University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

A study of the history of fairs and markets and their influence on modern retailing

(USC Thesis Other)

A study of the history of fairs and markets and their influence on modern retailing

PDF

Download

Open document

Flip pages

Download a page range

Download transcript

Copy asset link

Request this asset

Transcript (if available)

Content I
A STUDY OP THE HISTORY OP PAIRS AND MARKETS AND
- THEIR INFLUENCE ON MODERN RETAILING
A Thesis
Presented to
the Faculty of the Department of Retailing
The University of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Business Administration
hy
John Miles Flynn
February, 1954
UMI Number: EP43379
All rights reserved
INFORMATION TO ALL USERS
The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted.
In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript
and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed,
a note will indicate the deletion.
UMT
Dissertation PVblisMng
UMI EP43379
Published by ProQuest LLC (2014). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author.
Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC.
All rights reserved. This work is protected against
unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code
ProQuest LLC.
789 East Eisenhower Parkway
P.O. Box 1346
Ann Arbor, Ml 4 8 1 0 6 - 1346
ProQuest
C , < m . M IB A 'S
This thesis, written by
JOHM MILES FLYNN
under the guidance of his Faculty Committee,
and approved by all its members, has been .
presented to and accepted by the Faculty of
the School of Commerce in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Approved
3 * *
t'lU v f
TABLE OP CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. STATEMENT OP THE PROBLEM AND DEFINITION
OP T E R M S ......................... . . . . 1
Introduction ............................ 1
The problem.............................. 5
Statement of the problem ............. 5
Importance of the problem ............. 5
Definitions of terms used ............... 6
P a i r .................................. 6
' Market......................... 6
Peddlers ............................ 8
Hucksters .............................. 9
Standardizing and grading ............. 9
The method of study..................... 10
Methodology............................ 10
Organization of the remainder of the
thesis................. 10
II. THE GROWTH OF EARLY PAIRS AND MARKETS . . . 12
Nature and origin of early forms of
exchange.............................. 12
iv
CHAPTER PAGE '
Factors which influenced the early forms
of retailing..................... 13
Means of transportation.......... 14
Religious influences . . . ...... 15
W a r s ............................. 16
Politics......................... IT
Origins of retailing institutions .... 17
Early Greek fairs and markets........ 17
Early Roman markets................... 20
The markets of the early Egyptians . . 22
Early European F a i r s ............ 23
Forerunners of the fairs of the Middle
Ages: the traveling merchants . . . 24
The ‘ development of permanent shops . .
Prelude to the fairs of the Middle Ages:
A period of little activity ......... 34
Prelude to medieval fairs: the Feudal
Manor........................... 38
The emergence of the Medieval markets . 39
Locations of important fairs .......... 45
Flemish fairs .......................... 45
Champagne fairs ........................ 45
Other fairs....................... 47
v
CHAPTER PAGE '
III. MEDIEVAL FAIRS OF ENGLAND ................. 51
Introduction ............................ 51
A typical English f a i r ................. 52
The Sturbridge Fair................... 53
Retail trade controls of the Sturbridge
F a i r ................................ 55
Law enforcement at the Sturbridge Fair 57
Literary accounts of the Sturbridge
F a i r ................................ 57
The St. Bartholomew F a i r ............. 63
The decline of the importance of the
f a i r ................................ 67
Decline of the English fair............. 68
The decline of medieval fairs and
markets.............................. 68
IV. AN ANALYSIS OF THE FUNCTIONS OF FAIRS AND
MARKETS.................................. 71
The functions served ........... 72
The fair as a medium for disseminating
information.......................... 72
The fair as an advertising medium . . . 73
The fair as a community service .... 75
vl
CHAPTER PAGE '
Regulatory organizations and measures . . ■ 76
Merchants1 guilds.................. . 78
Regulatory measures ................. 8l
Common trade offenses .................. 82
Forestalling...................... 82
Engrossing...................... . 82
Regrating............................. 82
Punishment for offenders .............. 83
Price and quality controls.............. 84
Price, controls ......................... 84
Quantity standardization................ 85
Standardization of quality ............ 86
Summary..................................... 87
V. THE INFLUENCE OF EARLY FAIRS AND MARKETS
ON MODERN RETAILING . 89
The Big Store............................ 89
Implications for modern retailing from
early markets........................... 90
First steps toward a successful Big
Store................................... 93
Summary.................................... 98
Modern forms of the f a i r .................. 99
vii
CHAPTER PAGE
The Trade Pair: a buyers' preview . . 100
The Industrial Pair: a place for
retailer and consumer to buy .... 101
The International Expositions and Pairs:
media for promotion of world trade . 102
Values derived from the modern fair . . 104
VI. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS...................... 107
BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................... 113
CHAPTER I
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND DEFINITION OF TERMS
I. INTRODUCTION
The study of the early historical beginnings of
modern retailing is an interesting excursion which touches
on all phases of civilization and human development. The
roots of present-day retailing extend back'many centuries.
Were it possible, the study of these "roots" would enquire
into those ages of pre-history when man first began to
exchange or trade one thing for another; it would specu
late upon the motives which guided him, when he began to
catch more fish than he needed for his own needs, to re
alize that he could acquire through the exchange of goods
the things that he coveted from those who coveted his
supply of fish. It would trace the manner In which he dis
covered easier and better ways of getting things from
others, substituting the peaceful practice of barter for
that of killing or using force. For, as man found that
the more effective method of exchanging goods could induce
others to relinquish possession, he must also have found
2
that there were many advantages in the newer method.
Certainly, it relieved him of the necessity of putting up
a show of power and strength to get what he wanted. And,
in the first experiences of exchanging goods on a more
friendly basis, man must also have experienced a need for
the recognition of property rights; and, soon, a utiliza
tion of cooperative interest, and a realization of the
ethical value of the concept of the welfare of the trading
group.
At the outset of this investigation, it was dis
covered that there were few, if any, written accounts on
the subjeet--in fact,..the;dearth.of published materials
posed both a serious problem and a challenge. A prelim
inary search of the literature revealed that few men in
the field of commerce had felt the need or the urge to
write about its history and developmental threads. Those
histories which were available had been written not by
men in the field of commerce but by men of letters and
others who have touched only by indirection on the impli
cations of commerce, and then only as they affected their
own particular areas of interest. True, there has been
a great deal written on the more recent developments and
present trends in commerce, but these accounts give little
if any mention of historical beginnings and touch them so
lightly as to fail to substantiate their own arguments.
So serious is this omission that it can almost be
charged that writers in the field of commerce have tended
to accept modern methods of retailing without regard to
their initial origins, or the factors which have brought
about their development and present-day acceptance.
Students of commerce have taken for granted those histori
cal elements which have contributed to modern patterns of
merchandising--the various phases of selling, of estab
lishing brand names, of manufacturers' guarantees, of
standardizations of controls, of vast and intricate or
ganizations which manufacture, distribute, advertise, and
display goods. Their writings are devoted almost exclu
sively to considerations of the marketing of products as
accomplished through factory sales agencies with their
national and international distributing systems, through
department stores and chain stores and an enormous web of
retail outlets, and the methods and principles by whieh
marketing agencies transact their affairs in the United
States and in the world today.
