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Civic Ritual and Disciplined Dissent in Late Medieval England

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Eliza Hartrich discusses the range of urban rituals in late medieval England, the 1433 mayor-making procession in Norwich and speaks to the politics of attendance

Image courtesy of interviewee. August 1, 2024

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This video discusses a scholarly analysis of political behavior and rituals in late medieval England, specifically through the lens of "discipline dissent." The speaker explains that traditional views of politics often frame it as a binary of submission versus rebellion, but this perspective overlooks more nuanced forms of political interaction that do not fall neatly into those categories.

The focus is on how non-elite groups in urban settings, such as towns in the 14th and 15th centuries, utilized rituals to negotiate political positions and achieve concessions from civic authorities. The speaker emphasizes the importance of attendance and participation in rituals as a means of either reinforcing or compromising the legitimacy of political authority. An example includes the procession accompanying a newly elected mayor, where varying levels of participation can signal support or dissent, influencing future negotiations.

This video also outlines the evolution of scholarly thought on the role of urban rituals, highlighting shifts from viewing them as purely unifying civic acts to understanding how they can serve as tools of control over the populace, and even how failed rituals can indicate challenges to authority.

In conclusion, the speaker advocates for a more complex understanding of political agency in history, suggesting that future research should critically examine medieval records to uncover the implications of ritual participation and the often-implicit dissent communicated through absence.

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Here are some key quotes from the video you've :

1. **Discipline Descent Concept**:
- "Discipline descent was getting at is this idea that we too often looked at politics as a binary between submission and rebellion or resistance."

2. **Political Behavior**:
- "Investigate forms of political behavior that weren't quite consenting to what a ruling elite put forward... but also weren't framed as deliberate or obvious acts of resistance."

3. **Urban Rituals**:
- "There are a ton of rituals that are newly recorded that have to be performed in urban politics."

4. **Leverage of Rituals**:
- "How do they use those rituals to negotiate better political positions... for it to be successful, you need to make sure that you have participant willing participants and an audience."

5. **Political Agency**:
- "A way of looking at political agency that isn't just about submission or outward resistance."

6. **Historical Scholarship on Rituals**:
- "Urban ritual has been studied a lot... rituals performed a function... not only illustrated the power of elites, but... essentially gained the consent of the wider community."

7. **Failed Rituals and Rebellions**:
- "The way in which... rebellions... also mimic or adopt elements of ritual processions pursued by the elites."

8. **Significance of Attendance**:
- "The real compromising of legitimacy isn't people staging a massive protest, but is just not going on the procession."

9. **Negotiations vs. Rebellion**:
- "After this failed procession... they actually go on to further negotiations... this procession that people have not attended... means that you still have some options available."

10. **Civic Unity as a Facade**:
- "Statements that seem on the surface to be fairly ordinary... many of these ordinances were probably being forced from civic governments by threatened non-attendance at rituals of those below."

These quotes encapsulate the essence of the discussion regarding urban rituals, political dynamics, and how participation—or lack thereof—shapes power and authority in late medieval Europe.

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Here are some suggested articles that would align with the themes and concepts discussed in your video regarding political behavior, rituals, and dissent in late medieval England:

1. **"Ritual, Politics, and Power: The Role of Public Ceremonies in Late Medieval Cities"** - This article examines how public rituals influenced the power dynamics within urban centers in medieval Europe, analyzing both participatory and exclusionary aspects of civic rituals.

2. **"Negotiating Authority: The Role of Civic Rituals in Late Medieval England"** - This scholarly work explores the strategies used by non-elite groups to exert influence on civic leadership through participation in public rituals, similar to the videoual analysis of discipline dissent.

3. **"Beyond Rebellion: Exploring Forms of Political Resistance in the Middle Ages"** - This article discusses how medieval social groups used various non-confrontational methods, including rituals and public ceremonies, to express dissent and seek concessions, echoing the ideas presented in your video.

