Symbols, images, ritual: the symbolic language of power in the Europe of the Ancient Regime

One of the most striking characteristics of the Ancient Regime was the great importance of symbols and rituals for the affirmation and reproduction of power structures, hierarchies and social values. Concentrating on the theoretical concepts at stake, this article presents a general outline of recent investigation on symbolic communication through three different historiographical fields: the history of the court, the city, and international relations. I argue that within all of these historiographical fields, the approach of symbolic communication has recently been applied with good results. Foremost among the achievements was the postulization that symbolic acts were not only a mere reflection of political and social structure, but can be considered as a communicative code which allowed the contemporary actors to negotiate their pretensions of power.