The fascinating story of the actual evolution of
these intricate merchandising structures has been left
almost entirely to the imagination of the reader. Yet,
no serious student of retailing can fail to speculate upon
I f
the foundations of these structures, if only to wonder
about those forces which in recent years have freed men
from having to trade under a laissez faire (or "buyer be
ware.’ ") system and have enabled them to deal with confi
dence in the integrity of the sales transaction. For
there were times, and not so long ago, when no such gen
eral confidence and good-will existed in the world of ex
change, and when no such guarantees as are commonly prac
ticed today protected both buyer and seller. Fragmentary
accounts point to a long, and in many cases, sorrowful
development of retailing practices extending as a eentral
theme through the story of man's history. The story of
man's acquisition and exchange of goods, properties and
lands is the story, also, of the curbing of man's passions
and the exercise of social controls which slowly brought
about the attainment of higher and higher levels of
culture.
Fragments of this story of the gradual emergence
of modern retailing structures and practices exist. While
it is beyond the limits of this study to attempt an ex
haustive historical survey of retailing, it was felt that
bringing together these fragments regarding the early de
velopments of retailing might provide a valuable picture
of the forces and practices which have influenced its
present pattern.
II. THE PROBLEM
Statement of the problem. It was the purpose of
this study to (l) give a detailed description of the de
velopment of fairs and markets as early retail institu
tions; (2) describe the manner and influencing factors
of their growth and development; and (3) show how modern
methods of distribution may have grown from these insti
tutions which started as centers of barter and later de
veloped into metropolitan trading areas.
Importance of the problem. The important influ
ence of the fairs and markets on modern wholesale and
1
retail methods has been noted by many historians. In
spite of this general recognition of the important place
of early fairs and markets in the development of modern
commercej it is curious to note that none of the histori
cal accounts of these institutions that the writer eould
locate adequately treated the evolution of these institu
tions. Furthermore, no study has as yet surveyed the
1
From a lecture by T. Walter Wallbank, Ph. D.,
Professor of History at the University of Southern Cali
fornia.
6
actual contribution which these institutions have made to
modern retail trade. It is, therefore, considered im
portant that this material be brought together so that
students of retail trade may have a more comprehensive
understanding of the history of trade.
4
III. DEFINITIONS OF TERMS WSED
Fair. The term fair is usually thought of today
as a festival held annually for the exhibition of goods
2
and for the general entertainment of the people. Converse
describes the fair as ". . .a large market held at infre
quent intervals and attended by buyers and sellers from
over a wide area.1 ’ For purposes of this discussion, a
fair is considered to be a gathering for the purpose of
trade at specifically designated intervals, usually annu
ally, to transact both retail and wholesale business.
Market. In the literature of commerce, the term
market has been used with many different meanings. It has
been thought of as: (l) a meeting of people for buying
and selling? (2) a place where goods are offered for sale
2
Paul D. Converse and Harvey W. Huegy, The Elements
of Marketing (New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1946), p.
and where buyers and sellers meet; (3) an area within
which price-determining influences (supply and demand)
operate; and (4) an area in which there is a demand for
goods.
3
Marshall gives a definition by Cournot:
Economists understand by the term Market, not
any particular market place in which things are
bought and sold, but the whole of any region in
which buyers and sellers are in such free inter
course with one another that the prices of the
same goods tend to equality easily and quickly.
4
Taylor defines the term to mean:
. . . a totality constituted by a group of freely
and directly competing sellers or buyers over
against a coordinate group of freely and directly
competing sellers or buyers.
5
A market has been defined in modern terms by Fernald
as ". . .a group of individuals or concerns who are
potential users of the product or service in question."
6
Gemmill and Blodgett use the term market to include:
3
Alfred Marshall, Economics of Industry (London,
New York: The Macmillan Company * 18^2"), p. £05.
4
Fred Manville Taylor, Principles of Economics
(New York: The Ronald Press Company, I925J 7 p. £46.
5
Charles H. Fernald, Salesmanship (New York:
Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1942), p. 31.
6
Paul F. Gemmill and Ralph H. Blodgett, Economics:
Principles and Problems (New York: Harper and Brothers,
Publishers, 1 9 4 2), p. 1 9 8.
8
. . . any region, however large or small, in which
buyers and sellers are so situated that they may
engage freely in the purchase and sale of a given
good. In perishable goods it may be limited to a
small village or with some more durable commodities
which are in demand in many countries and would be
in a world market.
None of these definitions is satisfactory for the
purposes of the present study, since each tends to express
broad economic concepts rather than to identify any pe
culiar type of marketing institution. The term market
will be used in this study to mean a gathering of people,
at a specific place, for the purpose of carrying on trade
at frequent and regular intervals, such trade usually
being restricted more to retail than to wholesale trans
actions.
The similarity of the two institutions, fairs and
markets, and their effects upon modern retailing can be
accepted in the overall sense; as It is the influence of
these institutions upon modern retailing with which we
are concerned, markets and fairs will be referred to
synonymously rather than as separate or different insti
tutions, herein.
Peddlers. The term peddlers is not to be identi
fied with the modern use of the term (meaning house-to-
house salesmen), but refers to merchants who traveled
9
about the country selling to any prospective buyers
wherever they could be found. They would purchase goods
at the markets and fairs, take them by horseback, cart,
wagon, or boat, and sell them at retail in distant
places.7
Hucksters. Hucksters were merchants who carried
their goods about, calling their wares, and selling in a
limited area, such as a city or village neighborhood.
They Were considered to be more a convenience to the pub
lic than a necessity. They purchased their supplies from
markets or other local sources and sold directly to the
8
consumer.
Standardizing and grading. Standardization is
the establishment or fixing of specifications or rules
about the quality to be followed in the production or
grading of goods for the market.
Grading refers to the actual work of sorting, sep
arating, or classifying of goods in accordance with pre
scribed standards. The standardizing and grading of
-
H. S. Gras, Business and Capitalism (New York:
F. S. Crofts and Company, 1939) , p. 8.
8 Ibid., p. 37.
10
IV. THE METHOD OP STUDY
Methodology. The historical nature of the subject
matter dictated the use of historical research as the
method most appropriate to the present study. The materials
for this study were, therefore, compiled from histories of
ancient, medieval and modern commerce, and from encyclo
pedias and periodicals.
V. ORGANIZATION OP THE REMAINDER OP THE THESIS
Chapter II presents a discussion of the origins
and development of the fairs and markets, and describes
briefly some of the more important early fairs and markets.
It describes the functions of the fairs and markets, and
traces how they changed to meet the changing needs of com
merce. Chapter III develops this account as it applied
specifically to certain outstanding English fairs and
markets. Chapter IV analyzes the functions of fairs and
markets as media for disseminating information, for adver
tising, and for educational and community service. It
traces some of the more important regulatory measures
taken to curb offenses and control prices and quality,
as well as to standardize trading practices. Chapter V
discusses the influence of early fairs and markets on
11
modern retailing. A general summary of the study is pre
sented in Chapter VI, together with some general conclu
sions drawn from the findings. A bibliography appears at
the end of the thesis.
I
CHAPTER XI
THE GROWTH OP EARLY PAIRS AND MARKETS
This chapter is concerned with a discussion of the
nature and origin of early markets and of those phases
which may have exerted an influence upon the development
of modem methods of retailing.
I. NATURE AND ORIGIN OP EARLY FORMS OP EXCHANGE
In any discussion of early forms of retailing,
the question naturally arises as to the exact nature of
a market— what distinguished the market from the fair, or
from any other retailing medium. The difference between
the market and the fair was essentially one of extent;
extent of time, extent of space, and nature and extent
of the sales transactions involved. While both may be
said to have been mutually convenient meeting places where
buyers and sellers exchanged goods at specified intervals,
markets usually were held more frequently, and fairs usu
ally ran for longer periods of time. Markets, for example,
were commonly one-day events, regularly repeated. Fairs
were of longer duration, involving participation of a whole
13
community (or even nation), while markets were more local
in character, seldom involving more than a community under
taking. In the matter of sales transactions, it can be
said that markets were restricted to retail sales, with
vendors displaying their lines of merchandise for immediate
purchase— merchandise which was more of the "demand" or
perishable type, and which the buyer carried away with him.
