THE

TIME TRAVEL

HANDBOOK

RESEARCHED AND WRITTEN BY

JAMES WYLLIE, JOHNNY ACTON & DAVID GOLDBLATT

WYLLIE, ACTON & GOLDBLATT’S

TIME TRAVEL

HANDBOOK

A SELECTION OF TRIPS AND TOURS FROM THE ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS TO THE WOODSTOCK FESTIVAL

First published in Great Britain in 2015 by

Profile Books:

3 Holford Yard, Bevin Way

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Copyright © 2015 James Wyllie, Johnny Acton and David Goldblatt.

Thanks to Sally Holloway, Sonia Land, Karim Noorani, Nikky Twyman, Henry Iles, Dominic Beddow and Mark Ellingham.

The moral right of the authors has been asserted.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

e-ISBN 978 178283 1327

PHOTO CREDITS

Every effort has been made to identify and contact copyright holders of images used in this book. If anyone has been omitted, they are asked to kindly contact the publisher so we can correct these details.

Francis I by Jean Clouet (p.8), Louvre Museum; Henry VIII at the English Camp (p.10–11), Royal Collection Trust/Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II; Henry VIII after Hans Holbein (p.15), Walker Art Gallery. V For Victory (p.45), Picture Post/Getty Image; Dancing in the streets (p.50), Photo12/UIG/Getty Images; Piccadilly Circus (p.52) and Churchill, Attlee and Bevin (p.55), Keystone/Getty Images. Michael Lang and Artie Kornfeld (p.60), Bill Eppridge/Life/Getty Images; Breakfast (p.65), John Dominis/Life/Getty Images; Undress Code (p.69), Silver Screen/Movipix/Getty Images; Swami Satchidananda (p.72), Mark Goff/WikiCommons; Country Joe (p.75), Jason Laure/Woodfin/Getty Images; Lost girl (p.78), Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images. Charles I (p.85), Fine Art Images/Superstock/Getty Images. Tardivet and Miomandre (p.116), Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Berlin Wall ‘Death Strip’ (p.133), Thierry Noir/WikiCommons; Brandenburg Gate (p.139), Sue Ream/WikiCommons; Rostropovich (p.145), L. Emmett Lewis Jr. © Stars and Stripes. Charlie Parker (p.189), Gilles Petard/Getty Images; Lindy Hoppers at The Savoy (p.192), Charles Peterson/Hulton Archive/Getty Images; Outside Minton’s Playhouse (p.197), William Gottlieb/Redferns/Getty Images. Fab Five (p.203), Astrid Kirchherr/K&K/Redferns/Getty Images; The Beatles at The Top Ten Club (p.210), Ellen Piel/K&K/Redferns/Getty Images; The Beatles at The Star Club (p.215), Ulf Kruger/K&K/Redferns/Getty Images. Mobutu introduces Foreman and Ali (p.218), George Walker/Liaison/Getty Images; Foreman in training (p.224), Neil Leifer/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images; Ali prepares (p.227), Stringer/AFP/Getty Images; Ali throws the Big One (p.231), The Ring Magazine/Getty Images. Kublai Khan (p.243), Dea/Getty Images. Tahitian women (p.263), Time Life Pictures/Mansell/Life/Getty Images; The Endeavour (p.270), SSPL/Getty Images. Up Pompeii! (p.282), Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images. John Ball (p.289), British Library Board. Union artillery unit (p.308), Zouave uniform (p.313), Colonel Dixon Miles (p.316), Union attack (p.319), Federal Cavalry at Sudley Springs (p.320), Senators Zachariah Chandler and Benjamin Wade (p. 321), all Library of Congress.

All MAPS by Magnetic North.

