December 7: The Field of Cloth of Gold
Thank you so much to Gayle Hulme for these photos taken at the Field of Cloth of Gold exhibition at Hampton Court Palace. They show the Henry VII cope, chasuble and chalice veil which were loaned to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey by Westminster Abbey for the Field of Cloth of Gold. He and the bishops who attended him wore these beautiful vestments to say mass in the temporary chapel that had been erected on the tiltyard on the penultimate day of the historic meeting.
The vestments are made from velvet cloth of gold brocaded with loops of silver-gilt and silver, and date to 1499-1505. The cope and chalice veil are owned now by Stonyhurst College, and the chasuble by the Jesuits in Britain.
Gayle Hulme is a blogger who runs the British Sovereigns and Royals history pages on social media, and an author who contributed to the book Sexuality and its Impact on History: The British Stripped Bare.