STURBRIDGE FAIR.
CHAPTER VII.
ORIGIN.
The origin of this Fair—like that of most of the great fairs of the world—is involved in obscurity. The first trace of it is found in a charter granted about 1211 by King John to the Lepers of the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalen at Sturbridge, by Cambridge—a fair to be held in the Close of the Hospital on the Vigil and Feast of the Holy Cross.
The Commissioners appointed by Edward I. to make inquiry into the rights and revenue of the Crown, visited Cambridge; and concerning its several markets and fairs reported (inter alia) the existence of this fair to which fact I shall make further reference, under date 1278.
Whatever its origin, it became in a comparatively short time after the period of which I am now speaking the most important fair held in Great Britain, and some writers have declared—without much apparent information to guide them—in the world. The incidents in its history are so remarkable, and throw so much light upon the customs of our forefathers, that I propose to give them in considerable detail. They have been brought together from various sources—the chief being Cooper’s “Annals of Cambridge,” compiled by Charles Henry Cooper, F.S.A., who held the office of Town Clerk, and who consequently had unrestricted access to the records. The “History and Antiquities of Barnwell Abbey,” 1786, has been largely consulted. While the ample notes appended to the “Life of Ambrose Bonwicke,” as edited by Prof. John E. B. Mayor, M.A., 1870, have been made available. I have followed as best suited to the circumstances, a strictly chronological arrangement.
As questions continually arise in the progress of our record regarding the rights of the town of Cambridge over the fair, it will be well here briefly to indicate how these may have arisen. In the inquisition of the Commissioners already referred to, it is recorded that “the keepers of this Hospital hold twenty four acres and a half of land in Cambridge field, for the support of the Lepers therein dwelling according to ancient right and custom.” From other sources it appears that the Hospital was at the disposal of the burgesses of Cambridge previous to 1245; but that about this time Hugh de Northwold, the then Bishop of Ely “unjustly got the patronage of it.” The burgesses still claimed that the advowson of the Hospital “belonged by right to them.” The fact probably being that the hospital was established by the town, before it was converted into a religious foundation; that upon such conversion the Church claimed sole jurisdiction; but as the original grant of land was not relinquished the townsmen still asserted their interest; and it will be seen, in the end—and after centuries of conflict—obtained it. See 1544.