CONTENTS

Introduction, Terms, Conditions & Regulations

CELEBRATIONS & EXHIBITIONS

1520 The Field of the Cloth of Gold, The English Pale, near Calais

1851 The Great Exhibition, London

1945 VE Day, London

1969 Woodstock Festival, Bethel, New York State

MOMENTS THAT MADE HISTORY

1649 The Execution of Charles I, London

1789 The Women‘s March on Versailles, Paris

1914 Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, Sarajevo

1989 The Fall of the Berlin Wall, East and West Berlin

CULTURAL & SPORTING SPECTACULARS

161 The 235th Olympiad, Olympia

1599 Opening Night at Shakespeare’s Globe, London

1942 The Birth of Bebop, New York City

1960–62 The Beatles in Hamburg

1974 The Rumble in the Jungle, Kinshasa

EPIC JOURNEYS & VOYAGES

1271 In Xanadu with Marco Polo, China

1768–71 Captain Cook’s First Epic Voyage, The Pacific

EXTREME EVENTS *

79 The Eruption of Vesuvius, Pompeii

1381 The Peasants’ Revolt, Essex, Kent and London

1861 The First Battle of Bull Run, Virginia

* These events are not covered under the Company’s insurance policy.

Past, Present & Future Reading

WYLLIE, ACTON & GOLDBLATT’S

TIME TRAVEL

TOURS

‘History repeats itself. First time as tragedy, second time as vacation.’

SOME SAY THE PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY. We say get your passport. At WYLLIE, ACTON & GOLDBLATT (WAG) TIME TRAVEL TOURS, we take you back, set you down and bring you home from some of the finest moments in human history. With our unique Chronoswoosh^TM time exchange plasma shuttle technology, we not only offer the most accurate return to the past, but minimal interference with the time-space continuum. No more getting abandoned in the wrong century, no more returning to find you are your great aunt.

At WAG we believe that history second time round need not be farce, but a celebration, a party and a vacation. If that sounds like your idea of a good time past, then our CELEBRATIONS & EXHIBITIONS suite of trips is for you. Try the late feudal pomp of the FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD, where the nobilities of France and England gathered in great alfresco camps, drink, feast, joust and doff their caps to King Henry VIII and King Francis I. The GREAT EXHIBITION OF 1851 certainly deserves another look and we give you the opportunity to explore Victorian London and the cornucopian contents of the Crystal Palace. For the more hedonistic, VE DAY IN LONDON 1945 and the 1969 WOODSTOCK FESTIVAL in Upstate New York offer contrasting experiences of collective ecstasy.

For more experienced time travellers we recommend moving on to an event that has really made a difference. Our carefully curated selection of MOMENTS THAT MADE HISTORY show the wheels of change in motion while delivering the most extraordinary sensory experiences. Feel the ancien régime crumble and the modern world emerge as CHARLES I IS EXECUTED at the end of the English Civil War or MARCH WITH THE WOMEN OF PARIS in the heat of the French Revolution. For those with more contemporary tastes we offer the poles of the short twentieth century: the ASSASSINATION OF ARCHDUKE FERDINAND IN SARAJEVO that triggered the First World War in 1914; and the FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL in 1989 that brought the long European struggle to a close.

For a more reflective journey to the past, WAG also offers a great treasure trove of CULTURAL & SPORTING SPECTACULARS. Our selection of classic moments takes you to events that seemed un-repeatable and offers them up in all their replayed glory. From the spectacle of the ANCIENT OLYMPICS to the opening night of SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE, from the BIRTH OF BEBOP in war time New York City to the invention of the BEATLES IN HAMBURG, or Muhammad Ali fighting George Foreman in THE RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE, there is something to suit all tastes.

For the more adventurous and stoical of our travellers, we have recently developed the long form EPIC JOURNEYS & VOYAGES: six months with MARCO POLO IN XANADU in thirteenth-century China; or the chance to crew on the THREE-YEAR VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN COOK to Australia. For those with the strongest nerves and most balanced dispositions we are pleased to include our EXTREME EVENTS: the ever popular ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS and cataclysmic destruction of Pompeii, the late medieval madness of the PEASANTS’ REVOLT that set London alight, and our newest offer, a front seat view of our first American Civil War trip, the hubris and the chaos of the FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN.

Whatever trip you choose, the TIME TRAVELLERS’ HANDBOOK is your Owl of Minerva. In putting together this guide we’ve been where you are going, we’ve flown home at dusk and, at last, with the wisdom of hindsight actually available to us, charted a course through the past on your behalf. We really will take you to the right place at the right time, every time. Alongside the key moments, we let you know WHERE TO STAY, WHAT TO EAT and HOW TO PAY, and of course HOW TO GET HOME. Our Uncle Karl thought that ‘Man made history but not in circumstances of his own choosing’. We can’t let you make history – it’s already a done deal – but we can let you choose the circumstances. Welcome to the past; we’ll take you there.

