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FAIRS, PAST AND PRESENT.
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FAIRS,
PAST AND PRESENT:
A
CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF
COMMERCE.
BY
CORNELIUS WALFORD, F.I.A., F.S.S.,
_Barrister-at-Law, and Vice-President of Royal Historical Society_.
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LONDON: ELLIOT STOCK,
62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
1883.
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PREFACE.
It seems a little remarkable that an institution at once so popular and
so universal as fairs should not heretofore have found an historian.
The fact may perhaps be accounted for in the circumstance that fairs,
as now regarded, are associated with notions of frivolity. Many of the
circumstances connected with their origin are certainly not generally
known. They were the product of a blending of Religion with Commerce,
suited to the genius of former ages, but finding little sympathy now.
They have been associated with the development of commerce in the nations
of Europe—perhaps in the nations of the world.
The materials for such a history are reasonably abundant upon diligent
search. They do not lie upon the surface. Prolonged investigation
revealed so much, that for the purpose of this work some selection became
necessary. I had to consider whether it would be more instructive to
present the incomplete outline of a number of fairs ranging throughout
the world, or to select some of the principal ones at home and abroad,
past and present, and trace minutely their origin, their development,
and their decadence. I determined upon the latter course; and this, too,
notwithstanding that Mr. Henry Morley had already traced in much detail
one of the great fairs whose records it would become necessary for me to
traverse.
I was chiefly led to the decision stated from the fact that the greatest
fair ever held in this country, and held for many centuries—that of
_Sturbridge_, by Cambridge—had hitherto found no historian; yet many of
its annals are on record in a form of undoubted authenticity. It seemed
to me that it would be more instructive to follow such a history through
its successive phases than to present a series of minor sketches, however
varied the details should be. I trust it may be felt that I have selected
the right course. The other materials brought together are not lost; they
are only held over, and will receive the benefit of some additions and
corrections. They can be had when called for, and they will reveal much
that is new, even after this work shall have been read.
The greatest fair in England was that of STURBRIDGE; the greatest fair
in London that of ST. BARTHOLOMEW, Smithfield. Their histories are here
given. They have some points of resemblance; but on the whole they
represent two really distinct pictures of old English manners.
The fairs of Continental Europe required some elucidation. I have given
therefore an outline of several of the more notable fairs of FRANCE,
including those most famous gatherings of the middle ages at Champagne
and Brie. Concerning these latter I have been able to present some
original documents, forming part of the records of the City of London,
and now for the first time printed. Many of these fairs are things of the
past. I have added an outline of the fairs of RUSSIA, including the great
fair of _Nijni-Novgorod_, because these are institutions of the present.
I think the history of this last-named fair has not previously been
written in such detail.
I trust that the work will be found reasonably free alike from author’s
and from printer’s errors.
C. W.
BELSIZE PARK GARDENS, LONDON, _February, 1883_.
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ERRATA.
Page 17, first line, read _dieta_ for _dicta_.
Pages 20, 21, 22, for _Magna Carter_ read _Magna Charta_.
Page 21 (note), sixth line, after “Saxon” read _Tholl_, Low Latin.
Page 245, nine lines from bottom, for “A.D. 427,” read _in the fifth
century_.
Transcriber’s Note: These errata have been corrected, along with a few
other small printing errors.
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CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I. Origin of Fairs 1
II. Origin and Laws—England 12
III. Early Regulations—England 19
IV. Courts of Piepowder 26
V. Legislation for Fairs—England 32
VI. Modern Legislation 49
VII. Sturbridge Fair, Origin of 54
VIII. Sturbridge Fair, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries 58
IX. Sturbridge Fair, first half of the Sixteenth Century 68
X. Sturbridge Fair, second half of the Sixteenth Century 88
XI. Sturbridge Fair, Seventeenth Century 113
XII. Sturbridge Fair, Eighteenth Century 128
XIII. Sturbridge Fair, Nineteenth Century 149
XIV. Sturbridge Fair, Conclusion 160
XV. Bartholomew Fair, Origin of 164
XVI. Bartholomew Fair, Twelfth to Sixteenth Centuries 167
XVII. Bartholomew Fair, Seventeenth Century 190
XVIII. Bartholomew Fair, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries 217
XIX. Fairs in France 245
XX. Other Fairs of France 261
XXI. The Fairs of Paris 275
XXII. Fairs of Russia 284
XXIII. Nijni-Novgorod 291
XXIV. Fairs in Asiatic Russia 308
Comprehensive Index 311
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CHAPTER I.