4. **"The Politics of Absence: Dissent and Participation in Medieval Rituals"** - Focusing on the absence of individuals in civic rituals, this article explores how non-participation can serve as a powerful form of political resistance and dissent.

5. **"Urban Rituals and the Fabric of Civic Life in Late Medieval England"** - This piece delves into the significance of urban rituals in late medieval England, highlighting how they were used by diverse groups to negotiate with local authorities and influence the political landscape.

6. **"Rituals of Power: Governance and Authority in Medieval Urban Centers"** - An analysis of how governance in medieval cities was constructed and contested through public rituals, reflecting on the interplay between political authority and community participation.

7. **"Revisiting Medieval Political Thought: Agency, Ritual, and Dissent"** - This article engages with contemporary scholarship on medieval political agency, addressing how rituals can reflect subtle forms of dissent and political negotiation.

These articles should provide a deeper understanding of the intricate relationship between rituals, political authority, and dissent in the convideo of late medieval England.

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

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This article was part of a much larger collection

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that was looking at a concept called discipline descent in,

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in late medieval Europe.

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And essentially what discipline descent was getting at is

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this idea that we too often looked at politics

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as a binary between submission

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and rebellion or resistance.

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And, a scholar called Fabrizio

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to Tony brought together a large number

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of historians working on the little,

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on the later middle ages to see if we could

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investigate forms of political behavior

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that weren't quite consenting to

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what a ruling elite put forward,

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but also weren't framed as deliberate

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or obvious acts of resistance.

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I study late medieval English towns in the 14th

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and 15th centuries,

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and one of the really interesting things

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about this period is that there are a ton of

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rituals that are newly recorded that have

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to be performed in urban politics.

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Um, so for instance, a newly elected mayor is brought

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by a crowd of people, to his house

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and hosts a feast there.

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Um, there are a series of, craft guilds each have

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to perform a particular, play

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during the Corpus Christi Feast.

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Um, there are oath taking ceremonies.

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There are ceremonial writings of the boundaries of a city.

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And what I was really looking at here is how groups

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who aren't part of the elite of urban politics, so

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who aren't mayors

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or city counselors, how do they use those rituals

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to negotiate better political positions,

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in particular because

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whenever you do host a ritual, for it to be successful,

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you need to make sure that you have an participant willing

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participants and an audience.

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So I was looking at how people

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who weren't officers in urban governments in the late middle

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Ages used that leverage of,

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the fact that rituals need an audience

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and need participants

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to get concessions from the civic government.

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And using that framework to find, again,

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a s Butler way of looking at, political,

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political agency that isn't just about submission

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or, or outward resistance.

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Urban ritual has been studied a lot.

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It's, it's been incredibly, it's been incredibly popular,

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topic of scholarship really since the 1970s,

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in the work of people like Charles Pit Adams

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and Mervin James in particular. And

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They were largely inspired by anthropologists,

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Victor Turner, Mary Douglas,

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CLO Strauss.

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Um, and through that anthropological framework,

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these historians argued that all of these civic rituals,

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that we were seeing in English towns in the 14th

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and 15th centuries were essentially ways

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of creating community cohesion.

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They, using this anthropology, they argued

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that rituals performed a function, in politics, in

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that they not only illustrated the power of elites,

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but that they essentially gained the consent

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of the wider community by incorporating them

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into these patterned activities.

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Um, and that especially by,

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because these rituals often had religious elements in terms

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of, for example, parading the Eucharist, so the,

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the bread representing the body of Christ, that

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that lent a sort of sexuality

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to these visual processions that represented community.

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So that original scholarship was about

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rituals creating community.

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Um, and then the scholarship started to change a bit

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as we got into the 1990s and two thousands,

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and that, that framework of ritual is cohesion started

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to lose traction.

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And you get the work of people like Barbara Alt who argues

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that the urban government of London in the 15th century

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ends up having so many rituals

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because it's essentially their way

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of subduing the populace of that.

