ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the intricate performed dialogue which lay at the core of triumphal entries, ambassadorial receptions and banquets. These occasions both revealed and constructed hierarchies and identities. They entailed multiple layers of interaction between courts and their subjects, as well as between different courts. As such, they were an opportunity to convey messages, sometimes explicit and at other times veiled in classical allegory, the reception of which was carefully managed by restrictions in both spatial and intellectual access to the events. The differentiated experiences this created enabled the various actors, each with their own underlying agenda, to participate in these spectacular occasions that punctuated the lives not just of early modern courts, but also of entire cities.
