followers, to fool an opponent, and to bemuse oneself has never been displayed more grandly than in the meeting in 1520 of England’s Henry VII and the French King Francis I on the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Here, in this Quick Read, is the little-told story of how the two kings made peace - but only for a relative moment.