A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



to meet Francis I. On account of the negotiations 

 having been carried on there, it is known as the 

 Treaty of Hampton Court.' I71 



Perhaps the most wonderful, as well as the last, 

 of all Wolsey's regal entertainments at Hampton 

 Court took place in the autumn of 1527, when a 

 special embassy, consisting of the Grand Master 

 and Marshal of France, Anne de Montmorency 

 du Bellay, the Bishop of Ba) onne, the president of 

 Rouen, and M. d'Humieres, followed by a retinue 

 of a hundred ' of the most noblest and wealthiest 

 gentlemen in all the Court of France," and a guard 

 of five or six hundred horse, came to England to 

 ratify the agreement finally, and to invest the king 

 with the order of St. Michael.'" It is of their visit 

 to Hampton Court that Cavendish gives a de- 



and furnishing the same with beds of silk and other 

 furniture apt for the same in every degree. . . . 

 Then the carpenters, the joiners, the masons, the 

 painters, and all other artificers necessary to glorify 

 the house and feast were set to work. There were 

 fourteen score beds provided and furnished with 

 all manner of furniture to them belonging. . . ." n 

 On the day appointed ' the Frenchmen ' assem- 

 bled at Hampton Court and rode to Hanworth 

 (2 or 3 miles away), where they hunted till the 

 evening, and then returned to the palace, where 

 ' everyone of them was conveyed to his chamber 

 severally, having in them great fires and wine 

 ready to refresh them. The first waiting chamber 

 was hanged with fine arras, and so were all the 

 rest, one better than another, furnished with tall 



HAMPTON COURT PALACE : WOLSEY'S KITCHEN 



lightful account. He begins by describing how 

 the cardinal sent for 'the principal officers of 

 his house, as his steward, comptroller, and the 

 clerks of the kitchen whom he commanded to 

 prepare for this banquet at Hampton Court, and 

 neither to spare for expenses or travail ' that 

 the guests may make ' a glorious report in their 

 country.' ' The cooks wrought both day and night 

 in divers subleties and many crafty devices the 

 yeomen and grooms of the wardrobe were busied 

 in hanging of the chambers with costly hangings, 



yeomen. There was set tables round about the 

 chambers banquet-wise, all covered with fine cloths 

 of diaper. A cupboard of plate " 4 parcel gilt . . . 

 having also in the same chamber, to give the more 

 light, four plates of silver, set with lights upon 

 them, and a great fire in the chimney. The next 

 chamber, being the chamber of presence, hanged 

 with very rich arras, wherein was a gorgeous and 

 precious cloth of estate hanged up, replenished 

 with many goodly gentlemen ready to serve . . . 

 the high table was set and removed beneath the 



?T eon " d > *"*"' d T "** <>' 17 "Du Bella r also mentions 280 ambassadors were there;' L. and P. 

 -x 11, 286 ; c,t Law, op. cit. i, 103 ; beds, as quoted in Mag. Brit. 1724 ; Hen. fill, iv (3), 6748. 

 r f 



Rymer, 



x,v, 195. 



vide also 'accounts for expenses at 

 the French 



'' Memo, d, Martin du Btlley,v^o. Hampton Court when 



33 



3041. 



and P. Hen. fill, v (2), 



