ABSTRACT
Processional practice took three major forms in early modem England, each with its own discrete defining characteristics, but sharing much common ground materially, textually, and ideologically. The royal entry and the royal progress were defmed by the determining presence of the sovereign, the 'centre of the centre',1 and form the two types of Elizabethan procession that will be the focus of this current study. 2 The processional form itself was not an innovation of the early modem period, but had its roots in the Roman triumphs that took place in order to celebrate the return of the victorious Roman army from a successful military campaign.3 This triumphal function was still important during Elizabeth l's reign, but such processions had, by that time, broadened their purpose as well as their originating occasion. The essential hypothesis of both types of Elizabethan procession can be regarded as synonymous however: their exhibition of power. As David Bergeron writes: 'The theme that binds all the pageants, whether progress shows or royal entries, together is the celebration of Elizabeth's power, her spiritual, mystical, transforming power'. 4 The major contrast between them can be seen to be a geographical one, in the sense that royal entries were the urban manifestations of this desire to celebrate sovereign power, and royal progresses their primarily rural modes of representation. This was no small difference however and, as Bergeron goes on to say, resulted in the production of entertainments that reflected these particular locations: 'in the Elizabethan era mythology and romance dominate in the progress entertainments while historical subjects and moral allegory abound in the royal entries'. 5 The progress thus witnessed the production of a primarily pastoral mode of representation, whilst the entry invoked a more spectacular and historically specific mode of address. The inhabitants of London were presented with two of these magnificent urban spectacles during Elizabeth's reign, the first to mark her ascendancy to the throne, and the second to commemorate victory over the Spanish in 1588. Many other cities were host to an Elizabethan royal entry, such as Coventry, Warwick, Bristol, and Norwich, but never on the scale reserved for the two unique occasions in the capital.
