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The Retinue Plays The King: Peculiarities of Impostors’ Communication With Society

The article examines the importance of the retinue in representing a medieval self-appointed ruler’s power. The paper shows this group of people to be the main link in the symbolic, epistolary and ceremonial communication between the impostor and his subjects. Using the examples of impostors who pretended to be Frederick II Hohenstaufen in Sicily and in Germany during the second half of the 13th century, the author finds out what public everyday royal practices were reenacted by the impostors’ assistants to make various social groups believe they were the real monarchs. These practices included sending fake letters on behalf of Frederick II, imitating activities of the imperial curia, and the ceremony of entering the city. In the course of the study, the author arrives at a conclusion that the (re)constructed representations of power were closely associated with memories of emperor Frederick II that the 1260-1280s generation still kept. The impostor's retinue made a point of imitating the modus imperandi of the last Hohenstaufen emperor, actualizing the most vivid and typical images of his power performance.