Fairs

In the 12th century, the thriving wool industry cradle of Northern Europe and the trading region of Northern Italy met halfway at the Champagne fairs in the market squares of Lagny, Bar-sur-Aube, Troyes, and Provins. It was here that itinerant traders sold wool, silk, spices, furs, gemstones, precious metals, and salt.

The Counts of Champagne created a market regulation offering legal and security guarantees for the traders, maintaining market halls, checking weights and measures, and imposing moderate taxes. While weekly markets served the daily needs of the local population, the fairs were meeting points for professional traders, where large quantities of goods were exchanged.

The prevalence of fairs in the 13th century was closely linked to the rise in living standards of the era. By the 14th and 15th centuries, fairs had become larger but were held for shorter periods than the Champagne fairs. The fairs were no longer held at the borders of France but in the interior of the country, due to the Hundred Years' War and lack of public safety. Examples include the fairs held in Chalons-sur-Marne and Lyon. Outside France, the most important fairs were held in Bruges, Antwerp, Frankfurt, Geneva, Leipzig, and Nördlingen.

Medieval fairs complemented each other, and since they were not held at the same time, they did not compete with one another. The competition between Geneva and Lyon during the reign of Louis XI was a rare exception. Fairs were primarily agricultural in nature, selling the wine, salt, and wheat of the countryside. At the Chalons fairs, financiers from Piedmont and drapery traders from the north participated. Fairs did not always serve financial functions; in Frankfurt, for instance, bills of exchange were not known, and everything was done in cash. Outside Italy, the bill of exchange did not play a significant role. The Chalons fairs lost their previous significance around 1430 due to the uncertain situation around the Duchy of Burgundy. Even after order was restored, they did not revive.

New trading centers took over the leadership, such as coastal cities, the route between the Iberian Peninsula and southern Germany, and Geneva fairs, which flourished in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. Four fairs were held annually, attended by French, Italians, Flemish, and Spaniards. Geneva was close to Alpine passes, the country was an island of peace, and its gold and silver markets were well-developed. France was ravaged by war, so traders turned to new, eastern centers like Bohemia, Poland, and Hungary, whose economies were experiencing rapid growth at the time. Fairs reached their peak during the period of itinerant trade, but as traders became more fixed in place, the fairs began to decline.

Henri Pirenne "A középkori gazdaság és társadalom története", Gondolat Kiadó, Budapest, 1983 

Francois Place "Kereskedők könyve", Elektra Kiadóház, 2000 

Pierre Léon "Histoire économique et sociale du monde" Tome I. L'ouverture du monde XIV. e XVI. siecles, 1977, ford. Amrein Anna