Sales transacted at a fair were often future sales on a
wholesale basis, from sample merchandise for future de
livery.
There is no way of ascertaining precisely the origin
of the market. One can assume that wherever peace and
security prevailed and people were free to exchange their
goods, markets developed. It is known that periodic
markets were established in ancient Egypt, and that at
stated intervals those who had merchandise to sell went
to the appropriate village or town displays in a special
area reserved for such trade.
II. FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCED THE EARLY
FORMS OF RETAILING
Before tracing the development of early fairs and
markets, it is well to review briefly the factors which
have exerted the strongest influences upon that development;
14
for it was these factors which marked their imprints
upon the pattern and structure of the retailing institu
tions which evolved. Possibly the most basic of these
factors was that of transportation.
Means of transportation. In the early days of
the Christian era, journeys of any length, great or small,
were accomplished on foot, by animal, or in small boats.
Roads, if they could be called such, were dangerous places
and such movements of people as there were in times of
peace were inspired and controlled almost entirely by re
ligious institutions.
For many centuries the fear of the dangers of
travel kept trading on a circumscribed and provincial
level. Finally, however, with the development of rela
tively safe means of land and water travel and transpor
tation (with the discovery of the wheel for use by land
and the sail for use by sea), it was possible to transport
large quantities of goods over great distances of the
earth's surface. Mith land highways and sea routes pro
tected, merchants were emboldened to venture out and ex
pand the scope of their operations.1
1 Henri Pirenne, Medieval Cities, Their Origin and
the Revival of Trade (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1925)> p. 1$.
15
Religious influences. No discussion of .the life
of the Middle Ages could avoid a consideration of the in
timate relationship between the church and all phases of
men's lives, whether personal, social, economic, or
other.
Religious sponsorship of fairs and markets had
been evidenced as early as Greek and Roman periods, but ,
during the early centuries of the growth of the Christian
church, the church entered prominently into the commercial
life of the times. The monasteries sold goods and profit
ed to the glory of God and the salvation of their holdings.
So great was the church's dominance of the world of com
merce during what has become known as "the Dark Ages" in
Europe that it was able to encourage or discourage people's
buying and selling habits, depending on what moral pre
cepts it wished to emphasize.
Religious gatherings were encouraged and required
by church leaders almost from the beginning of religion,
and people were made to feel that no hardship was too great
when undertaken in the name of religion. Large gatherings
naturally attracted trade. By the eighth and ninth cen
turies, tents and booths were being erected outside the
religious meeting-places, and soon were being rented by
. 16
the churches to those traders who came to sell their mer
chandise to the congregated worshippers. It was in this
manner that the churches may have furnished initial im
petus to the great fairs which grew up and which lasted
2
for thousands of years.
And, Just as the church exerted its strong influence
upon the early fairs and markets, so did these trading
centers exert their influence upon the church. Thus, the
two worked out a sort of interdependent relationship.
Kern in the early lSOO’s wrote:
It is further said that the fairs were ap
pointed to be held on Saints1 days in order
that trade might attract those whom religion
could not influence and would enable the church
to communicate with them.3
Wars. The accounts of the wars of conquest are
also the accounts of the spread of commerce throughout
the world. Not only did they provide the opportunity for
travel and for widening horizons of knowledge; they also
were instrumentalities for the spread of new ideas, new
-
Gordon Selfridge, The Romance of Commerce (New
York and London: John Lane Company, 19l¥), pp. 121 ff.
^ Kern's Travels, Vol. 18, "Historical Sketch of
Progress of Discovery, Navigation and Commerce,'1 1824;
cited in Cornelius Walford, Pairs, Past and Present
(London: Elliot Stock, 1883), P* 1
17
demands for material goods, and eventually for new trade
routes. Enlarging points of view brought new desires for
goods produced in foreign places; intermarriages promoted
a fusion between peoples.
Politics. It will be seen, in tracing the growth
of the medieval fairs that these retailing institutions
were encouraged by the early Manors and later by the
states and governments for the revenue which they provided.
As sources of support they were exploited by various polit-
5
ical groups throughout their history.
III. ORIGINS OF RETAILING INSTITUTIONS
Early Greek fairs and markets♦ The earliest
Greek gatherings of which we have certain record were
those held for religious purposes and pre-date the Chris
tian era by many eenturies-~literary accounts of the
Olympic games, of contests of the theatre, and of the
great architectural builders all stress the fundamental
underlying religious nature of these events. But, at the
same time, it was recognised that these contests did serve
4
Perinne, op. cit., p. 19*
5
Loc. cit.
18
to stimulate trade. Cicero, for example, writes that in
the Pythagorean Age, a great number of people attended
the religious games expressly for the purpose of trading,
6
and that a fair was held almost every year at Delphi.
If we can trust the writings of her gre&t poets,
Greece's passion for good government and excellence of
organization was reflected in the conduct of her commer
cial transactions. As early as the time of Sophocles,
according to the account, the markets were established
and a whole body of regulatory controls set up which were
administered by special Market Boards. These boards were
in the employ of the city government and it was their
duty to collect fees, test weights and measures, inspect
foods, settle disputes arising from fraud, deceit, and
adulteration. Each city had its special market place, or
agora, and each merchant class (i.e., butchers, fish-
dealers, flower sellers, fruiterers, and the like) was
7
assigned a special "circle" in which to do its business.
In fact, It was in the agora of Athens that Socrates
spent many of his leisure hours.
Cornelius Walford, Fairs, Past and Present (London:
Elliot Stock, 1883), p- 3«
*7
Vernon A. Mund, Open Markets (Mew York and London:
Harper and Brothers, 19^8), P» 5*
19
It may be recalled that some Sreek philosophers
were not favorably disposed toward retailers, or toward
commerce in general. For example, Sophocles (495-406
B.C.) said, "Nothing so evil as money ever grew to be
current among men. This lays cities low, this drives men
from their homes, this trains and warps honest souls till
they set themselves to works of shame; this still teaches
folk to practice villainies, and to know every godless
8
deed."
Plato, however, was not In agreement with these
words of Sophocles, for, in his Republic, he made special
arrangements for commerce to be conducted in a market
place, and provided a realistic defense of the functions
of the market:
In the city itself, how will they exchange
with one another what each has produced, for
which purpose we formed a city and established
a community? They will do so by buying and
selling. A market-place and an established
coinage as a symbol for the purpose of exchange
must spring up from hence. If the husband-man
or any other workman bring any of this work to
the market, but does not come at the same time
as those who want to make exchanges with him,
will he not, while sitting in the market, be
unoccupied at the trade? By no means, for there
are some who devote themselves to this service,
and in well-regulated cities they are chiefly
such as are weakest in body and unfit for any
Sophocles, Antigone.
20
other work. These then should attend about
the market to give money in exchange for what
people wish to sell, and goods, in exchange
for money to such as want to buy. It is this
want that provides our city with a race of
shop keepers; for do we not call those shop
keepers who sit in the market and serve both
in selling and buying? Whereas such as travel
to other cities we call merchants.9
It is interesting to discover that many of the
famous men of Greek history had commercial backgrounds.
The father of Demosthenes was a sword maker. The father
of Socrates owned a flute factory, and Socrates himself
was a stone cutter. Euripides was a grocer, Lysias was
part owner of a shield factory, and Solon was a retailer
10
of oil.