THE SMALL PRINT: TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF TRAVEL

APPEARANCE AND DRESS CODE

It is important to blend in with the crowd as far as possible and for this reason WAG will provide you with suitable attire for all of your journeys. You may, however, already possess appropriate clothing or want to try making your own. If so, please read the guidance notes carefully. In cases where having a skin tone and physiognomy markedly differ from that of the locals would attract undue attention, WAG’s experienced prosthetic and make-up department will swing into action.

HEALTH ISSUES

All travellers will be subject to stringent HEALTH CHECKS ahead of their journey. An innocuous seeming virus could have devastating consequences for a historical community which has not developed immunity to it. For similar but reverse reasons, travellers to high-risk destinations will be subject to health checks on their returns, and quarantine will be enforced if necessary. Some trips are more strenuous than others, the long voyages and extreme events in particular. We reserve the right to refuse time travel to clients whose medical condition renders them vulnerable. We advise all travellers to take out appropriate backdated medical insurance.

LANGUAGES AND COMMUNICATION

Travellers should assume that in all but the most contemporary journeys their mother tongue will be of limited use. English speakers who go unprepared to Elizabethan London will find it hard to understand others or to make themselves understood. Consequently WAG provides a basic grounding in the LOCAL LANGUAGE of your journey and an introductory course to body language, ritual, customs and deportment. The quoted price of each trip includes a two-day residential preparation and orientation programme. Please note: these courses are compulsory and a minimal standard of competence is required of all travellers.

THE TIME–SPACE CONTINUUM

All of our trips have been carefully selected so that you can blend into the past without drawing special attention to yourself. (It is for this reason, of course, that we cannot offer Moon Landings or intimate liaisons with the likes of Caesar or Napoleon). Even so, you must exercise great care not to do anything that might interfere with the events you have chosen to visit. The time–space continuum is sufficiently robust to cope with your presence and your minor interactions with the events of the past, but grand gestures are simply not on. WAG reserves the right to transport any customer who appears poised to infringe this regulation instantly back to the present, with no compensation payable.

Minor interactions with other members of the crowd are permitted, as are everyday activities such as EATING AND DRINKING. Any changes such interactions make to the course of history will be negligible and tolerable (e.g. you may return to find that you like speed metal rather than jazz, or that your partner is called Lionel rather than Pam). Such alterations must be regarded as an occupational hazard. It goes without saying that bringing back SOUVENIRS is not permitted, as this would play havoc with the market for antiques. Strictly no mobile phones and no cameras. Don’t even think about selfies.

WAG will accept no responsibility for the consequences of failing to adhere to these terms and conditions.

PART ONE

CELEBRATIONS & EXHIBITIONS

The Field of the Cloth of Gold

8–24 JUNE 1520 NEAR CALAIS, ENGLAND

FOR JUST OVER TWO WEEKS IN JUNE 1520, Henry VIII and Francis I, the kings of England and France, and most of their feudal nobility, gathered for a great outdoor meeting in northern France. They came together ostensibly to make peace and celebrate the betrothal of Francis’s son and Henry’s daughter but it was an occasion soaked in sixteenth-century realpolitik. THE FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD (as it was dubbed by eighteenth-century historians) provided an extraordinary opportunity for two great Renaissance princes to display themselves to each other and their followers as warrior kings, chivalric gentlemen and luminous stars in Europe’s political firmament.

Settled into vast and ostentatious tent cities, equipped with splendid temporary palaces, the two sovereigns first met and then joined together to stage a great knightly tournament of jousting and foot combat, punctuated by intense merrymaking, feasting and dancing.

PLEASE NOTE that this trip is based on attendance in the English camp. For those that prefer a more Francophone experience, we hope to be able to offer le champ de la toile d’or experience in the near future.

