We command you that you satisfy the merchants of the fair of Lynn as to
the merchandise, namely, wax and pepper and cumin, which our bailiffs
took in that fair for our use, and we shall cause payment to be made to
you in London after the close of the said fair.
_Cal. Rot. Lit. Claus._ (Rec. Com.), I. 365.
1237. It was provided at Kennington before the king and his council,
and granted by the king, that his bailiffs who are sent to fairs and
elsewhere to buy wine and cloths and other merchandise for the king's
use, shall take for his use no more than he have need of, and no more
than shall be stated in the king's letters made for them as to the
matter, nor anything for which they have not as warrant a royal brief.
And when they come to fairs they shall take the wares and merchandise
for which they have been sent at once and without long delay, lest any
merchants be unjustly burdened by them, as formerly they have been
burdened. And such bailiffs shall have letters so that four legal
merchants of each fair, in the faith which binds them to God and the
king, reasonably impose prices on the merchandise, in accordance with
the diverse kinds of merchandise which the bailiffs have to buy.
_Cal. of Close_, 1234-7, 522.