ORIGIN OF FAIRS.
The origin of Fairs, like that of many other ancient institutions, is
involved in much obscurity. The almost universal belief is that they
were associated with religious observances; or, as Mr. Morley poetically
puts it: “the first fairs were formed by the gathering of worshippers
and pilgrims about sacred places, and especially within or about the
walls of abbeys and cathedrals, on the Feast days of the Saints enshrined
therein.” The sacred building and its surroundings being too small to
provide accommodation, tents were pitched; and as the resources of the
district would no more suffice to victual than to lodge its throngs
of visitors, stalls were set up by provision dealers; and later these
were turned to more general purposes of trade. This incidental origin
seems, in some cases, hardly sufficient to account for the results which
followed; but then it has ever been the genius of commerce to follow
close upon the wants of the people.
The establishment of fairs as a source of revenue to religious houses was
probably a later development. The Church has always been keenly alive to
its temporal interests. And while it was one of its principal functions
to administer hospitality to the needy and decrepit, there was justice
in drawing contributions from those who too soon might have to rely upon
its bounty. Certain it is that nearly all the early charters which I
shall have to notice in the progress of this work were shaped in view of
granting tolls and revenue to the purposes of religion and charity.
The signification of the word Fair (French _foire_) is in the Latin
_forum_ a market-place, or _feriæ_ holidays. But the German designation
_Messen_ seems still more significant, as being a word employed to denote
the most solemn part of the Church service—the mass (Latin _missa_).
The association of ideas here implied strengthens with every step of
investigation. In the time of Constantine the Great (fourth century of
Christian era) Jews, Gentiles, and Christians assembled in great numbers
to perform their several rites about a tree reputed to be the oak mambre
under which Abraham received the angels. At the same place, adds Zosimus,
there came together many traders, both for sale and purchase of their
wares. St. Basil, towards the close of the sixth century, complained (_De
Ascetisis_) that his own Church was profaned by the public fairs held
at the martyr’s shrines. While Michaud (“History of Crusades,” i., II)
records that under the Fatimite Caliphs, in the eleventh century, a fair
was held on Mount Calvary on the 15th September every year, in which
were exchanged the productions of Europe for those of the East. Gibbon
implies an earlier date, in stating that it was promoted by the frequent
pilgrimages between the seventh and the eleventh centuries. This Fair
was of special importance in the commerce of the Italians with the East.
_Vide_ Cunningham’s “Growth of English Industry and Commerce,” 1882, p.
120, n.
These notes are but preliminary and introductory: the inquiry has now to
take a wider range.
_Greece._—The association of commerce with religious observances
seems indeed not to have originated in or with the Christian Church.
It is supposed for instance that at the celebrated Greek games, such
as those at Olympia, &c., trade was no entirely subordinate object;
and this idea gains confirmation from various passages in the ancient
classic authors. Cicero expressly states that even so early as the age
of Pythagoras, a great number of people attended the religious games
for the special purpose of trading. At Delphi, Nemæa, Delos, or the
Isthmus of Corinth, a fair was held almost every year. The Amphyctionic
fairs were held twice a year. In the time of Chrysostom, these fairs
were infamously distinguished for a traffic in slaves, destined for
public incontinence.[1] The Amphyctionic spring fair was held at
Delphi, and the autumn fair at Thermopylæ: in fact at the same times
that the deputies from the States of Greece formed the Amphyctionic
Council—another proof that wherever large assemblies of people took place
in Greece, for religious or political purposes, advantage was taken to
carry on traffic. At the fairs of Thermopylæ medicinal herbs and roots,
especially hellebore, were sold in large quantities.
It may be taken for granted that one principal reason why the religious
games or the political assemblies of the States were fixed upon to hold
the fairs was that during these, _all hostilities were suspended_: and
every person might go with his merchandise in safety to them, even
through an enemy’s country. The priests, so far from regarding these
fairs as a profanation of the religious ceremonies, encouraged them; and
the priests of Jupiter, in particular, advanced large sums on interest
to such merchants as had good credit, but had not sufficient money with
them, _vide_ Stevenson’s “Historical Sketch of the Progress of Discovery,
Navigation and Commerce,” vol. 18 of Kerr’s “Travels,” 1824.
