Today in 1518 the Tudor Court celebrated the Treaty of London, a treaty of Universal Peace agreed between the leading European nations, and called for non-aggression as well as coming to each others’ aid if they were attacked. This was a wonderful bit of political maneuvering by Cardinal Wolsey, who managed to get everyone to agree to this treaty of peace, and if arguments came up, Henry would be the one to arbitrate them in London.
This is also the treaty that started the talks for England and France to meet and have a summit, which was the famous Field of the Cloth of Gold. While the Treaty didn’t last long, and soon enough the European powers were making war on each other, at the time the idea that you could have non aggression in Europe was an incredibly forward thinking idea, and shows Wolsey’s creative thinking. He made England look like a peaceful leader, which was something that greatly appealed to his humanist king.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested links:
Episode 072: Glen Richardson on the Field of Cloth of Gold
Episode 009: A Tale of Two Thomases Part I (Wolsey & More)
Dig Deeper into the Treaty of London and Field of Cloth of Gold with the newest Tudor Activity Book – Field of Cloth of Gold Edition
Get the paperback version on Amazon for $5.99
Or the Digital Download from my shop for $3.99
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, one of the longest running indie history podcasts, going since 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. She writes books, created the original Tudor Planner (a yearly diary filled with Tudor history) and in 2019 created the world's first Tudorcon (you can "attend" online this year!). She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.