Early Roman markets. It was the Romans who gave
us the word "market." In Rome, the place where commerce
was carried on was called the forum, or meeting place.
The mass of people engaged in trade was called the
mercatus (from mercari, "to buy"), and from this root word
have come several modern terms, including "mercer," "mer
chant," and "market."
Rome possessed not only one, but several market
9
Selfridge, op. cit., p. 45.
10
Ibid., p. 47.
21
places, some of which were open every day. Specialization
occurred later than the first century A.D., when separate
markets were established for the sale of cattle, pigs,
fish, meats, and vegetables. Nevertheless, the largest
general market was conducted at the Forum Romanum, which
became headquarters for the shops and offices of large
merchants, bankers, money dealers, brokers, and retailers
of clothing, jewelry, and expensive items.
Roman laws were set up for the control of retailing
practices. The State assumed exclusive power in creating
and regulating markets in order to regulate commerce.
However, the strict regulation and lack of apparent com
petition seems to have led to monopolies and further re
straints of free trade. As a consequence, by the close
of the third century, the markets were not important in
the commercial life of the Romans, as they had formerly
11
been.
The holding of fairs in the open market-places of
Rome dates back to the reign of Caesar, when fairs were
instituted every nine days so that the people might come
to town to hear the laws proclaimed. Booths and tents
were frequently erected in public streets to carry on
11 0
Mund, op. clt., p. o.
22
trade. Even the monasteries sold goods at these fairs.
12
The origin of the later "Pie-powder court” may have been
as early as Roman times, for special courts were set up
in Rome to handle differences arising from disputed trans
actions.
After the fall of Rome, Theodoric, the chief or
king of the Ostro-Goths, worked to improve agriculture
and commerce. About the year A.D. 493> several fairs
13
were held for the purpose of reviving foreign trade.
The markets of the early Egyptians. The markets
of the Egyptians were set up for the bartering of a great
variety of goods. The Egyptians carried on extensive
copper mining and stone quarrying, so that these materials
were available to be fashioned into marketable items. In
addition, there was furniture made from the cedars of
Lebanon, as well as blown-glass objects, enameled boxes,
tanned leather items, and cloth from the looms of the
skilled weavers. Food was brought by farmers, fishermen,
and gazelle hunters. Other products for exchange included
oxen, incense, corn, ivory, ebony, panther skins, musical
instruments, beer, and wines. Egyptian craftsmen exhibited
—
Ibid., p. 20.
13
Walford, op. cit., p. 7*
23
a degree of technical efficiency that was seldom surpassed
14
until the industrial revolution in western Europe.
Early European Fairs. Charlemagne is given credit
for helping the spread of fairs in other parts of Europe,
for he recognized them as a means of exchanging commodi
ties. The great fairs of his period (A.D. 742-814) were
15
held at Aix-la-Chapelle, Beaucaire, and Troyes. In
fact, one of our modern systems of measure came from the
fair at Troyes, known as the "troy weight." Coin that
was too battered to be accepted at face value was sold by
weight, and the standard weight used at the fair at Troyes
16
was adopted as bullion in all parts of Europe. It is
interesting to note that much of our present-day usage
in the exchange of goods originated in the days of the
early European fairs and markets. For example, the "troy
weight" pound was finally legalized in 1828 as the stand
ard unit to be used by the Mint of the United States in
the regulation of coinage due to the confusion in weights
14
Frank M. Mayfield, The Department Store Story
(New York: Fairchild Publications, Inc., 1938), p'“ "4”.
15
Selfridge, op. cit., p. 123-
1 6 T
Loc. cit.
24
17
and measures resulting from trade.
' * ■
There is no systematic record of when and how the
fairs and markets were carried over into English life.
Reference is made in one of the earliest extant records
of the attempts of Alfred the Great in the ninth century
to regulate the travels of "foreign merchants" (probably
"aliens" from the continent) who must by then have made
themselves a nuisance. It was decreed that "alien
merchants should come only to the ’Pour Pairs' and should
18
not remain in England more than forty days." Henry I,
apparently more lenient in his attitude, "... granted
free travel throughout England, the sea-ports free from
, 19
toll . . . to sell at fairs. 1 By 1215» the rights of
man granted by the Magna Carta granted all men freedom to
"travel throughout England, safety to go . . . buy and
20
sell without evil tolls."
Forerunners of the fairs of the Middle Ages; the
traveling merchants. The only traders who continued
IT
Article in The Encyclopedia Americana (New York:
Amerieana Corporation, 1959), Urol. XXIX, pi. 16$.
18
Kern's Travels, op. cit., p. 21.
19
Loc. cit.
20
Loc. cit.
their work through the period of the Middle Ages were
those of the professions whieh have been known from the
earliest of historical times to the present day--the huck
sters and the peddlers. The importance of these traveling
merchants to commerce cannot be underestimated, for it was
they who kept trading alive through the many periods when
commerce declined, sometimes almost to the vanishing
point.
It might be well to recall the difference between
21
the two classifications of traveling merchants: (l)
The hucksters carried on their retail activities in lim
ited areas, such as city streets. They purchased their
supplies from markets or other local sources, and sold
more as a convenience to their customers than as a neces-
22
sity. (2) The peddlers, or "pedlars," were typically
retailers and operated characteristically in the remote
areas of the countryside. Their frequency was not as
great as that of the huckster, but over a period ‘of time
might develop a regularity of appearance in a specific
area. The peddlers traveled by fast horseback, wagon,
barb,-,or boat;.
It was in the tenth century that merchants appeared
il r_
Cf., supra, pp. 8-9.
22
Cf., supra, p. 9.
26
in great numbers. Undoubtedly they came with the ships
from Venice which at this time were wandering the sea-lanes
in search of trade. These new wanderers had a direct
bearing in tying together the local inland markets which
had continued, to a limited extent, throughout the feudal
23
period.
The increase of population at this time must have
been responsible for detaching an increasing number of
individuals from the land, and committing them to a roving
and hazardous existence. To this group of vagabonds who
lived, more or less "from the land," must be applied the
title of budding merchant. Their flexible manner of
living drove them to areas where people were able to pay
for goods and services. Chief among these areas were
the ports, the markets, and the fairs. Famines, which
were prevalent in many parts of Europe, could be taken
advantage of by the more intelligent and resourceful of
these nomads. A few bags of wheat seasonally transported
to the right spot could mean great profit. Before long,
a new class, the "new rich," were to be seen rising from
24
this motley crowd of wanderers.
23
Pirenne, op. cit., p. 117.
24
Ibid., P* 119.
27
An interesting and pertinent illustration is given
of the rise of a "nouveau riche" merchant, in the story
of St. Godrie of Finchale, as reported by Perinne:
He was born towards the end of the eleventh
century in Lincolnshire, of poor peasant stock,
and he must have been put to it from early
childhood to find a means of living. Like
many other unfortunates in every age, he was
a beachcomber, on the lookout for wreckage
cast up by the waves. Next, perhaps following
some lucky find, he played the role of peddler
and went about the country with a pack on his
back. Eventually he picked up a little change
and, one fine day, he joined a band of merchants
met in the course of his peregrinations. With
them he went from market to market, from fair
to fair, from town to town. Thus became a mer
chant by profession, he rapidly realized profits
big enough to enable him to form an association
with his fellows, to load a ship in common with
them and engage in coastal trade along the shores
of England, Scotland, Denmark and Flanders. The
company prospered to the fullest. Its operations
consisted in shipping abroad goods which were
known to be scarce, and there picking up in re
turn merchandise which took care to dispose of
in places where the demand was the greatest and
where might be realized, in consequence, the
largest profits. At the end of several years
this prudent custom of buying cheap and selling
dear made of Godric a very rich man. It was
then that, moved by grace, he suddenly renounced
the life he had led until then, turned over his
possessions to the poor, and became a hermit.25
25
Henri Pirenne, Economic and Social History of
Medieval Europe (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company,
1937), P- 95.
