Extracts Relating to Mediaeval Markets and Fairs in England

SOURCE BOOKS OF ENGLISH HISTORY FOR USE IN SCHOOLS
Edited by K. H. VICKERS, M.A.
EXTRACTS RELATING TO MEDIAEVAL MARKETS AND FAIRS IN ENGLAND
HELEN DOUGLAS-IRVINE
M.A. St. Andrews
AUTHOR OF THE ROYAL PALACES OF SCOTLAND, THE HISTORY OF LONDON
LONDON MACDONALD & EVANS 4, ADAM STREET, ADELPHI, W.C. 1912
This series of source-books aims at providing illustrations of various aspects of English history at a price that will enable the teacher to place them in the hands of the pupils themselves. All teachers of history are agreed as to the value of using the original documents in their work as a means of making their pupils realise that they are studying human life in past ages, but hitherto the consideration of price has confined the use of them almost entirely to the teachers themselves. In the series here prepared for the use of scholars and teachers alike the volumes are each devoted to one aspect of history, so that the teacher can select that one which will illustrate the particular line taken. Thus, one will be on Markets and Fairs, for use when the teaching has an economic basis, another will deal with political events, and another with the social side of history. Great care has been taken to secure extracts from contemporary and reliable authorities.
K. H. V.
Fairs and markets are not different institutions—a fair is a market of a particular kind, an important market held not once or several times a week, but once or several times a year. The customs, the rights, and the law of markets are therefore relevant to fairs; and generalisations as to markets apply to fairs.
There is no direct evidence as to the origin of markets and fairs in England. Early Oriental and classical literature indicate that they have served all peoples whose development has reached a certain stage. As communities cease to be entirely self-supporting trade arises naturally; and trade is obviously facilitated by a concentration in particular places at particular times of sellers and buyers. Certain of these gatherings had in the ninth century already been regularised in England as markets. The king or other lord had become responsible for the validity of sales in them, and suffered them to take place within the territory over which he had power. In return he received from the market people tolls, fines for transgressions, and other dues, which were a considerable source of profit, sufficient to make the tenancy of a market an object of desire. It was frequently acquired by a religious house.