Thomas Jordan's description of the 1680 Lord Mayor's Show
In London Civic Theatre, Lancashire describes the Lord Mayor's Shows saying that "The mayor set out out from the city, accompanied by craft guild members in full livery dress, and processed... first by land to the Thames, then by water to Westminster, then back by water to the city, and by land to the Guildhall again. The processions both by land and by water involved music and elaborate display (of banners, for example, and of livery dress), perhaps more elaborate display on the water as well... and, by the 1530s to 1540s, it has generally been believed, Midsummer-Watch-type (i.e., constructed of wood-and-canvas and portable) land pageants, provided by the livery company each year to which the new mayor belonged." (170) Although similar to the Midsummer Watch, Lancashire argues that there is no clear evidence to suggest that the Lord Mayor's Shows replaced the Watch or that they were related in any way. The Lord Mayor's Shows were developed around the mayor's oath-taking ceremony. They were meant to honour the new mayor of the city of London and demonstrate the prowess of his company.
In his book English Civic Pageantry 1558-1642, David M. Bergeron says, "Like the royal entry, the Lord Mayor's Show was basically a procession through London as the new mayor made his way to Westminster to take his oath of office. On his return to the city and to the Guildhall the company of which he was member would present its dramatic show consisting generally of various dramatic tableaux stationed along the route." (123) In some sense the Lord Mayor's Show was the link between the Midsummer Watch and the Royal Entry. The lavishness of the pageantry in the Lord Mayor's Show is reminiscent to that in the Midsummer Watch. The overall subject matter of the pageants and the function of the Show, however, is more closely related to that of the royal processions. Bergeron continues on saying that "What emerges in the mayoral pageants of the period is a pattern paralleling in many respects the development of royal entry and progress pageants of the same era - the religious milieu fades, well-known dramatists become associated with the shows, a sophistication occurs in the dramatic action and speech." (125) Playwrights such as Heywood, Dekker, and Middleton developed much more scripted pageants with highly stylized language to accompany the liturgical imagery. Bergeron describes the pageantry in the 1561 Show inaugurating Sit William Harper into office, saying that "Mythological characters and one Biblical character comprise the figures presented on the pageant device, apparently some type of scaffold arrangement which could be carried through the city. Each personage, David, Orpheus, Amphion, Arion, and Topas, has his 'story' painted about him." (127) The pageants were allegorical in nature and were designed to teach lessons, like morality plays. They became less Biblical and more mythological and historiographical. Bergeron explains that the "availability of these texts grants the mayoralty shows, as it does for other civic pageants, a permanence otherwise denied to them by scanty records of the trade guilds". (131) As the more prominent dramatists became involved in the creation of the pageants the practice of printed and distributing the texts in some form or other also became more common, meaning that the stories would live on past the Lord Mayor's Shows.
There are many theories as to why the Lord Mayor's Shows developed into large public displays like the Midsummer Watch and why they stopped. Lancashire, however, explains that "Indeed, the more we know, the more we realize the complexities of the civic theatrical past in London, and how much we do not know about it. Paradoxically we move forward in understanding by moving backward: discarding previous certainties for new uncertainties, and postulating more than one speculative new pattern in relation to a wide variety of civic theatrical activities." (Lancashire Civic 184) Although some of the printed scripts still exist today, we cannot fully understand the Lord Mayor's Shows.
In his book English Civic Pageantry 1558-1642, David M. Bergeron says, "Like the royal entry, the Lord Mayor's Show was basically a procession through London as the new mayor made his way to Westminster to take his oath of office. On his return to the city and to the Guildhall the company of which he was member would present its dramatic show consisting generally of various dramatic tableaux stationed along the route." (123) In some sense the Lord Mayor's Show was the link between the Midsummer Watch and the Royal Entry. The lavishness of the pageantry in the Lord Mayor's Show is reminiscent to that in the Midsummer Watch. The overall subject matter of the pageants and the function of the Show, however, is more closely related to that of the royal processions. Bergeron continues on saying that "What emerges in the mayoral pageants of the period is a pattern paralleling in many respects the development of royal entry and progress pageants of the same era - the religious milieu fades, well-known dramatists become associated with the shows, a sophistication occurs in the dramatic action and speech." (125) Playwrights such as Heywood, Dekker, and Middleton developed much more scripted pageants with highly stylized language to accompany the liturgical imagery. Bergeron describes the pageantry in the 1561 Show inaugurating Sit William Harper into office, saying that "Mythological characters and one Biblical character comprise the figures presented on the pageant device, apparently some type of scaffold arrangement which could be carried through the city. Each personage, David, Orpheus, Amphion, Arion, and Topas, has his 'story' painted about him." (127) The pageants were allegorical in nature and were designed to teach lessons, like morality plays. They became less Biblical and more mythological and historiographical. Bergeron explains that the "availability of these texts grants the mayoralty shows, as it does for other civic pageants, a permanence otherwise denied to them by scanty records of the trade guilds". (131) As the more prominent dramatists became involved in the creation of the pageants the practice of printed and distributing the texts in some form or other also became more common, meaning that the stories would live on past the Lord Mayor's Shows.
There are many theories as to why the Lord Mayor's Shows developed into large public displays like the Midsummer Watch and why they stopped. Lancashire, however, explains that "Indeed, the more we know, the more we realize the complexities of the civic theatrical past in London, and how much we do not know about it. Paradoxically we move forward in understanding by moving backward: discarding previous certainties for new uncertainties, and postulating more than one speculative new pattern in relation to a wide variety of civic theatrical activities." (Lancashire Civic 184) Although some of the printed scripts still exist today, we cannot fully understand the Lord Mayor's Shows.