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There were, London was involved in a large number

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of rebellions, particularly in the late 14th century,

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and real challenges to civic authority by lesser citizens.

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And Hult argues that, the elaboration

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of civic ritual is a way of making,

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urban officials look good, showcasing their wealth

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and their power, and thereby, cowing the populace

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and also kind of forcing the populace

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into contr into contributing to these, essentially,

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authoritarian displays.

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Um, and most recently, a third school

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of looking at urban ritual has developed,

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which has really emphasized failed ritual performances.

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So the way in which, for instance,

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rebellions in the late middle ages also mimic

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or adopt elements of ritual processions

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pursued by the elites

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Or, or how the active disruption of rituals,

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could serve as a form of political protest.

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Uh, for instance, Christian Liddy cites

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how in York in the 15th century, there was an occasion

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where, people in the room refuse

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to put up their hands to swear an oath of loyalty

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that's required at a particular moment.

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And that the fact that these are stereotyped occasions

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where certain behaviors are expected then means

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that when they are actively disrupted, it's interpreted

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as a rebellion against particular policies

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or particular individuals.

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Um, again, through,

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adopting this discipline dissent model,

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what I was doing here was thinking of that we

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can see participation in rituals as something

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that isn't either, again,

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fortifying the power of elites and authorities

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or as a means of resisting it.

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And, actually one of the things that inspired me

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to think in this way was,

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Donald Trump's inauguration in 2017.

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Um, you may remember there were quite a lot of protests

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around at the time, but the thing that really, really seemed

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to catch the attention of the media, was the fact

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that Trump had allegedly doctored the photograph

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to make it look like more people were attending the,

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his oath of office than actually were.

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So there, that really got me thinking

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when we're looking at urban rituals,

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we shouldn't be thinking that, that actually a lot

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of the interesting political behavior might not necessarily

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be those who are actively protesting,

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but instead, those who compromise a display

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of power or an expected

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or the expected cadences of an occasion simply

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by not attending the 1433 Norwich mayoral election

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is really the opening sal though, to a decades long series

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of disputes, within,

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between different factions in the city of Norwich.

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Um, and we have the really interesting set of

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documents from a few years

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after 1433,

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where the different parties in this dispute attempt

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to explain their behavior to the court of Chancery,

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which is part of royal government.

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And so we have essentially documents

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that present two sides of the same story.

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Um, and there is one faction in the city

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that says William Gray was elected mayor,

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and he,

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Then the, the alderman

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and the vast majority of the commons, so the sort

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of ordinary citizens of the city then walked with him

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to his house as part of the expected, procession.

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So that's their point of view.

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Now, the faction that was opposing William Gray says that

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that is not what happened.

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And that gray essentially started his procession.

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A few alderman joined him

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and almost no members of the commons

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or the wider citizenry.

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And the implicit argument there is

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that he's not really there

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because he was unable to command wider support,

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to, to finish these

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expected legitimating rituals.

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And one of the rea, so

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what I was thinking about there is that the, again,

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the real compromising

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of legitimacy isn't people staging a massive protest,

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but is just not going on the perception.

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And this also

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is an interesting approach

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because it's something that doesn't, cut off

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potential further negotiations.

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So if you mounted a protest against a newly elected mayor,

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that's something where you could be,

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punished either within the city

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or even within royal courts for rebellion,

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and would sort of halt any negotiations.

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Whereas, after this failed procession

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or this allegedly failed procession of William Gray,

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the two sides in this Norwich dispute actually go on

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to further negotiations that are, are that,

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under the arbitration of the Bishop of Norwich, so

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that this procession that people have not attended

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because it's a more, but

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because it's a form of withdrawing

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or limited consent rather than overt resistance, means

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that you still have some options available

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and can continue to negotiate in a way where

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nobody is losing faith as you might do if you were,

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you know, negotiating with people

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who had overtly rebelled against you.

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The negotiations don't end up going anywhere.

