ABSTRACT
All early modern representative assemblies included an element of ceremony and ritual but that broad commonality masks a diversity of form and symbolism. Most seem to have involved the placing of members of the assembly in order of social rank. 1 The procession which marked the opening and closing of the Scottish parliament was known as the ‘riding’ of parliament and it was one of the more elaborate parliamentary ceremonies in Europe. The entire membership processed (if the estates were meeting in Edinburgh) up the hill from the royal palace of Holyrood, through the Canongate, into Edinburgh through its eastern gateway, the Netherbow Port, up the High Street to the parliament house where they would dismount, enter the chamber and be seated by ushers. Although there is evidence for a ceremonial procession at the beginning of a parliamentary session as early as 1529, 2 it reached its most developed form in the early seventeenth century. The riding included a number of messages. For onlookers it emphasised the majesty of the institution of parliament and the authority of monarch and estates, the sovereign body in the realm, thus emphasising the unity of parliament and of the nation as a whole. Yet paradoxically, as in the religious processions upon which it undoubtedly drew, it also underlined social divisions, delineating the groups which were involved and their status relative to each other. 3 For those actually participating, the affirmation of the status of each group within the whole was important, as was the ranking of individuals within each estate. 4
