Some free fairs had their own judges and particular jurisdiction.
An examination of M. Bottin’s “View of the Fairs of France” goes to show that they took place mostly on the frontiers of the kingdom, or on the marches of ancient provinces; or at the foot of high mountains, or at the beginning or end of the snow season, which for months shuts up the inhabitants in their valleys; or in the neighbourhood of the famous cathedrals or churches frequented by flocks of pilgrims; or in the middle of rich pasture tracks. But there are some marked exceptions to these rules.
The establishment and abolition of fairs—with the exception of cattle markets and the markets of the metropolis—are now generally left to the discretion of the departmental prefects.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE FAIRS OF PARIS.
The City of Paris had fairs in great variety, some of which I now proceed to notice.
St. Denis or Lendit Fair.—One of the earliest, perhaps the first, was the mercantile fair of St. Denis, chartered early in the seventh century by Dagobert “in honour of the Lord and to the glory of St. Denys at his festival.” This fair, by reason of the privileges granted, became known under the name of the forum idictum—whence l’indict, and its corruption to landit and lendit. To it came the iron and lead of the Saxons, the slaves of the northern nations, the jewellery and perfumes of the Jews, the oil, wine and fat of Provence and Spain, the honey and madder of Neustria and Brittany, the merchandise of Egypt and the East.