THE TRIP

Your POINT OF ARRIVAL on the morning of 8 June 1520 will be the very rutted road that runs between the small towns of ARDRES and GUINES (in what is now northern France). When you arrive on the path about a mile short of Guines you will actually be in England, or rather the PALE OF CALAIS, an area of land extending about ten miles from the English port ceded by the French in 1347. You will need to return here on 24 June for your departure.

The main body of the English court, nearly 6,000 strong, will have arrived a day beforehand but the road is still likely to be busy. As you head east towards the English camp in GUINES you might see the French nobles Lord Chancellor Antoine Duprat and Admiral Bonnivet riding brusquely past you. They are paying a final courtesy call on Henry. A half dozen English nobles will, on their part, ride out to Ardres to see King Francis. There will also be a steady flow of carts and mules carrying the enormous quantity of supplies required to build and feed the English camp. Expect a selection of vagabonds, beggars and thieves to be lurking around the fringes of the camp sensing that plentiful scraps and charity will be made available over the coming days.

THE ENGLISH CAMP

When GUINES first comes into view it will not be the town’s stone castle, church spire or cluster of housing that catches your eye, but the vast tent city of over 300 pavilions in front of it. Almost the entirety of the Tudor nobility and their retinues are here under canvas. Round, square and rectangular tents draped in sparkling coloured cloth are clustered to create instant noble houses, some with as many as a dozen tents linked by covered corridors and galleries. Glastonbury Festival it isn’t – though the flags, banners and pennants flying from every mast and central tent pole are vaguely reminiscent, and around the edges is less salubrious accommodation where servants, scullery maids, armourers and stable hands are based. Right at the heart of the site, directly before Guines castle, is the King’s Palace: a magnificent set of canvas-roofed, double-storeyed, brick buildings.

THE KING’S PALACE

HENRY’S PALACE at Guines, a hundred yards square, consists of four blocks round an atrium courtyard. The buildings have stone foundations, brick walls to eight feet high, then wattle and daub with clerestory windows, and an Italianate wooden cornice decorated with cross and leaf work. Above this, large timbers form a frame over which vast decorated canvas sheets are hung. The building has been completed in under three months by thousands of skilled artisans using timber and prepared wall sections from England, glass from Flanders and cloth from all over Western Europe.

As you walk up to the ornate mock guardhouse at the front of the palace, note the splendid FOUNTAIN with its depiction of Bacchus carved from wood. On feast and banquet days this will be running with two streams of wine – one red, one white – pumped under pressure. Earthenware vessels will be available to help yourself; you won’t be alone. The gatehouse itself is adorned with a statue of SAINT MICHAEL, a deliberate compliment to France’s patron saint of chivalry.

Once inside the palace in the main quadrangle, you will see two sets of very ornate pavilions on either side; to your left are CARDINAL WOLSEY’S QUARTERS; to the right are those of the King’s sister MARY, Duchess of Suffolk. Behind these pavilions are two long brick-walled building: on the left-hand side HENRY’S APARTMENTS and on the right those of QUEEN CATHERINE. The two are connected by an UNDERGROUND PASSAGE, while Henry’s apartments have their very own box-tree-planted corridor leading back into Guines Castle. These tents will be closely guarded and difficult to enter, but should you get a glimpse inside look out for Catherine’s set of nine floral tapestries stitched in gold and silk. In Wolsey’s main waiting chamber you can observe sumptuous TAPESTRY work, rumoured to include a set depicting the TRIUMPH OF PETRARCH. Even from outside you will smell the sweet aroma of freshly cut rushes and flowers that fill the Royal Apartments.

Immediately opposite the entrance, and the building you are most likely to gain access to, is the LARGE HALL. A two-storey building, the ground floor will be a hive of activity at almost any time, housing the offices of the Lord Chamberlain, Lord Steward and Treasure Comptroller – the three most senior positions in the Royal Household. It also provides space for the royal service departments, including the warehouse and jewel house, the pantry, spicery, buttery, ewery (responsible for water and the vessels one drinks from and washes with), poultry, pitcher and larder. The upper floor is reached by an internal staircase over which hovers a sculpture of an armoured footsoldier. Inside the BANQUETING HALL look up at the canvas roof, whose intricate decoration includes the popular if enigmatic homilies of ALEXANDER BARCLAY. He is currently a theological favourite at court, and the Benedictine monk’s satirical poem, The Ship of Fools, published in 1513, is a good ice-breaker in conversation in 1520.

