Background
Two entities had started to emerge as powers in Western Europe at this time: France, under Francis I, and the Habsburg Empire, under Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. The Kingdom of England, still a lesser power, was being courted as an ally by the two major powers. The 1518 Treaty of London, a non-aggression pact between major European powers, to help resist the Ottoman expansion into southeastern Europe, had just been signed. Henry also held meetings with Charles V a month before the Field of Cloth of Gold in the Netherlands and again afterwards at Calais, Henry's only possession in the Continent.
Both Henry and Francis wished to be seen as Renaissance princes. Renaissance thinking held that a strong prince could choose peace from a place of strength. The meeting was designed to show how magnificent each court was, and how this could be a basis for mutual respect and peace between nations that were traditional enemies. Henry and Francis were also similar figures of similar age and dashing reputations, so there was almost certainly a mutual curiosity.
Everything was arranged to provide equality between the two groups. The meeting place was at the very edge of the English territory around Calais. The valley where the first meeting took place was landscaped to provide areas of equal elevation for the two national parties. The whole event was planned and executed by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, a charismatic, eloquent master diplomat who as a papal legate had immense power in the name of the pope (Leo X at the time of the meeting). Included among the English guests were Thomas More, and Anne Boleyn's mother and sister.
An earlier meeting between the kings of England and France presaged this one. From 27 to 30 October 1396, Charles VI of France and Richard II of England had met at Ardres near Calais to treat for peace during the Hundred Years' War. The scale, splendour and pageantry was comparable to the later Field of Cloth of Gold meeting held on the same site in 1520.
Read more about this topic: Field Of The Cloth Of Gold
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