the meeting between Henry VIII and Francis I, which is well designated
as the Field of the Cloth of Gold. It was properly a great tournament,
proclaimed in both nations, to which the chief lords yet once more
gathered in all their splendour. With the festivities were mingled
negociations in which the Cardinal of York played the chief part.

Immediately before this in England, and just afterwards on the
continent, Henry VIII met Charles V also, with less show but greater
intimacy; the negociations here took the opposite direction.

In 1521, when war had already broken out between the two great powers,
the cardinal in his King's name undertook the part of mediator. There
in Calais he sat to a certain degree in judgment on the European
powers. The plenipotentiaries of both sovereigns laid their cases
before him: with apparent zeal and much bustle he tried at least to
conclude a truce: he complained once of the Emperor, that he
disregarded his good advice though weighty and to the point: on which
the latter did come a step nearer him. It was a magnificent position
if he understood and maintained it. The more powerful both princes
became, the more dangerous to the world their enmity should be, the
more need there was of a mediating authority between them. But the
purity of intention which is required to carry out such a task is
seldom given to men, and did not exist in Wolsey. His ambition
suggested plans to him which reached far beyond a peace arbitration.

When he promoted that first interview with Francis I against the will
of the great men and of the Queen of England, the Emperor's
ambassadors, who were thrown into consternation by it, remarked that
the French King must have promised him the Papacy, which however, they
add, is rather in the Imperial than in the royal gift. It does not
appear that the Emperor went quite so far at once, he only warned the
cardinal against the untrustworthy promises of the French, and sought
to bring him to the conviction--while making him the most advantageous
offers--that he could expect everything from him.[82] Clear details he
reserved till they met in person; and then he in fact drew him over
completely to his side. Under Wolsey's influence King Henry,
immediately on the outbreak of the war, gave out his intention of
making common cause with the Emperor. For he had not, he said, so
little understanding as not to see that the opportunity was thus
offered him of carrying out his pred