When a ruler was anointed during his coronation, he entered into a contract with God to become His representative on earth. The ruler entered into a contract with his people, however, when he appeared in person before the gates of a city and formally requested to be allowed to make his solemn entry. The people recognised his authority by presenting him with the keys of that city, which he immediately returned, before allowing him to proceed through the city gate under a baldachin and along a special route.
This route was usually decorated with triumphal arches and other ephemeral structures, which were covered with painted emblems and symbols confirming the people’s loyalty to their lord but also spelling out what they hoped for from him.
The ceremonial entry, sometimes called the triumphal entry or, in France, the joyous entry, goes back to the adventus ceremony of ancient Rome, in which the emperor formally entered the city. Christ’s entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, riding not in a golden chariot but on a donkey, is a subversion of the Roman imperial entry, and in its turn forms part of the iconography of the royal entries that this book discusses.
The entry was always accompanied by a feast and, as time went on, by ever more elaborate and lavish pageantry. Early Modern rulers sometimes went on a progress round their kingdom, making solemn entries into a succession of different cities. The popes had their own version of the ceremonial entry, called the possesso, in which a newly crowned pontiff rode from St Peter’s in Rome to the church of St John Lateran. On their marriage, royal brides were first shown to their new subjects in a bridal entry.
The 14 essays in the beautifully produced Ceremonial Entries in Early Modern Europe: the Iconography of Power discuss different kinds of entries in various countries. France is represented by four essays. Richard Cooper shows how 16th-century French kings used their entries to present themselves as army commanders, while Margaret McGowan explains how Henri IV’s entry into Rouen in 1596 depicted the king as restorer of the state after a time of war. Linda Briggs discusses the 27-month-long progress of the teenage King Charles IX round his kingdom from 1565-66, a progress masterminded by his mother, Catherine de Médicis. Marie-Claude Canova-Green analyses Louis XIII’s representation of himself as the victor over Protestantism.
In contrast to all this royal manipulation of the entry, Sara Trevisan discusses the use of the myth of the Golden Fleece by the Drapers Company in the Lord Mayor’s shows in 16th- and 17th-century London. Lucia Nuti shows how the popes remodelled the city of Rome to make a ceremonial route; her transcription of the register of expenses for the coronation of Pope Leo X in 1513 is usefully printed as an appendix. Jacek Żukowski opens the reader’s eyes to ephemeral architecture in the service of King Vladislaus IV Vasa, King of Poland, who reigned from 1632-48. Sixteenth-century Habsburg festivals, entries into Scottish cities, music in Italian entries, water-borne entries on the Thames and Elizabeth of Valois’s entry into Spain in 1559 are the topics of other essays.
What the book lacks is an overview that would stand back from these very specific events and, perhaps by using recent work on the performative aspects or on ritual and ceremonia, would enable the reader to see beyond the glamour and spectacle to understand how these interactions between ruler and ruled actually functioned.
Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly is professor of German literature at Oxford University
Ceremonial Entries in Early Modern Europe: the Iconography of Power
J.R. Mulryne, Maria Ines Aliverti and Anna Maria Testaverde, eds
Ashgate Publishing, 388pp £85 (hb)