28
It soon became necessary, for reasons of security,
i
for these early wandering merchants to travel in bands
or caravans. Members of the group were armed with bows
and swords, and surrounded with pack animals, wagons and
carts loaded down with sacks, bales, cases, and casks.
It is likely that the merchandise was bought and sold
in common, and the profits divided equitably among the
26
members.
Merchants of this type are referred to as
"traveling merchants" by Geise, who gives them credit for
establishing credit paper financing:
Traveling merchants frequented the great fairs,
buying and selling as in inland towns and seaports.
Above all, at these fairs they settled their ac
counts both receivable and payable. Bills of
exchange were paid at the last days of the fairs,
notably of Champagne where merchants from South
and North, East and West met to settle their ob
ligations . '
The development of permanent shops. As popula
tion increased and a more lively trade developed in the
local markets between the city and country dwellers, some
26
Ibid., p. 125*
N. S. Gras, Business and Capitalism (New York:
F. S. Crofts and Company, 193£)* p. 42.
29
of the traveling merchants who were tired of the wandering
life with its many risks, gradually settled by the shelt
ered towns which stood at intervals along the rivers or
natural routes by which they had traveled. As these mer
chants increased in numbers, they tended to build outside
the city walls. For security reasons, these merchants
themselves* built up walls around their new "burgs," and
became known as the "burgers." In such places as Bruges,
a completely new town sprang up around the commercial
center that had started outside the walls of the original
city. In this sense it can be said that many modern towns
had their birth in the new center originally formed by
28
the merchants who had tired of the road.
Naturally, the collection of merchants in favorable
spots drew other merchants, some of whom were also attract
ed to the newly formed towns— the serfs of the manors.
Here was an opportunity to live a free life as an appren
tice or employee of a merchant or artisan. If a serf
could evade his roaster for a year and a day, he was con-
29
sidered by urban law to be a free man.
Pirenne, Economic and Social History of Medieval
Europe, op. cit., p. 43.
29 Ibid., p. 52.
30
These developments could not help influencing
the life of the manors, for the manors, which had existed
so long without important markets, now found it profit
able to raise surpluses of marketable produce for the
urban population, and in return to obtain manufactured
. 30
goods.
The traveling merchant who settled in the permanent
location probably had a stall of general merchandise, but
this general merchandise was eventually supplanted by more
specialized activities. The market place became a lively
center where one could bring products and find enough
31
customers to make a return journey worth while.
It was natural that shops should grow up around
the markets. Salzman tells that in Eye in the year 1086,
there were twenty-five burgesses dwelling in the market
place. Residents of Basingstoke complained in the year
1275 that a building had been set up in the market place
that was six feet wide and twenty-seven feet long. From
its dimensions, one would conclude that this was a stall
Pirenne, Economic and Social History of Medieval
Europe, op. cit., p. 79; Pirenne, Medieval Cities, Their
Origin and the Revival of Trade, op. cltT~7 p. 105.
31
Gras, op. cit., p. 36.
31
rather than a house. Little differentiation was made
between a shop and a stall at this time, except that a
shop was often a part of a house that faced the market
place, and had a "dressing board" upon which goods for
sale were displayed. Usually, the "dressing board" was
a shutter which was used to cover the window or shop open-
32
ing when trading was finished for the day.
Often merchants with the same wares occupied shops
in the same streets. This practice persists today in
some of the older European towns, as, for example, the
Rue de la Boucherie in Limoges, France, where butcher
shops which have been in existence since the tenth cen-
33
tury are found jammed together.
From these early stalls around the market place
developed the permanent shop, and the, shop owners soon
sought autonomy through the purchase of charters that
guaranteed them the rights of free men and free trade.
During this developmental period, it was the problem of
the storekeeper to get from the peasants the goods which
32
L. F. Salzman, English Trade in the Middle Ages
(London: Oxford University Press, 193177 P* 1^0.
33
Frank M. Mayfield, The Department Store Story
(New York: Fairchild Publications, Inc., 193&), P- 2l.
32
could be exchanged with the traveling merchants for im
ported goods, i.e., to obtain raw materials. Sometimes
this need developed into Joining forces with other store
keepers in buying supplies from traveling merchants. For
example, London shoemakers obtained their leather from
.34
Spanish merchants during the thirteenth century. Gur
contemporary cooperatives developed from this early
structure.
r
As the permanent market followed the occasional
market, it was natural for the permanent merchant to be
come established. The more successful of these permanent
merchants became so as a result of their ability correctly
to interpret their customers’ demands, to maintain better
stocks, to display them to better advantage, to train
their assistants for better Jobs, to keep their prices
35
down, and to develop a science of distribution. Gras
describes this change as a change from the traveling
merchant to that of the "sedentary merchant
The sedentary merchant held sway for about
500 years. During this long period, however,
he was growing in functions, wealth, and control.
Unfortunately, we have no adequate information
34
Gras, op. cit., p. 36.
^ Mayfield, op. cit., p. 17.
33
about these changes. The effort to sketch, largely
by way of resume, the changes in the development of
the sedentary merchant and his system of mercantile
capitalism is tentative. The first type was the
Beginner. He was a storekeeper or shopkeeper who
in the fullness of his ambition was becoming a
merchant. He developed a set of functions which
provided him with a restricted but integrated busi
ness. He imported, wholesaled, retailed, and per
haps exported. The goods he imported, he preferred
to wholesale to retailers in his own town or ad
joining towns. Some of his imports he would him
self retail. In undeveloped colonial towns of
the seventeenth century, he would take in country
produce for the goods he sold by retail. These
products he would sell locally or export abroad,
along with other goods in steady demand. He might
pay for them in bills of exchange as early as the
thirteenth century in Western Europe.
The sedentary merchant differed from the trav
eling merchant in a number of respects. While
the traveling merchant spent his best energies in
moving from place to place, the sedentary merchant
used his abilities in the administration of his
business. While the traveling merchant was largely
subject to a single great risk, the sedentary mer
chant diversified his risks over a wide front.
While the traveling merchant apparently arose out
of -the peasant class, the sedentary merchant prob
ably descended from the storekeeping and shopkeep
ing classes. While the traveling merchant belonged
to the declining regime of international fairs, the
sedentary merchant belonged to the period of fast
growing industrial towns and metropolitan centers.
There were two types of sedentary merchants. The
first traded in an area such as a merchant of London
who might send his ships to the Baltic. The second
type specialized not in the trade of an area, but
in a line of goods. Such were the mercer, drapers,
grocers, haberdashers, ironmongers, etc.36
36
Gras, op. cit., p. 69.
3^
Prelude to the fairs of the Middle Ages: A period
of little activity. It will be recalled that for a
period of some thousand years following the fall of the
Roman Empire, trade had all but disappeared. The Islams
had closed the Mediterranean to commerce which had dwindled
to such an extent that the merchants had all but ceased
to exist. The Roman cities, which were the centers of
diocesan administration, did manage to remain, but the
value of their currency declined. Charlemagne, even though
commercially-minded and aggressive in his efforts to main
tain an active commerce, could not overcome the wave of
37
e c onom ic change.