A short gallery leads out of the back of the Large Hall and into the PALACE CHAPEL. This large open space is decorated with gold and silver and overlooked by the two royal oratories, on the first floor; known as HOLYDAY CLOSETS, they are the box seats for the royal houses. The altar will be set with golden candlesticks and a fabulous pearl-encrusted crucifix over four foot high. Note that the English have brought their own church organ with them. Mass is held daily.

THE FRENCH CAMP

It would be a considerable breach of protocol for lowly members of Sir Adrian Fortescue’s household to enter the FRENCH CAMP and we advise you strongly not to. However, from a safe distance it is perfectly fine to take in the view. The French court will have made camp in the small town of ARDRES, five miles east and slightly south of the English camp and reached by the same road on which you arrived. You will see that the King’s orders to build a vast ditch around the encampment and to repair the town’s walls have been accomplished and the two together mark out a camp site filled with nearly 400 pavilions and a considerable swathe of the French peerage and nobility.

The KING’S APARTMENT should just be visible on the west side of the town, where a whole series of town houses have been combined with large pavilions to create his temporary palace. Of particular note is the huge BANQUETING HOUSE at the foot of the town connected by a long gallery to the palace. The English knight Edmund Hall will describe it as ‘house of solas and sporte, of large and mightie compass’. Built like a multistorey amphitheatre, with three levels of stone wall, the interior is lined with balconies and, as Hall will report, decorated with ‘frettes and knottes made of Ive buishes and other thynges that longest would be grene for pleasure’. The canvas roof is set with golden stars.

The transformation of Ardres has been overseen by the Marshal of France, GASPARD DE COLIGNY, and Grand Master of the Royal Artillery, JACQUES DIT GALIOT DE GENOUILLAC, whose logistical triumphs in the past include shipping the French cannon across the Alps and winning a great victory at Milan in 1513. Most of the work on the camp has been done in Tours, over 300 miles away, where the local textile industries have provided enough skilled labour to service the enormous order from the French court. For over three months thousands of cloth, silk and leather workers have been stitching and assembling the camp’s pavilions, working in shift around the clock in the palace of the Archbishop of Tours. Among the most eye-catching of these is the main tent of the Royal Household, draped in golden cloth with three wide stripes of blue velvet, themselves encrusted with golden fleurs-de-lis. Atop this, balanced on a golden ball you should be able to make out a six-foot-high gold and blue wooden statue of Saint Michael holding a lance and shield, a slain serpent at his feet. Many of the other tents in the encampment feature a large golden apple carved from walnut instead. Queen Claude’s pavilion, close by can be picked out for its lighter, brighter golden cloth. The Queen Mother’s tents feature violet and crimson material.

DAY BY DAY

THURSDAY 8 JUNE: THE KING’S MEET

You should arrive mid-morning on Thursday, when preparations in the camp will be at fever pitch as horses are brushed and tack polished amid an air of nervous, growing anticipation. At around 5pm you will hear three cannons, signalling the departure of Henry’s entourage to THE KINGS’ MEET. Soon after this the distant sound of three cannons being fired in Ardres announces that Francis and his party are on their way.

Henry’s entourage will be led out by one hundred archers drawn from the Royal Guard and Wolsey’s personal guard. They will be followed on horse by a large retinue of household gentlemen and knights. SIR ADRIAN FORTESCUE, if he manages to make it, will be in with this pack. Then you will see the senior nobility, and in their midst the King. HENRY will be preceded by the MARQUESS OF DORSET holding upright the sword of state; to his left CARDINAL WOLSEY in brilliant crimson red silk; to his right SIR HENRY GUILDFORD, Master of Horse, leading a spare mount for the King. The King’s back is covered by a dozen young henchmen and hunting mates and then another tranche of senior nobles escorting bishops and foreign ambassadors. Finally come musicians and stewards: twelve mace-bearers, twelve trumpeters, then twelve heralds, all in Tudor livery. Expect plenty of MUSIC en route.