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But the fact that they took, the fact that they took place,

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I think speaks to this politics

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of attendance that actually being present

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or absent for something is a,

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is crucially important for exercising power as,

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asserting legitimacy.

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And that political regimes, one

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of the things they really need to do is to make sure

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that when they put on display the ritual,

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they look like they're supposed to look

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and have the number of people around 'em to show

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that they can command resources and command support.

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And when that doesn't happen,

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there are then further negotiations,

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where those political authorities rise to see

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what they can do to gain

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that performative compliance that they need.

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So again, opening negotiations rather than closing them down

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in a way that a rebellion might.

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And I think part of the implications are looking at,

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again, this, this subtler way of looking at politics

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and thinking about political agency

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that isn't just rebellions and authority,

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but at these more, these more complex processes

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of negotiation between different parties.

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And when speaking more specifically

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to the medieval context, I think it can be illuminating

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because most of the records that we have of

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that come from medieval towns are written

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by people in authority,

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and they almost always present all the ordinances.

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They're passing all the minutes of the city council.

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They almost always present them as coming from unity.

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Everyone agreed that x

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and with the exception of a, again,

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you'll get a few hints of overt rebellions here and there,

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but largely these records show consensus within a community.

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And I think that the model I've presented is a way of kind

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of taking away at that.

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Um, so for instance, if you look at,

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statements that I discussed,

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for instance about putting on the Corpus Christi plays,

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by the, the Beverly Civic government,

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they have a lovely statement that says, we all agreed

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that the gentleman of the city should be, those

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who are not part of craft guilds should also be putting on

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place, as part of these Corpus Christi place, so

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that they're par paying their fair share.

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Um, that all sounds like a lovely intention of civic unity,

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but if we look behind the surface a little bit, you can see

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that there's significant, a lot that that kind

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of an ordinance was proceeded by

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Craft guilds within the city saying,

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we are too poor to put on plays.

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Um, or we, yes, we can't put on our play for these reasons.

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And occasionally you have guilds that don't put on plays

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or put them on poorly.

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There's a famous time where someone in Beverly is fined

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for not knowing their lines properly, for the play.

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And I think it's those instances

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of threatened non-participation that then

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provoke these statements about we've all decided

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that more gentlemen will contribute to the plays,

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I sincerely, and it, it says that's for the,

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the greater union and harmony of the worthier

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and lesser citizens.

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My guess is that the gentlemen have not spontaneously come

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up and said, we've not been playing, we've not been paying

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to put on a play before, but we'll do so now.

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My guess is that, that

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what we're seeing in the records is come as, as spontaneous

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and communitarian is actually prompted by,

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threatened absence from rituals

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by lesser people within the community.

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I think it's a way of looking at the surviving records we

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have against the grain

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and questioning some of these statements

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that seem on the surface to be fairly ordinary

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or representing communal consensus that in fact a lot

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of these, ordinances were probably being forced

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from civic governments

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by threatened non-attendance at rituals of those below.

00:00 - This article was part of a much larger collection that was looking at a concept called discipline descent in, in late medieval Europe. And essentially what discipline descent was getting at is this idea that we too often looked at politics as a binary between submission

00:23 - and rebellion or resistance. And, a scholar called Fabrizio to Tony brought together a large number of historians working on the little, on the later middle ages to see if we could investigate forms of political behavior that weren't quite consenting to what a ruling elite put forward, but also weren't framed as deliberate or obvious acts of resistance.

