Meet the Middle Ages
BackFairs
The fairs at the market-place in town was a meeting-point for a lot of people. Usually, there was a fair once a week for the town-dwellers. There, the everyday commodities needed by the towns-people were bought and sold.
Once or twice a year, a large free-market was held in the town square. Anyone who wanted to was allowed to sell or buy things. The peasants came from the countryside with vegetables, eggs, butter, flour, meat and cheese, as well as things made of wood and leather. The merchants sold fine cloth and foreign spices. The wine-merchants sold wines from Germany or France. On this day the town was very crowded and busy. It was an opportunity to meet people, hear news, make some money if one had something to sell, or buy something unusual. At the fair you could see jesters, dancers and pipers.
The free-markets took place either in winter when you could travel by sleigh, in spring when the first ships came in, laden with salt and fabrics, or in autumn when the peasants had a lot of vegetables to sell.