_Early Eastern Nations._—By reference to “The Books of the Prophets,”
we are enabled to realize the importance of the fairs in the ancient
commerce of the great city of Tyre (probably B.C. 597-74) “the crowning
city whose merchants were princes, whose traffickers the honourable of
the earth” (Isaiah xxiii. 8). Thus in Ezekiel xxvii.:—
“12. Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds
of riches; with silver, iron, tin and lead, they traded in thy fairs....
“14. They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and
horsemen and mules....
“16. Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares
of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple and
broidered work, and fine linen and coral and agate....
“19. Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: bright
iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market....
“22. The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they
occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious
stones and gold....
“27. Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners shall fall
into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin.”
The merchant traders mentioned here claim ancestry from families
mentioned Genesis x. 3-7. The expression “they occupied” may be rendered
“they inhabited.” In the same chapter, in alternate verses, there are
many references to markets.
_Rome._—It is asserted by learned writers (Fosbroke and others) that
fairs, as such, took their origin in ancient Rome. Romulus, Servius,
Tullius, and the Republic, at its commencement, are severally said to
have instituted fairs, in order that the country people might come in
every ninth day (_nundinæ_) to hear the laws proclaimed, or the decrees
of the people delivered.[2] Other public business was transacted thereat.
Booths, tents, and wooden stands for shows were always usual in such
places. The fairs were frequently held in the public streets; and one
of the most constant objects of sale or barter was that of indulgences!
Dogs, and especially greyhounds, were sold at these Roman fairs. It
is further said that the fairs were appointed to be held on Saints’
days _in order that trade might attract those whom religion could not
influence_. The monasteries sold goods, probably such as their inmates
and surrounding dependents could manufacture.
Courts for the purposes of adjudicating upon questions of dispute arising
out of the dealings at the fairs were held alike in Greece and Rome;
these being similar to the Piepowder Courts of the middle ages, and most
likely their precursors. In time of war, fairs were guarded by soldiers,
attempts at plunder being frequent. Bells were provided in fairs for the
purpose of giving speedy alarm.
It has been generally admitted that the Romans introduced the practice
of holding fairs into the north of Europe. I think I shall make it
abundantly clear that they introduced them into England.
_Italy._—It is towards the close of the fifth century of the Christian
era that we first find any authentic account of fairs specially designed
as marts for commerce. Like many other incidents associated with the
history of commerce, the first traces are found in Italy. The Western
Roman Empire had become extinguished; but Italy had fallen into good
hands. Theodoric the Chief or King of the Ostro-Goths had done much
to revive its agriculture, and something for its commerce. Foreign
merchants began to visit it again; and about A.D. 493 several _fairs_
were appointed for the purpose of exchanging its redundant produce with
the merchandise of other countries. Many rich Jew traders settled in
Rome; and by means of these fairs a wide interchange of commodities was
effected.
_Germany._—We next turn to _Germany_. We know that the Emperor Charles
the Great (Charlemagne) towards the close of the eighth century paid
great attention to the commerce of western Europe—a fact indeed which
seems difficult to be reconciled with the circumstance that he allowed
the priests to make a canon declaring all interest for the use of money
to be sinful! It may be that he yielded this point in the hope that
commercial dealings would soon explode the fallacy. He recognized in
fairs a means of exchange of commodities well suited to the times. The
great fairs of his period were those of Aquisgranum (_Aix la Chapelle_)
and of _Troyes_. These were frequented during his reign by traders from
most parts of Europe. The weight used at the latter fair for dealings
in coin—then often accepted by weight only on account of its battered
condition—became adopted as the weight for bullion in all parts of
Europe—the pound troy.
_Flanders._—Our attention is next directed here. The woollen manufactures
commenced probably in the latter half of the tenth century (960).