Thus arose the "great estates," as the feudal lord
ships were known in the medieval period, a revival of an
older institution which assumed immediate control when
the commercial life of the cities ceased. The "estate"
existed in a manner which might be called a "closed estate
economy,"— that is, an economy without extended markets.
This type of economy was, for the time, the only expedient,
for, even if the estate had surpluses., there was no one to
whom it could sell, for there were no buyers, no demand
37
Pirenne, Economic and Social History of Medieval
Europe, op. cit., pp. 5-6.
35
for the products, and no place to dispose of its goods.
The closest approximation to a commercial venture which
could be carried on by the lord of the manor were the work
shops, or gynaeceas which he set up, where the tools and
garments needed for the cultivation of the land and the
38
elothing of his servants were produced.
With the growth of monopolies and large estates,
there occurred a marked decline in the production of sale
able goods and a shrinking in the size and importance of
towns. Social and political crises, civil wars, and in
vasions added to the decline in prosperity, but the final
blow to ancient commerce had come in the eighth century,
when the Mohammedans had closed off the Mediterranean to
Western Europe, the Saracens had stopped the Importations
from the East, and the Norsemen had disturbed the trade
routes to the North and West. As a result of these
devastating events, what goods were produced were used
for domestic consumption rather than for purposes of com
merce .
There were other reasons, too, to be added to the
list of causative factors for the lack of retail trade
during the Middle Ages: (1) The lord of the manor was
38 Ibid., p. 9.
36
interested primarily in war, whether that war were actual
or on the field of chivalry. (2) The lord delegated the
management of his estates to a bailiff, and was interested
only in maintaining control of his holdings. (3) Because
of the influence of the Church, there was no emphasis on
material advancement. (4) The men of the feudal manor,
although called "freemen of the estate," were completely
attached to the group to which they belonged, and had no
interest or incentive in improving their lot by entering
39
into commercial ventures.
To offset this condition, certain changes were
taking place which were instrumental in opening trade
channels: (l) The first "truce of God," proclaimed in
989, was instrumental in decreasing the number of private
wars. (2) The Clunisian reform of the Church helped to
give all Christians a more optimistic outlook. (3) The
Crusades brought westerners into contact with the East.
(4) The expulsion of the Saracens from Spain brought
about many changes in the economic life of the European
continent.
The question naturally arises: What of the people?
What effects did the closing of all channels of commerce
39
Ibid., p. 26.
37
have on the lives of people, following the Germanic in
vasions and the fall of Rome?
Attempts were made to maintain the status quo, but
the life arteries had been severed, and the trade which
moved from Rome to her outlying domains slowed to a mere
trickle. Free farmers were forced into military service,
while others found that they were little more than serfs
to powerful, grasping men of opportunity. Even the
churehes and monasteries farmed great estates of land
that had been given to them as pious gifts. The Dark
Ages had descended on Europe.
But even as civilization retrogressed, life still
went on. Hew institutions were devised to take the place
of those destroyed by the Germanic invasions. Politically,
economically, and socially these new agencies were gener
ally crude in comparison with those which had existed in
the days of the Gaesars. Even so, they did serve to pro
vide men of medieval times with food and shelter and pro
tection. A new form of life, called Feudalism, can be
said to have emerged as a well-defined governmental sys
tem throughout most of Europe, by the year nine hundred.
If we look at a typical medieval Manor, it will be
easy to understand why marketing was not carried on to any
great extent during this period.
38
Prelude to medieval fairs: the Feudal Manor. The
medieval Manor was an estate that varied in size from one
locality to another. A small Manor might contain only
about a dozen households, but even the smallest contained
40
at least three hundred fifty acres of ground. A large
Manor, on the other hand, might contain as many as fifty
families with as much as five thousand acres surrounding
the center Manor house. A king or the Church might
possess hundreds of Manors. Regardless of size, the center
of the Manor was the village made up of the mud and
thatched huts of the peasants. Each village tried to be
self-sufficient, but lack of ware-houses to store surplus
food against a famine, and lack of knowledge of how to
preserve foods kept the lord of the Manor— to say nothing
of the people of the village--in a constant state of un
certainty. And little wonder there was no surplus of
cattle or grain to market when one considers that in
those days the cattle on many Manors were of such poor
breed that a grown ox was about the size of a present-day
calf, and the fleece of a sheep weighed less than two
40
Clive Day, Economic Development in Europe
(New York: The Macmillan Company, 1942), p. 33-
39
ounces, as compared with the present average of seven
41
pounds. Considering that the average American consumes
3.7 bushels of wheat annually, it is no wonder that the
medieval farmer had nothing for the market when the wheat
yield was six bushels to the acre, two of which had to be
retained for seed. In comparison, last year’s Kansas
yield was forty bushels of wheat to the acre.
Every item about the Manor was constructed for use.
Houses were of wood and stone, clothing was made of flax
42
and wool, and furniture was made at home.
Only the great lords or the monasteries who had
a number of Manors that were operated on an advanced eco
nomic basis, could produce surpluses in marketable quan
tities, and it was these people who found it profitable
to do business at the annual fairs. As the fairs took
hold and increased, a need was felt for a trading center
where goods could be exchanged more often than once a
year. The revival of the market was the solution.
The emergence of the Medieval markets. Just how
the markets were revived is, again, not certainly known.
41
^ Ibid., p. 34.
42
Ibid., p. 35.
40
There are, nevertheless, a number of theories. One is that
they revived in a manner similar^to that of the fairs—
with gatherings of a religious nature. It is said that
the persistent flow of pilgrims not only set up trade
routes and established trading centers, but was responsible
for the origin of many towns. For example, Glasgow was
founded by pilgrims who flocked to the grave of St.
43
Ninian.
Another theory of the revival of markets is also
advanced. This has to do with "the Preaching and Market
Grosses, many of which still remain from the seventh and
eighth centuries when Britain was being Christianized.
The Preaching Friars and Monks did great good among the
poor and the outcast. At the same time, they aroused
much jealousy among the parish priests, who would often
forbid them to preach in the churches, or even from the
churchyards. The Friars at such times would proclaim
their doctrines to the people from the highways and way
side stations, and Crosses were erected to mark the meet
ing places. Many of these Crosses were mounted upon a
broad flight of steps, whibh formed an excellent platform
43
W. Cunningham, The Growth of English Industry and
Commerce During the Early and Middle Ages (Cambridge: The
University Press, 1927)* p. 95*
and raised the preachers well above the heads of their
listeners.
As time went on, a number of the Preaching Crosses
developed into meetings places of commercial as well as
religious nature. It is easy to see what a good place
these steps would be for the display of one's basket of
eggs, butter, and other produce where crowds of people
were likely to gather. Thus, the Preaching Crosses may
have become definite meeting places for the buying and
selling of wares, and were possibly the origin of many
44
now-important markets.
Another possible reason for the revival of markets
had to do with the problem of security. Roads during the
medieval period were little more than paths used by pe
destrians or horses. As a consequence, travellers who
dared to face the rigors of a protracted journey risked
not only life and limb on the bad roads, but had to con
tend with robbers, thieves, and murderers. Merchants,
because they were usually strangers to the area, suffered
even more serious hazards, for a stranger of any sort was
to be distrusted. Suspicion even crept into high places.
^ P. Mansell, The Wayfarer's Book (London, Mel
bourne: Ward, Lock and Company, Lid., 1940), p. 30.
In the year 700 an English law was put into effect which
read: "If a man come from afar, or a stranger go out of
the highway, and then he neither shout nor blow a horn;
he is to be accounted a thief, either to be slain or to
,,45
be redeemed.
