Charter fair

A charter fair in England is a street fair or market which was established by Royal Charter. Many charter fairs date back to the Middle Ages, with their heyday occurring during the 13th century. Originally, most charter fairs started as street markets but since the 19th century the trading aspect has been superseded by entertainment; many charter fairs are now the venue for travelling funfairs run by showmen.

In Roman times, fairs were holidays on which there was an intermission of labour and pleadings. By the 7th century, a regular fair was being held at Saint-Denis under the French Merovingian kings. In later centuries across Europe, on any special Christian religious occasion, particularly the anniversary dedication of a church, tradesmen would bring and sell their wares, even in the churchyards. Such fairs then continued annually, usually on the feast day of the patron saint to whom the church was dedicated. In England, these early fairs were called a wake, or a vigilia, and many formed the basis for later chartered fairs. In an era in which communications and travel were difficult and often dangerous, the fair system was a good way for commerce to occur.

In England, fairs began to develop in the early Norman period, reaching their heyday in the 13th century. During the 12th century, many English towns acquired the right from the Crown to hold an annual fair, usually serving a regional or local customer base and lasting for two or three days. By the end of the century, however, international trade with Europe in wool and cloth was increasing; London merchants were attempting to exert control over this process, acting as middlemen, but many of the English producers and ports on the east coast attempted to use the chartered fair system to circumnavigate them. Simultaneously, wealthy magnate consumers in England began to use the new fairs as a way to buy goods like spices, wax, preserved fish and cloth in bulk from the international merchants at the fairs, again bypassing the usual London merchants. Local nobles and churchmen could draw a considerable profit from hosting these events, and in turn the crown benefited from the payments given for the original charter. Over 2,200 charters were issued to markets and fairs by English kings between 1200 and 1270.

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