STUDIES OF CIVIC WELCOMES provided for members of the ruling dynasty in late medieval England have tended to concentrate upon the pageantry of the spectacle. A substantial corpus of work investigates the form and allegorical allusions of the rites that constituted the programme of the reception. 1 As a result, the overwhelming tendency has been to approach spectacle from the perspective of the royal visitor, despite the fact that virtually every aspect of the ceremony was controlled and implemented by the citizens of the town. 2 Some historians have been especially interested in employing royal entries as a crucible in which to test notions of Christocentric kingship in the later Middle Ages. 3 Others have seen the entry ceremony as an example of royal propaganda and the imposition of monarchical political power and authority over urban populations. 4 As a result of this top-down approach, entries have been * I would like to thank Douglas Aiton and Bryan Dick for their comments on drafts of this article. I would especially like to thank Graeme Small for the support and guidance he provided at every stage of this article's development.

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