Ceremony, procession and ritual were of far greater significance in pre-modern society, and research in this area has been a popular concern in recent years. Here an initial essay by Nicholas Howe sets out some methodological issues, developing themes of space, both public and private, of power and of meaning. The following essays examine processions in medieval Chartres, ceremonial events in early modern Muscovite Rus, late medieval civic ritual when receiving kings, and ritual in the Italian renaissance.