What was the Field of Cloth of Gold?
Cloth of gold was a relatively new way to embroider one’s garments, and the knights and retainers of England and France both spent small fortunes to make sure they were properly decorated when they met in Belgium. The actual field was about six miles from Calais, on neutral ground. This is where Henry VIII and Francis I met in June 1520.
The meeting had been planned for years, and both sides emptied their treasuries, seeking to outdo the other. Roughly 6,000 men and women met for the festivities, which included tournaments, hawking, and endless feasting. Henry and Francis engaged in a good-natured wrestling match, while their courtiers and knights attempted pleasant conversation. England and France had long been enemies, but it seemed, just for a few weeks, as if they might now become friends.
It seems as if peace was breaking out everywhere.What happened to spoil the general mood?
England and France managed to remain at peace another two years. France and Spain remained wary, suspecting foes. But the really bad news came not from Western Europe but from the East.
Selim the Grim (which translates better as Selim the Awesome) died in 1520, leaving leadership of the Ottoman Empire to his son Suleiman, who was soon known as Suleiman the Magnificent. Each newcomer to the Ottoman throne had to demonstrate military prowess, and it was no surprise that Suleiman chose the Christian West—also known as Christendom—as his foe of choice. In 1521, Suleiman brought a large army from Constantinople to capture Belgrade. This was the first of many times he would threaten the West.
Given that there was now a threat from the East, did the European monarchs come closer together?
On the contrary, they split even further apart. Henry and Francis went to war in 1522, and Francis and Charles V declared war against each other in 1523. Even though Henry and Charles were both fighting Francis, they both maintained secret feelings about each other. The really big upshot, however, was that Francis was captured by Charles’ Spanish soldiers in 1525.
The Battle of Pavia, in northern Italy, was typical of the battles of that time. Mounted knights jostled with mercenary infantry. What was unusual was the number of harquebuses, and most of them were held by the Spaniards. At a critical moment in the battle, Francis I galloped into the action, and before long he was surrounded by dozens of Spaniards. He wielded his magnificent sword as long as he could before being captured and led off into captivity. Many monarchs knew the taste of defeat, but rather few experienced captivity as Francis did for the next year.
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V ruled over Italy, Germany, and the Spanish Empire, among other lands, at the time when the Spanish were first colonizing the New World.
How did Francis ever persuade Charles V to release him?
It was a rare thing for one Christian monarch to hold another captive. It was even stranger when we realize that the Ottoman Turks were practically knocking on the doors of Eastern Europe. Charles V held Francis I in captivity until the latter promised to be his good friend and ally, to pay for past transgressions, and to provide two of his sons as hostages. In a truly moving, even heartbreaking, event, Francis was released on the south bank of the river dividing France and Spain, while his two eldest sons were placed in captivity on the north bank. The two boats passed each other in midstream, and Francis was allowed a few minutes with his sons. The moment he reached French soil, he leaped on a horse, shouting, “Now I am king again!” For the rest of his life, Francis maintained that the oaths he had sworn had been taken under duress. He and Charles were soon at war again.
How frightening were the Ottoman Turks, so far as Christian Europeans were concerned?
The Ottoman Turks played a role quite similar to the Russian Communists of the 1950s and 1960s; almost any time that someone needed a scapegoat, or to assign some blame, one said that “the terrible Turk” had done this or that.
Suleiman the Magnificent (ruled 1520–1566) was indeed a frightening character. Unlike his European counterparts, Suleiman was owner, as well as ruler, of all that he surveyed. The culture, law code, and language of the Turks was very different from anything known to the Europeans. If the Ottomans did conquer Europe, it would become yet another province of the domains of the Muslim faith, and Allah, rather than Jesus Christ, would be glorified.
What was the closest that Suleiman, and the Turks, came to taking Europe?
In the autumn of 1529, Suleiman brought roughly 80,000 men from Constantinople as well as a fleet that came up the Danube. Upon arriving outside Vienna, he demanded to know where “King Charles” (as opposed to Charles the Emperor) was because he perceived that Charles V was his greatest foe. On learning that a mere duke had been assigned the defense of Vienna, Suleiman settled down for what might have been a routine siege. His men were masters of siege craft, and they had by far the superior artillery.
In Emperor Charles V’s absence, the Vienna garrison was capably led by Wilhelm von Roggendorf (1481–1541), the Hoffmeister of Austria. His men dumped endless barrels of water to flood the Ottoman Turks’ siege lines, and he sent out sorties at just the right time. On one occasion, nearly 2,000 Turks were killed under Suleiman’s eyes. By mid-October, the Turkish sultan had had enough. He headed back to Constantinople to announce what he called a major victory, but which almost everyone realized was his first real defeat. Suleiman had by no means given up, but he was blocked for the time being from invading the heart of Europe.
When did the religious wars of the sixteenth century begin?
Martin Luther and John Calvin laid down the doctrinal differences, and beliefs, between Catholic and Protestant, but the major battles and wars began in the 1540s. By that time, Emperor Charles V was the defender of Roman Catholic orthodoxy, while King Francis I was the heretic, who allowed Protestant reformers at his court and who even flirted with an alliance with Suleiman the Magnificent.
Though Charles V and Francis I were the great foes, the biggest battles and the longest campaigns were fought within the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire. The Catholics won the larger number of battles, and after his victory at Muhlberg in 1547, Charles V seemed destined to rule over all. Charles knew how fragile his victory was, however. Spain was being bled dry of its best men, and his finances were in terrible shape. Even though he received enormous amounts of silver and gold from the New World, these were not sufficient to pay all his debts.
Why is it so hard for men of great power to step away from it?
Human psychology suggests that we become accustomed to whatever is presented, and he or she who possesses great political and military power often has difficult relinquishing it. We do have a handful of remarkable examples, however, the foremost of which is the abdication of Emperor Charles V. In 1556, he renounced his title as Holy Roman Emperor, as king of Spain, and as lord of the Dutch Netherlands. Charles stepped down in favor of his son King Philip II, who gained Spain and the Netherlands, and his younger brother Ferdinand, who became Holy Roman Emperor and leader of Austria. This established the difference between the Spanish and Austrian Hapsburgs.
Charles V retired to Yuste, a Roman Catholic monastery in the Spanish countryside. He was weary of politics, of war, and of government, he said, and wished to live like a simple monk. No doubt, he enjoyed greater privilege and prestige than the average monk, but he did take that station and was there at the time of his death in 1558.
Fortune seemed to smile on Charles V when both of his great enemies died in the same year. Henry VIII died in January 1547 and Francis I