With such suspicion prevalent, and possibly with
good reason, it is easy to see why another law some two
hundred years later specified that a man was not allowed
to buy or sell goods above the value of twenty pence unless
he do so within a town where a public official and witness
es could legitimatize the bargain. In this manner one can
.construct a ' ‘security’ 1 of revival of the market.
The basis of all general markets was food stuffs,
and in many instances the most convenient opportunity for
the sale and exchange of such commodities was found in the
weekly assembly of the community at the parish church on
Sundays, the only day when many of the laborers were able
to leave their work. Sunday markets, naturally, drew
much criticism from time to time, although efforts to wipe
them out completely were not successful--nor have they
been even to the present day.
Under the early Saxon kings, marketing of goods on
__
Day, op. cit., p. 33*
Sunday had been prohibited. Edicts to this effect were
issued in the years 906, 926, 1008, and 1014; nevertheless,
as can be seen from the successive dates of the edicts,
the prohibitions did not achieve their desired results.
The Domesday Book records a custom of the city of Chester,
that any merchant who opened his pack during the period
from noon Saturday to Monday would be fined four shillings.
Later, under papal influence, many Sunday markets were
46
shifted to other days of the week.
Besides the markets on or around religious grounds,
many early markets were formed near the castles of English
barons or earls. Such locations had many advantages.
The castle or fortification afforded protection to the
market merchants and to the populace, and the castle or
Manor itself was a stimulant to trade because of the large
household and its many wants.
During the formative periods, the markets may have
been free, but, as they became more prevalent and under
the control of castles and monasteries, tolls were charged
on each transaction. This was only reasonable, since the
lords provided the police protection that was essential to
trade. Naturally, those in control desired to have all
^6 Salzman, op. cit., p. 125.
44
trade in their vicinity carried on in their markets so as
to get the revenue from the tolls. This reason persisted
into the fourteenth century when peaceful conditions pre
vailed. As dangers of robbery almost disappeared, the
habit of keeping records became generally accepted and
witnesses to transactions were no longer necessary; the
markets provided important revenue for the lords.
As certain places were established as centers of
trade, it became the custom for wandering artisans and
merchants to settle in these places and prepare articles
for sale for the weekly gatherings. By the eleventh cen
tury this custom had become more and more prevalent.
Moreover, such settlements were encouraged by the local
lords who found the availability of local supply a definite
convenience. Also, these market settlements served as a
point of trade for the increased numbers of travelling
merchants who found it profitable to buy goods of abundant
supply in one area and to resell in other areas where
scarcities existed.
_ As the market settlements increased, a natural
tendency on the part of the merchants was to free them
selves from the domination of the local lords. Toward
the close of the eleventh and during the twelfth centuries,
this was accomplished in many instances, after which the
45
merchants sought the municipal right "to make a city/'
so that laws of peace and security could be established
that would regulate the community--an essential for com
merce and industry. In this manner, small towns began to
47
emerge from market scenes.
IV. LOCATIONS OP IMPORTANT PAIRS
Flemish fairs. , By the latter half of the tenth
century, fairs had developed in Flanders. Woollen goods
were the main items, but because of the scarcity of coin,
most of the trade was carried on by barter. The Earl of
Flanders established regular fairs at Bruges, Courtray,
Torhout, and at Mon-Casel. He also encouraged foreign
trade by exempting incoming and outgoing goods from the
48
usual duties.
Champagne fairs. During the middle ages, much of
the continental commerce centered around the fairs of
Champagne en Brie. The Genoese sent their bales of goods,
Belgian manufacturers sent their cloth, Catalonia furnished
leather, and Florence provided silk. These fairs opened
47
Mund, op. cit., p. 17-
48
Walford, op. cit., p. 8.
46
with cloth sales. After about seventeen days, a great
cry of "Arai1 1 was raised as a signal for the money
changers to preside. These men made it possible for the
merchants to convert their proceeds to their own coin
49
before returning home.
Besides the commercial value of these fairs in
southern Prance, it is thought by some writers that the
seeds of liberty, equality and fraternity--concepts so
dear to the hearts of the French people— were sown; for
the Genoese merchant was boastful of his own freedom, and
was proud of his vote in the General Council. This en
vironment in which the French merchant found himself each
fair time was entirely different from the political en
vironment in which he lived during the remainder ,of the
year. Those of the merchants who were progressive, from
a political standpoint, looked forward to the fairs and
the subsequent contact with the Genoese. As a result,
the French merchants carried back ideas and concepts that
spread slowly throughout the various strata of French
society, and may have had some influence on the eventual
50
culmination of the French Revolution.
49
Selfridge, op. cit., p. 9*
50
Walford, op, cit., p. 10.
47
Other fairs. The fairs described on the preceding
pages were selected as representative of the fairs which
have existed in various lands, and at various times. Many
other successful and well-known fairs might have been in
cluded.
Pranee promoted her commerce with fairs at a number
of strategic centers— at Beaucaire, Besancon, Bordeaux,
Caen, Dieppe, Guibray, Lyons, Montriehard, Rheims, Rouen,
Toulon, Troyes, and Paris. Germany held her largest fairs
at Leipzig, Frankfurt, and Nuremberg. Belgium promoted
fairs at Thorout and Bruges. In Spain fairs were held
at Seville and Median del Garapo, while in Italy the great
fair centers were at Bari and Venice. Each fair had its
own individual quality and its own charming history, but
all followed a pattern not far different from those dis
cussed above.
In another part of the world there occurred another
fair which attained a position of substantial importance—
that of Nijni-Novgorod, in Russia. Located in eastern
central Russia, about halfway between Moscow and the Ural
Mountains, this town (now called "Gorki”) is strategically
set at the point where the Volga meets the Oka. The
resourceful monks of the monastery of St. Macarius set up
48
a religious center and quickly took advantage of the
assembling point by setting up places of trade. These
clever monks continued to collect tolls until 1751* . at
which time this most lucrative venture was taken over by
the State.
Nijni-Novgorod (or "Gorki"), in addition to being
situated at the confluence of the Volga and Oka rivers,
both of which are navigable for hundreds of miles, is now
a hub for the Siberian caravans, as well as the Trans-
Siberian railway. In contrast to other fairs mentioned,
this Russian fair is still in operation. The stalls, in
stead of being made of canvas, are housed in permanent
buildings which are two stories in height. Many of these
buildings have projecting balconies to protect the goods
from the sun and rain. The connecting streets are about
one hundred feet wide, and the market-place is divided at
right angles into sixty-four square groups of warehouses.
The fair, however, has long since outgrown its original
size, and miles of temporary structures are built each
year for the event. The area itself extends over some
seven or eight square miles, and it is said that at fair
time some 6,000 shops are crowded with goods, and that
quays along the Volga are heaped with bales of merchandise.
Walford gives an excellent picture of the fair at
Nijni-Novgorod:
Round the public offices in the center are
ranged the European wares, the French millinery,
and English broadcloth. Next follow the Armenians,
a numerous and distinguished class in every, com
mercial assemblage throughout the East. Near
these the Bokharians usually range themselves,
and they are easily distinguishable from the other
Asiatics by their squat corpulent figures and dark
complexions. Nearly a whole side of the Bazaar is
occupied by the Chinese Market, in which the shops
are all laid out in Chinese fashion. Tea is the
chief* article of the Chinese trade. . . .