Francis’s entourage will be similar if smaller. We strongly advise that you observe them at the meeting point – the Vale of Arden – rather than at the French camp or on the road. You will see two hundred mounted archers of the Royal Guard dressed in golden coats heading the cavalcade, followed by two hundred gentlemen of the royal household, and a hundred Swiss Guards on foot. Twelve trumpeters then precede the major nobles of France: the DUC DE BOURBON, ADMIRAL BONNIVET and KING FRANCIS himself. The man next to him holding the French sword of state in a sheath of blue velvet covered with golden fleurs-de-lis is GALEAZZO DA SAN SEVERINO, Master of Horse. Behind them will come the DUKES OF LORRAINE, ALENÇON AND VENDÔME, all the Cardinals of France, and the Knights of the Order of Saint Michel.

As the English caravan leaves its camp it will suddenly be joined by an enormous phalanx of INFANTRY, including the entirety of the ROYAL GUARD all decked out in Tudor livery adorned with golden roses. They will take up positions at the front and back of the entourage as well as forming up on the King’s flanks in a parade now 4,000 strong. You may well note a certain amount of toing and froing as scouts are sent off to check the progress of the French, while French scouts scurry back to report to their masters. On at least one occasion the whole troupe will come to a halt as the King and his counsellors discuss whether it is safe to proceed. However, by around seven o’clock you should be entering into the VALE OF ANDREN, where the two entourages will take up positions opposite each other on raised earthen mounds.

The music will now fall silent as the two sides come to a silent halt. Look for King Francis to make the first move, shuffling his horse forward a couple of steps, followed by his three main attendants. Henry with Sir Henry Guildford, the Earl of Worcester, Sir Richard Wingate (ambassador to the French court) and of course CARDINAL WOLSEY. Note, Wingate is wearing a splendid brocade cloak given to him by Francis. It is, as you will see, no match for the KING’S OWN OUTFITS. Henry will be dressed in a silver doublet and cloak slashed with gold and hung with jewels. Around his neck you will see the Order of the Garter and a huge Saint George pendant, all topped by a black hat and plume. Francis is dressed in the currently fashionable latticework jerkin called a chammer combining gold, silver and gems set off by white leather riding boots and, like Henry, a black bejewelled velvet cap.

A sudden blast of the sackbuts will see both Kings’ companions halt as the monarchs ride on to the appointed meeting place – a spear stuck in the ground. Both entourages will cheer lustily as the Kings doff their hats and then, still on horseback, embrace. They will suddenly be joined by running footmen who will accompany them arm-in-arm as they disappear into a small tent. While the kings are within you will notice that the English entourage does not break ranks and remains on the mound. The French, however, will become curious and drift over to the English side for slightly awkward conversations. After about an hour the Kings will reappear and there will be a great deal of hugging and embracing of each other’s companions before a worried-looking Wolsey calls a halt to proceedings and both sides return to camp before sunset.

FRIDAY 9 JUNE: THE TREE OF HONOUR

The TOURNAMENT proper will begin with the hanging of shields on the TREE OF HONOUR. Located on the edge of the tournament field, the tree is made from entwined branches of hybrid raspberry and hawthorn, symbolising the new links between France and England. The whole thing is fixed to a stone column and surrounded by wooden railings. At about half past nine, the two kings, sixty noblemen and sixty guards, drawn from both camps, will be meeting at the tree to HANG SHIELDS.

Pride of place, acknowledging that the field is on English soil, will be going to Francis, whose shield is the first to be hung; Henry’s will follow to his right. The shields of fourteen nobles who issue the tournament challenge to all-comers will be added below. Finally, three shields will be added to the lower branches to signify the three components of the tournament to come: a GREY AND BLACK SHIELD for jousting, GOLD AND TAWNY for the tourney and SILVER for foot combat. Over the next couple of hours, the CHALLENGERS IN THE TOURNAMENT will come to the Tree, touch the three shields and place their own shields on the railings. Eventually there will be over 200 challengers and their coats of arms.