At first the sales were mostly to the French, whose thrifty habits
enabled them to purchase fine woollen cloths for wear. On account of
the scarcity of coin the trade was mostly carried on by barter, to
facilitate which Baldwin, Earl of Flanders—who seems to have exceeded
most of the sovereigns of that period in desiring the real interest of
himself and his subjects—set up weekly markets, and established regular
fairs at _Bruges_, _Courtray_, _Torhout_ and _Mont-Casel_, at all which
he exempted the goods sold or exchanged from paying any duties on being
brought in or carried out. The new trade was thus greatly extended, and
it continued to flourish for several centuries—largely due to its being
widely known through the fairs of Europe.
_France._—Much of the European commerce of the middle ages was transacted
at the celebrated fairs of Champagne and Brie. There the merchants of
Italy, Spain and France congregated. From far distant climes the Genoese
transported thither bales of goods; and busy traders came to meet in open
market the infant efforts of Belgian manufacturers from Yprès, Douai,
and Bruges. Burgundy sent cloth, Catalonia leather, and the Genoese and
Florentines brought silks; while at all the seaports along their coasts
vast cargoes were unshipped and placed on the backs of mules to wend
their way to the place appointed for the fair.
These fairs would begin with the sale of cloth, perhaps for seventeen
days; the cloth merchants would settle their accounts prior to the silk
merchants entering upon their bargains. In the middle of it all the
great cry “Ara” was raised, as a signal for the money-changers to take
their seats, and for four weeks they sat for the benefit of the various
nationalities who wished to realize their gains in their native coin.
After the conclusion of the fair a busy time of fifteen days was set
apart for those who had not yet settled their accounts, and to rectify
disputes; which time was extended in favour of the representatives of
more distant people who wished to go home and return before finally
completing their books. The Genoese bursar at these fairs had always a
month allowed him before settling his accounts.
Bent (in his “Genoa: how the Republic Rose and Fell,” 1881) from whom we
have drawn some of the preceding details says (p. 106) these fairs in
southern France were not without their political significance. Besides
bringing hither their merchandise, the Italian traders imported into
these towns their spirit of independence and their love of republicanism.
It was from the south of France that the seeds of liberty, equality, and
fraternity spread northwards. No greater stronghold of the rights of
the third estate existed than at Marseilles. To this day the influence
of this fact is strong on the politics of France. And the principles
inculcated by the independent traders of Italy took deep root here under
the eyes of despotism, and found a truly favourable soil in which to
develop. The French revolution, and the state of France as it is to-day,
may owe their first source to these very times when a Genoese merchant
would repair to these fairs, proud and boastful of his own freedom, of
his vote in the General Council, and of a government which owned no royal
master; and all this could be said with a sneer at the people over whom
the banner of the lilies held despotic sway.
_North of Europe._—Towards the close of the tenth century periodical
public markets or fairs were established in the northern portions of
Europe, and were used for a purpose altogether new in these higher
latitudes, but arising out of the rapine and hostilities peculiar to the
period. In several of the North German towns the merchandise brought to
them consisted of slaves taken in the wars—many of which were believed
to have been fermented for the simple purpose of carrying off captives.
Helmold relates that he saw 7,000 Danish slaves at one time exposed for
sale in the market at Mecklenberg. The common price of ordinary slaves of
either sex was about a mark (or 8 oz.) of silver; but some female slaves
for their beauty or qualifications were rated as high as three marks.
(_Vide_ Thorkelin’s “Essay on the Slave Trade,” pp. 4-9.)
We arrive at the close of the sixteenth century. The city of _Antwerp_
had at this period arrived very nearly at the summit of its wealth and
glory, which Anderson (“Hist. of Commerce,” ii., p. 25) considers it had
acquired by two principal means:—
I. By the grants of free fairs for commerce, made formerly by the
sovereigns of the Netherlands—two of which fairs lasted each time six
weeks—whither merchants resorted from all parts of Christendom with their
merchandise, custom free. _At these fairs vast concerns were managed, not
only in merchandise, but in bills of exchange with all parts of Europe._
II. It had become the entrepot of the commerce between the southern and
northern ports of Europe, and especially of the Portuguese merchants.
This drew the German and other merchants to settle there; and the
merchants of _Bruges_ largely removed thither after the Archduke
Maximilian had (about 1499) reduced their city. The fairs were aided by,
and themselves aided, this development.
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ENGLAND