Moving London: Pageantry and Performance in the Early Modern City

Abstract

Despite a legacy of critical misapprehension, the study of early modern civic pageantry reveals a vital and wide-ranging performance culture that animated the city and its inhabitants. Investigation of the place of pageantry in the early modern imagination illustrates the potent accessibility of the forms it encompassed. Placing the diverse experiences and competences of pageant consumers, from the urban spectator in the crowd to the readers of printed pageant books, alongside the skilled work of the cast of collaborators involved in pageant design and performance, illustrates the multi-layered fabric of pageant culture in early modern London as well as the possibilities for critical engagement exemplified by the contributors to this special issue.