A casual visitor to the Netherlands in the summer of 1549 would have been astonished to find in every major town a series of triumphal arches, large and splendid, some depicting mythological subjects or classical stories, others showing scenes of martial exploits. Plays were staged by the local 'chambers of rhetoric'; processions and presentations took place; there were lion-fights and bull-fights; the chivalric romance of Amadis of Gaul was acted out in the grounds of the castle of Binche and special illustrated books were commissioned to describe all the festivities.