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Medieval festivals such as carnival and misrule, were occasions which created a temporary and dynamic upside-down world of boy-bishops and Christmas kings. And yet, despite the extraordinary nature of these practices, much of the scholarly literature has taken a pessimistic view of their cultural meaning, claiming that they functioned as a safety-valve to dissipate the frustrations of subordinate groups. This study argues that in order to appreciate the part which these customs played in social and political change, a more creative and open-ended framework for examining the historical evidence is needed. Far from being just an ineffectual explosion of popular resentment, the author shows that these festival occasions were in practice highly diverse, and discusses how they were able to articulate and negotiate a range of meanings and values.