ABSTRACT

This Introduction offers a framework for the essays included in Civic Performance: Pageantry and Entertainments in Early Modern London by mapping current trends in theorising pageantry, entertainments, and ceremony in the public spaces of early modern London as well as how this subject area broadens our understanding of the socio-historical and material culture of this burgeoning early modern metropolis. It provides brief introductions to the key critical concerns of the volume and the individual contributions, explaining the subdivision of the essays into three sections: Civic to global; Material encounters; and Methodologies for re-viewing performance. Included in this statement of intent and methodology is an explicit engagement with the multifaceted perspectives of this collection: London as a stage and physical space; the ephemeral nature of these types of performances; the relationship between text and performance; the audience and participants; ritualised ceremony, tradition and civic identity; civic history (real and imagined); global concerns; and how digital humanities might reframe our discussion of the field.