SUNDAY 11 JUNE: BRING ON THE BANQUETS

At some point in mid-afternoon the sound of CANNON will signal Henry’s departure for the French camp and Francis setting out for the English camp. They will meet briefly at the field before being received by each other’s QUEENS. If you are able to slip into the BANQUET you will find that the monarchs have their own dining zone (not to be entered), while the rest of the hall has been divided into two by a hanging wall of tapestries.

On one side, over a hundred LADIES OF THE ENGLISH COURT will dine, attended by twenty gentlemen who hover but do not eat. On the other side the leading French nobles DUC DE BOURBON and ADMIRAL BONNIVET dine with their entourage. After dinner there will be DANCING to music from tabors, pipes and viols, with a guest spot for Francis’s own band of FIFES AND TROMBONES who will be laying down a dance ‘in the Italian style’. The key feature of this dance is that, unlike most court masques, the dancers call upon members of the audience to join them.

MONDAY 12 JUNE: JOUSTING BEGINS

On Monday morning much of the English camp will be making its way to the FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD (as it is not yet known). Located just inside the Pais de Calais, midway between Guines and Ardres, the field is 900 feet long and 300 foot wide, enclosed by an eight-foot ditch which in turn has created a high earthen bulwark. Within, the field is marked by wooden railing and posts. Both ends of the field are entered through temporary TRIUMPHAL ARCHES and at the Guines end this is flanked by two sturdy ARMING CHAMBERS for the two monarchs. The Tree of Honour can be seen at the Ardres end just beyond the arch. On the left of the field is the just completed QUEEN’S PAVILION, from which the Royal Households and senior peerage will be watching the day’s events; on its right is a somewhat rickety three-storey pavilion for everyone else. Henry has asked for a further deep ditch to be dug in front of it to prevent incursions from the stands, but the soft earth and likelihood of rain mean that this would imperil the buildings rather shaky foundations. Instead an additional line of railings has been introduced.

In the very centre of the field are the cloth-draped wooden walls that make up THE TILT. Only introduced into jousting in the late fifteenth century, this allows much greater control and precision on their part of the knights, leading to fewer injuries. A second set of railings on either side of the tilt help to keep the horse running straight.

Around noon, the two queens – CLAUDE AND CATHERINE – will make their entrance, swiftly followed by Henry and Francis leading their teams of TENANS – the issuers of the chivalric challenge on which the tournament is based. They will be followed by two teams of VENANS or challengers led by DUC D’ALENCON and ADMIRAL BONNIVET. There will then follow a great deal of presentation, ceremony, doffing of lances and bowing. Finally THE JOUSTS will begin.

TUESDAY 13 TO SATURDAY 17 JUNE: RAINY DAYS AND WRESTLING

The next five days of the tournament are going to be interrupted by squalls and sometimes heavy summer rain showers. TUESDAY 13TH will be rained off altogether and the field will become so sodden that the organisers will have to remove the counter-lists from the tilt; this will lead to much poor-quality jousting as riders are unable to keep their charges consistently close to the centre. WEDNESDAY 14TH will be equally dismal, but enlivened in the afternoon by a large WRESTLING COMPETITION in the mud between English guards and Breton wrestlers, as well as an ENGLISH ARCHERY DISPLAY.

Things will be dry enough on THURSDAY 15TH for JOUSTING to recommence with both Henry and Francis putting in an appearance. HENRY’S JOUST WITH MARSHALL LESCYN is the sporting highlight of the day and a sartorial triumph, with his cloak decorated with lozenges and eglantine flowers of gold. The following day it will rain again and, though a few jousts will be held, neither kings nor queens, nor anyone very special, will show up. However, on SATURDAY 17TH the sun will return and a decent day’s jousting will commence. Both Henry and Francis will appear to be in particularly good fettle, breaking eighteen and fourteen lances respectively in their contest with a team led by the Earl of Devonshire.

SUNDAY 18 JUNE: BACK TO THE BANQUET

The camp will be thick with rumour and gossip today, as FRANCIS will be paying a surprise early morning visit to HENRY’S APARTMENTS, after which they will go to MASS together. Henry will then depart for Ardres and Francis will be relaxing in Queen Catherine’s apartment before DINNER. Again the dining hall will be divided during the meal, with men and women on different sides, but afterwards the tapestries will be cleared and the DANCING will begin, led this time by Francis himself. He will be entering the hall with ten companions in long, velvet-hooded gowns adorned with plumes.

