ALDERSHOT TATTOO

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 July 1938, Page 2

ALDERSHOT TATTOO

MEETING OF FORMER BRITISH AND FRENCH KINGS. HISTORICAL OCCASION RECALED. The principal pageant of the nine performances of the Aidershot Tattoo, which took place from June 8 to 11 and June 14 to 18, was a representation of the meeting of Henry ( VIII of England and Francis I of France on the Field of the Cloth of Gold. The opening event showed the arrival of King Henry VIII and Francis I at their encampments, and the finale depicted the scene when the two kings met to demonstrate the friendship of the two countries. The spot where the monarchs met on June 7, 1520, is visited every year by a large number of tourists. The field is at Balingham, two and a half miles west of Ardres, an ancient little town with a fourteenth century church. Guines, often mentioned as the meeting place, is five and a half miles from Calais, and it was at Guines where Henry VIII had his headquarters. Before the castle of Guines, a temporary palace was erected, covering an area of nearly 12,000 square yards. It was decorated sumptuously, and like the chapel, furnished with a profusion of golden ornaments. Henry’s following ate 2200 sheep in one month-, and other victuals were consumed in proportion. In the fields beyond the castle, 2800 tents were erected for the less distinguished .Visitors. After Cardinal Wolsey had visited the French King at Ardres, the two monarchs met at the Vai Dore, or golden valley. Subsequent tournaments, banquets and entertainments lasted until the 24th. The courtiers on both sides vied with one another in a foolish display of finery, and one contemporary historian said of this meeting, “Many lords bore thither on their shoulders theirs mills, their forests, and their parks.” A building of the period, the Hotel du Bourgtheroulde at Rouen, still displays a series of bas-reliefs showing various incidents of this famous interview. A contemporary painting of the Field of the Cloth of Gold, attributed to Vincenzo Volpe, can be seen at Hampton Court. The immense ornamental tent which covered the kings of England and France,, was until re-1 cently at the museum of the Escurial, near Madrid.