Appendix A

Summary

No claim is made for this list being complete. It is constructed only from materials referenced in Chapter 1. Also, because terms such as “cloþes” in medieval records might be read as meaning banners or fabric hangings that are suspended from windows, balconies, or roofs, it is not always clear just how the streets were decorated. “Ouerhead” is another ambiguous medieval term – it is impossible to know if this means fabric is used to construct a covering of the open space above the heads of the procession, or if it only refers to the hangings or banners being placed high up on the building walls along which the procession travels.

942 Religious procession in Constantinople:

Draping of a processional route occurred at least as early as 942 when the walls along the short pedestrian route from the Great Palace to the religious site of Hagia Sophia were hung with brocade.

1236 Coronation of Eleanor, queen of Henry III:

The first known English occasion on which the festivities began to transcend decoration and procession took place in 1236 with the coronation of Eleanor, queen of Henry III. In preparation for the arrival of the king and queen, the citizens decorated the city somewhat more sumptuously than usual, it seems, with [wearing] mantles of fine linen and flags, garlands and hangings[my emphasis], candles and lamps, and ‘certain great and marvelous inventions.’