MONDAY 19 AND TUESDAY 20 JUNE: LAST JOUSTS, COSTUMES AND THE TOURNEY

The final days of the JOUST will be clear and dry. On the Monday the two kings will be present and will conduct an elaborate exchange of horses and gifts. On Tuesday they will return to the tilts.

Do try and look out for KING FRANCIS’S CLOTHING, which, on the days he jousts, have been designed to signal through a variety of symbols – brooches and embroidery – carefully calibrated chivalric phrases. Members of the French court will be on hand to help decode these, so feel free to ask. Tuesday’s motto, for example, is ‘Heart fastened in pain endless/when she/delivereth me not of bonds.’

Tuesday will also be the day of the TOURNEY in which combatants fight on horseback and in pairs, but in open space rather than across a barrier. Weapons include blunted swords, staves and clubs but much of the skill and excitement is in the quality of the HORSEMANSHIP as riders attempt tight turns and precise moments of ACCELERATION to ensure their blows have maximum force. The very best competitors will time their runs and blows in front of the Queen’s pavilion.

WEDNESDAY 21 AND THURSDAY 22 JUNE: COMBAT ON FOOT

The FOOT COMBAT of these two days involves individual bouts fought across a central wooden barrier – thus preventing grappling and wrestling and keeping the emphasis on weapon skills. Combatants will use short swords, spears and pikes. It is particularly worth noting the quality of HENRY’S ARMOUR. Although unable to use his most modern and sophisticated armour, after lengthy and complex negotiations with the French Henry is able to wear a suit that displays many technical innovations of the royal armoury. Francis has insisted on the use of closed visors and the tonlet – a protective skirt of metal plates. To this Henry will have added cuisses – laminated steel breeches – and lames, which are the articulated steel plates bound to leather strips that provide unrivalled protection and freedom of movement at the joints.

FRIDAY 23 JUNE: MASS AT THE TILTYARD

Overnight, a huge workforce has been working furiously to repair the TILTYARD and build a vast public stage over it. On this they will have built a large chapel richly furnished with tapestries and bejewelled crucifixes (you may recognise them from the Royal Chapel back at the English camp). Amazingly the task will have been accomplished. You will find the CHAPEL positioned between the Queen’s pavilion and the general viewing galleries.

MASS will begin at noon with Cardinal Wolsey leading proceedings, Note the relative height of the various clerics on the platform: Wolsey is positioned just above Cardinal de Boisy; both are higher than France’s other cardinals, while the bishops of both nations are lower still. Music and singing come from the ROYAL CHOIRS of both nations and the organ from Henry’s chapel. The French organist PIERRE MOUTON, accompanied by voice, sack-buts and coronets will play a particularly good rendition of the liturgical prayer Kyrie.

Look out for CARDINAL BOURBON, who will take the gospel to both Kings and both Queens for them to kiss. Henry and Francis will also embrace with the PAX – a holy kiss – while the Queens join arms. Just prior to the Elevation of the Host, the point at which the wafers and wine become the body of Christ, be sure to look up. You will see a DRAGON appear in the sky. As one contemporary would later report, ‘Lo! Flying in great loops, a slender and hollow monster stretched out in the sky.’ While later paintings will depict a great fire spitting beast, you will see that this is a large, if sturdy and highly decorated, FRENCH KITE. Cardinal Wolsey’s face, upstaged by this event, is worth your consideration.

SATURDAY 24 JUNE: THE LAST SUPPER

Once again the two Kings will EXCHANGE CAMPS AND PALACES for a final FAREWELL BANQUET. On this occasion both will have dressed in their MASQUE OUTFITS before the meal. If you are alert you may be able to see Henry ride out dressed as Hercules in a woven gold lion’s pelt carrying a great wooden club wrapped in green damask. His company are dressed as mixture of HEBREW KINGS and Christian warriors like KING ARTHUR and CHARLEMAGNE. Tonight’s feast will be concluding with the presentation of jewels, gems and other prizes to the winners of the tournament. Drink up, but do return to the Fortescue pavilion for your DEPARTURE.