00:51 - I study late medieval English towns in the 14th and 15th centuries, and one of the really interesting things about this period is that there are a ton of rituals that are newly recorded that have to be performed in urban politics. so for instance, a newly elected mayor is brought by a crowd of people, to his house and hosts a feast there. there are a series of, craft guilds each have

01:23 - to perform a particular, play during the Corpus Christi Feast. there are oath taking ceremonies. There are ceremonial writings of the boundaries of a city. And what I was really looking at here is how groups who aren't part of the elite of urban politics, so who aren't mayors or city counselors, how do they use those rituals to negotiate better political positions, in particular because

01:57 - whenever you do host a ritual, for it to be successful, you need to make sure that you have an participant willing participants and an audience. So I was looking at how people who weren't officers in urban governments in the late middle Ages used that leverage of, the fact that rituals need an audience and need participants to get concessions from the civic government. And using that framework to find, again,

02:31 - a s Butler way of looking at, political, political agency that isn't just about submission or, or outward resistance. Urban ritual has been studied a lot. It's, it's been incredibly, it's been incredibly popular, topic of scholarship really since the 1970s, in the work of people like Charles Pit Adams and Mervin James in particular. And They were largely inspired by anthropologists, Victor Turner, Mary Douglas,

03:06 - CLO Strauss. and through that anthropological framework, these historians argued that all of these civic rituals, that we were seeing in English towns in the 14th and 15th centuries were essentially ways of creating community cohesion. They, using this anthropology, they argued that rituals performed a function, in politics, in that they not only illustrated the power of elites, but that they essentially gained the consent

03:40 - of the wider community by incorporating them into these patterned activities. and that especially by, because these rituals often had religious elements in terms of, for example, parading the Eucharist, so the, the bread representing the body of Christ, that that lent a sort of sexuality to these visual processions that represented community. So that original scholarship was about rituals creating community.

04:16 - and then the scholarship started to change a bit as we got into the 1990s and two thousands, and that, that framework of ritual is cohesion started to lose traction. And you get the work of people like Barbara Alt who argues that the urban government of London in the 15th century ends up having so many rituals because it's essentially their way of subduing the populace of that. There were, London was involved in a large number

04:51 - of rebellions, particularly in the late 14th century, and real challenges to civic authority by lesser citizens. And Hult argues that, the elaboration of civic ritual is a way of making, urban officials look good, showcasing their wealth and their power, and thereby, cowing the populace and also kind of forcing the populace into contr into contributing to these, essentially, authoritarian displays. and most recently, a third school

05:34 - of looking at urban ritual has developed, which has really emphasized failed ritual performances. So the way in which, for instance, rebellions in the late middle ages also mimic or adopt elements of ritual processions pursued by the elites Or, or how the active disruption of rituals, could serve as a form of political protest. for instance, Christian Liddy cites how in York in the 15th century, there was an occasion

06:11 - where, people in the room refuse to put up their hands to swear an oath of loyalty that's required at a particular moment. And that the fact that these are stereotyped occasions where certain behaviors are expected then means that when they are actively disrupted, it's interpreted as a rebellion against particular policies or particular individuals. again, through, adopting this discipline dissent model,

06:47 - what I was doing here was thinking of that we can see participation in rituals as something that isn't either, again, fortifying the power of elites and authorities or as a means of resisting it. And, actually one of the things that inspired me to think in this way was, Donald Trump's inauguration in 2017. you may remember there were quite a lot of protests around at the time, but the thing that really, really seemed

07:24 - to catch the attention of the media, was the fact that Trump had allegedly doctored the photograph to make it look like more people were attending the, his oath of office than actually were. So there, that really got me thinking when we're looking at urban rituals, we shouldn't be thinking that, that actually a lot of the interesting political behavior might not necessarily be those who are actively protesting, but instead, those who compromise a display

08:01 - of power or an expected or the expected cadences of an occasion simply by not attending the 1433 Norwich mayoral election is really the opening sal though, to a decades long series of disputes, within, between different factions in the city of Norwich. and we have the really interesting set of documents from a few years after 1433, where the different parties in this dispute attempt

08:34 - to explain their behavior to the court of Chancery, which is part of royal government. And so we have essentially documents that present two sides of the same story. and there is one faction in the city that says William Gray was elected mayor, and he, Then the, the alderman and the vast majority of the commons, so the sort of ordinary citizens of the city then walked with him

