<P>The Field of Cloth of Gold, a unique moment in European history, is explored in all its elegance in this lavishly illustrated book. Although it did not alter the course of the relations between the two kingdoms, this brief episode of Anglo-French reconciliation was the occasion for an extraordinary display of luxury and riches, whose unequalled profusion enduringly captured popular imagination. The meeting of Francis I and Henry VIII from June 7 to June 24, 1520, was above all a festival—of youth, of knightly ideals, of sensual pleasures, and of insouciance. The book brings to life this world of political illusion, cultural rivalries, and the emergence of the French Renaissance and provides an understanding of the European context that gave rise to this highly novel encounter. It relives the feasts, jousting, and masquerades of the Field of Cloth of Gold and follows the ups and downs of this seemingly impossible peace.