, most of
them to abbeys, bishoprics, and noblemen; but comparatively few of
them were of sufficient size or importance to play any considerable
part in the trade and commerce of the country. Moreover, the
development of the towns with their continuous trade tended to draw
custom away from all the fairs except those which had obtained some
especial importance and an international reputation. Of these,
however, there was still a considerable number whose influence was
very great. The best known were those of Winchester, of Stourbridge
near Cambridge, of St. Ives belonging to the abbot of Ramsay, and of
Boston. In early times fairs were frequently held in the churchyards,
but this came to be looked upon as a scandal, and was prohibited by a
law of 1285. The fairs were in many cases held just beyond the limits
of a town in an open field or on a smooth hillside. Each year, some
time before the opening day of the fair, this ground was formally
occupied by the servants of the owner of the fair, wooden booths were
erected or ground set apart for those who should put up their own
tents or prefer to sell in the open. Then as merchants appeared from
foreign or English towns they chose or were assigned places which they
were bound to retain during the continuance of the fair. By the time
of the opening of the fair those who expected to sell were arranged in
long rows or groups, according to the places they came from, or the
kind of goods in which they dealt. After the opening had been
proclaimed no merchant of the nearby town could buy or sell, except
within the borders of the fair. The town authorities resigned their
functions into the hands of the officials whom the lord of the fair
had placed in charge of it, and for the time for which the fair was
held, usually from six to twelve days, everything within the enclosure
of the fair, within the town, and in the surrounding neighborhood was
under their control.

[Illustration: Location of Some of the Principal Fairs in the
Thirteenth Century.]

Tolls were collected for the advantage of the lord of the fair from
all goods as they were brought into or taken out from the bounds of
the fair, or at the time of their sale; stallage was paid for the rent
of booths, fees were charged for the use of space, and for using the
lord's weights and scales. Good order was preserved and fair dealing
enforced by the officials of the lord. To prevent offences and settle
disputes arising in the mid