09:06 - to his house as part of the expected, procession. So that's their point of view. Now, the faction that was opposing William Gray says that that is not what happened. And that gray essentially started his procession. A few alderman joined him and almost no members of the commons or the wider citizenry. And the implicit argument there is that he's not really there

09:39 - because he was unable to command wider support, to, to finish these expected legitimating rituals. And one of the rea, so what I was thinking about there is that the, again, the real compromising of legitimacy isn't people staging a massive protest, but is just not going on the perception. And this also is an interesting approach

10:13 - because it's something that doesn't, cut off potential further negotiations. So if you mounted a protest against a newly elected mayor, that's something where you could be, punished either within the city or even within royal courts for rebellion, and would sort of halt any negotiations. Whereas, after this failed procession or this allegedly failed procession of William Gray, the two sides in this Norwich dispute actually go on

10:51 - to further negotiations that are, are that, under the arbitration of the Bishop of Norwich, so that this procession that people have not attended because it's a more, but because it's a form of withdrawing or limited consent rather than overt resistance, means that you still have some options available and can continue to negotiate in a way where nobody is losing faith as you might do if you were, you know, negotiating with people

11:28 - who had overtly rebelled against you. The negotiations don't end up going anywhere. But the fact that they took, the fact that they took place, I think speaks to this politics of attendance that actually being present or absent for something is a, is crucially important for exercising power as, asserting legitimacy. And that political regimes, one of the things they really need to do is to make sure

12:08 - that when they put on display the ritual, they look like they're supposed to look and have the number of people around 'em to show that they can command resources and command support. And when that doesn't happen, there are then further negotiations, where those political authorities rise to see what they can do to gain that performative compliance that they need. So again, opening negotiations rather than closing them down

12:40 - in a way that a rebellion might. And I think part of the implications are looking at, again, this, this subtler way of looking at politics and thinking about political agency that isn't just rebellions and authority, but at these more, these more complex processes of negotiation between different parties. And when speaking more specifically to the medieval context, I think it can be illuminating because most of the records that we have of

13:19 - that come from medieval towns are written by people in authority, and they almost always present all the ordinances. They're passing all the minutes of the city council. They almost always present them as coming from unity. Everyone agreed that x and with the exception of a, again, you'll get a few hints of overt rebellions here and there, but largely these records show consensus within a community. And I think that the model I've presented is a way of kind

13:56 - of taking away at that. so for instance, if you look at, statements that I discussed, for instance about putting on the Corpus Christi plays, by the, the Beverly Civic government, they have a lovely statement that says, we all agreed that the gentleman of the city should be, those who are not part of craft guilds should also be putting on place, as part of these Corpus Christi place, so that they're par paying their fair share.

14:34 - that all sounds like a lovely intention of civic unity, but if we look behind the surface a little bit, you can see that there's significant, a lot that that kind of an ordinance was proceeded by Craft guilds within the city saying, we are too poor to put on plays. or we, yes, we can't put on our play for these reasons. And occasionally you have guilds that don't put on plays or put them on poorly. There's a famous time where someone in Beverly is fined

15:09 - for not knowing their lines properly, for the play. And I think it's those instances of threatened non-participation that then provoke these statements about we've all decided that more gentlemen will contribute to the plays, I sincerely, and it, it says that's for the, the greater union and harmony of the worthier and lesser citizens. My guess is that the gentlemen have not spontaneously come up and said, we've not been playing, we've not been paying

15:45 - to put on a play before, but we'll do so now. My guess is that, that what we're seeing in the records is come as, as spontaneous and communitarian is actually prompted by, threatened absence from rituals by lesser people within the community. I think it's a way of looking at the surviving records we have against the grain and questioning some of these statements that seem on the surface to be fairly ordinary

16:18 - or representing communal consensus that in fact a lot of these, ordinances were probably being forced from civic governments by threatened non-attendance at rituals of those below.

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