Art and Spectacle. During the late Middle Ages, urban ceremonies impressed public events upon the collective memory of the inhabitants of a city. They included processions, royal visits, plays, liturgical celebrations, tournaments, and coronations. Rituals marking pivotal events in the life cycle such as births, marriages, or death bridged the domains of public and private life. These activities defined urban relations, creating social solidarity by reinforcing hierarchical order through gender and social norms. They also often created tensions, making public those who were excluded based upon issues of class, gender, age, or noncitizenship. Rituals modeled behavior, just as courtesy books did, in outlining proper behavior at a meal. During the royal entry of a king into a city the ritual procession mirrored his place in society as he saw it. The plays and art that the city government and social institutions devised, however...