In context of the late medieval state centralisation the political autonomy ofthe towns of the Low Counties Northern France and the Swiss Confederation wasthrea... » 

In context of the late medieval state centralisation the political autonomy ofthe towns of the Low Counties Northern France and the Swiss Confederation wasthreatened by tensions with higher levels of power. Within this conflict bothrulers and towns employed symbolic means of communication to legitimise theirpower position. The authors of Symbolic Communication in Late Medieval Townsexplore how new layers of meaning were attached to wellknown traditions andhow these new rituals were perceived. They study the public encounters betweenrulers and towns as well as the use of rituals to express the political andreligious relations between the various social groups within the town. «