ORIGIN.
This is I believe the only fair, or certainly the only one of any note,
ever held within the walls of the City of London. Southwark Fair became
vested in the Corporation in the fifteenth century. I do not propose
to write anything more than an outline history of Bartholomew Fair.
Mr. Morley’s most interesting “Memoir of Bartholomew Fair” (1859) is
available to those who desire more minute details. But as an institution
which existed for seven hundred years, and more or less illustrates the
social history of the metropolis, and in some sort its trading customs,
during a considerable portion of that period, it cannot be passed over
lightly. I shall adopt a chronological mode of illustration as, on the
whole, best suited to the end in view.
_Founding the Priory of Bartholomew_, A.D. 1102.—In the reign of Henry
I., the Priory, Hospital and Church of St. Bartholomew, in Smithfield,
were founded by one Rahere, a minstrel of the king, and “a pleasant
witted gentleman.” It seems that Rahere was determined to this pious
work in a fit of sickness, during a pilgrimage he made to Rome agreeably
to the fashion of the times, when St. Bartholomew appeared to him, and
required him to undertake the work and perform it in Smithfield. Before
that time Smithfield, or the greater part of it, was called “the Elms,”
because it was covered with elm trees. FitzStephen says the name of
Smithfield is merely a corruption of “Smooth field,” or plain, which
harmonizes with the fact that the ground was used at an early period for
tilting matches or tournaments, which were provided for the amusement of
the citizens, who then consisted of most of the noble families of the
land, and who daily took their active exercise here. These “jousts” or
entertainments were carried out with great splendour.
This monk Rahere, the founder of the Priory, &c., has been termed the
king’s jester, or court fool. The Cotton MS. records in its quaint
language and spelling that Rahere “ofte hawnted the Kyng’s palice, and
amo’ge the noysefull presse of that tumultuous courte, enforsed himself
with jolite and carnal suavite: ther yn spectaclis, yn metys, yn playes,
and other courtely mokkys, and trifyllis intrudying, he lede forth the
besynesse of alle the day.” There always existed at the court in these
early times some one employed as story-teller and companion in the king’s
amusements; and it seems not to be doubted that Rahere occupied this
position—turning his opportunities of patronage to good account (as
others occupying a like office have done) for the benefit of his fellow
citizens. His memory is still perpetuated by the Association of “Rahere
Almoners,” who meet at stated periods in the famed historical precincts
of Smithfield.
Rahere became the first Prior of the monastery he had thus founded, and
seems to have established a fair almost simultaneously, as was indeed
the custom of the age. There appears to have existed here, even at this
early period, a periodical gathering known as the “King’s Market,” which
Mr. Morley considers may have been held amongst the trees, while the
Priory was built upon the marsh or smooth-field, around which the fair
was held. The Prior is said—either in consequence of his zeal for the
monastery, or from the old associations of his former profession—to have
gone annually into the fair, and exhibited his skill as a juggler: giving
the largesses he so received from the spectators to the treasury of the
monastery.—_Frost_, p. 9.
Rahere also became Lord of the Fair, and his representative presided as
judge in the Court of Piepowder attached to the fair. This court was held
within the Priory gates. This at all events was the case down to 1445.
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