Beyond the stone buildings of the Bazaar com
mence the rows of wooden booths in which the mot
ley Siberian and Tartar tribes establish them
selves with their furs and peltry; the most re-
' markable to a European eye, though not the least
eotftmoncof'their wares, being the dark, mouse-
colored hide of the wild horse, with black mane
and streak along the back, much pr,ized by the
Bashkirs and other tribes for its warmth as well
as beauty. The wine.trade has never constituted
a great feature of the fair, although wine skins
from the Caucasus may be seen; and many of the
brands of Southern Russia may be found on appli
cation. 51
The streets are described as having elegant ar
cades on either side, and containing "handsome" stalls.
Everything was carried on in an .orderly, business-like
manner.
In order to encourage competition and low prices,
each class and kind of goods had its own quarters. There
51 Ibid., p. 297.
50
were separate sections for groceries, leather goods, and
soap. A mile of shops was devoted to iron and ironware
where one could buy weapons, holy images, and priestly
vestments. The cloth section contained ready-made clothes
and fancy articles such as gloves, handkerchiefs, and
ribbons. Other sections offered furniture, glassware,
precious stones and Jewelry, to mention but a few.
This fair presented an extraordinarily fascinating
sight. For six weeks each summer, virtually every kind
of merchant,, speaking his own language, or dialect, clothed
in his native costume, was brought together at this other
wise unimportant spot in eastern Russia.
CHAPTER III
MEDIEVAL PAIRS OP ENGLAND
This chapter is devoted to a detailed description
of the fairs and markets of medieval England. English
fairs, rather than those outstanding ones of continental
Europe, were chosen for more detailed presentation in
this study for two reasons: (l) first-hand accounts of
some completeness have come down to us of a number of the
English fairs; and (2) we, being an English-speaking
nation, have had a tendency to look directly to England
when tracing our own history. Because of this, certain
ones of the English fairs have been selected for special
treatment and analysis.
Introduction. The Romans probably brought their
ideas of fairs with them to England, for traces of fairs
of Roman origin have been found at a number of spots in
England, notably as Helston (Cornwall), at Barnwell (near
Cambridge), at Newcastle-upon Tyne, and at several places
along the line of the ancient Roman wall which stretched
52
1
across Northumberland.
Mention has been made of Alfred the Great, who was
instrumental in fostering fairs during the Saxon period.
Nevertheless, it remained to the Normans to mould the
fair into its most familiar form. The Norman contribution
can be traced to the fact that the Norman kings were
greatly influenced by the Papal throne, and it was the
church that received the greatest benefit from fairs
after the Norman Conquest in the eleventh century. Under
the reign of John early in the thirteenth century, the
power of the church became markedly greater and reached
its peak. It was during this period that most of the
2
English fairs received their charters.
I. A TYPICAL ENGLISH PAIR
A number of accounts have been given of many of
the early fairs of England, institutions which soon be
came an integral part of the art and song and culture
of the age. A Report of the Royal Commission on Market
Rights and Tolls gives an interesting inside picture of
Cornelius Walford, Fairs, Past and Present (New
York and London: Elliot Stock, l883T7~P^~T3*
2 Ibid., p. 14.
53
the weekly market at Oxford:
The sellers of hay and straw were to stand
with their teams in the middle of High Street,
and sellers of Faggots in carts and wagons be
tween Oriel Lane and the High Street. The tim
ber merchants were to be between St. Thomas
Hall and St. Edward's Lane, and the sellers of
hogs and swine between St. Mary's and All-
Hallows Church. Vendors of ale and beer had
their place between St. Edward's Lane and the
Chequer Inn, and sellers of roots and coales
by St. Edward's Lane on the North and High
Street. Glovers stood between All-Hallows
Church and the Mitre, bakers between Carfax
and Somner's Inn, butter and cheese merchants
from Carfax corner towards the Old Bayly, and
corn merchants between the Cross Inn and
Northgate.3
However, it is the Sturbridge Fair which has re
ceived most adequate recording, and which stands in the
minds of many as being typical of most of the medieval
English fairs.
The Sturbridge Fair. The greatest of all English
fairs was the one held at Sturbridge near Cambridge. By
tradition, this fair is thought to have originated when
some Westmoreland cloth merchants were caught in a storm
while on their way to Norwich. The cloth, having been
. spread out on the Sturbridge common to dry, found such
Report of the Royal Commission on Market Rights
and Tolls (London, 1888), Vo1~ I, p. 52; contained in
a portfolio collection, Huntington Library, Pasadena.
54
a ready market that the merchants did not continue their
journey, and found it advantageous to return to the same
4
place year after year.
The original charter, giving legal recognition for
the holding of the fair, was granted by King John in
about the year 1211. It gave permission for "... the
Lepers of the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalen at Sturbridge
by Cambridge--a fair to be held in the close of the Hos-
5
pital on the Vigil and Feast of the Holy Cross."
During the middle ages, the Sturbridge fairs
lasted for periods of three weeks, and to this small
space on the banks of the river Stur, came merchants
from Genoa with Italian silks, from Florence with works
of art and manufactured items, from Augsburg with fab
rics, from Ghent, Liege, and Antwerp with finely woven
linens and cloths for which Flanders was then famous;
from Portugal with wines, from Spain with Toledo blades,
and from many other places with equally fine goods.
There were sellers of ribbons and cakes, purveyors
4
Frank M. Mayfield, The Department Store Story
(New York: The Fairchild Publications, Inc., 1938),
,p. 11.
5
Walford, op. cit., p. 54.
55
of food and drink for the hungry and thirsty, caterers
for the amusement of the people, minstrels and jugglers,
exhibitions of morality plays and other attractions.
It was the noblemen and Churchmen who were the
great buyers at the fairs during the middle ages, while
the common folk flocked to them not to buy, but to be
amused. The usual goods, that were offered were rarities
brought from distant sources in small quantities and at
high cost and risk. Perishable commodities were not usu
ally handled because of the lack of means to preserve
them. If one bishop or baron would not buy, another
might appear presently who would, or the merchandise
might be held over for another fair. To be specific,
the fair of the middle ages seems to have been a seller's
6
rather than a buyer's market.
Retail trade controls of the Sturbridge Pair. It
is interesting to note that as early as the year 15^8, a
number of rigid controls had been set up for regulating
the trade practices of the Sturbridge Pair. These con
trols were issued in what was known as the "Pair Cry" of
Summerfield Baldwin, Business in the Middle Ages,
The Berkshire Studies in European History (New York:
j Henry Holt and Company, 1937), P* 90.
the Sturbridge Fair, and were in reality a set of laws
governing the operation of the fair, with detailed in
structions covering all the regulations in force through
out the fair grounds. Included in this "Cry*1 were such
matters as control of prices, control of the quality of
merchandise, standards of weights and measures— all pro
claimed by order of the King. Undoubtedly they must have
been issued in answer to popular demands for protection
from numerous unsavory merchandising practices.
In general, the controls were set up for the pro
tection of the consumer. Regulations Covered not only
the control of prices, quality, and weights and measures,
but extended to the general conduct of the fair— i.e.,
the exercise of policing functions, the personal safety
of customers, the regulation of personal behavior, even
to the type of persons with whom customers might asso
ciate. General ordinances required that: (l) All must
"keep the king's peace1 '; (2) no person should wear a
weapon; (3) no person should attack another either going
to or coming from the fair; and (4) "common women" and
those who could not "behave themselves" were not to at-
7
tend the fair.
7
Ibid., p. 91-.
57
Law enforcement at the Sturbridge Fair. This
court was called into existence in answer to the fact
that many merchants did not live within the laws set up
for the conduct of the fair. It was a special court set
up on the Fair grounds, termed the "Pie Powder” (a con
traction of pied puldreaux, or ’ ’dusty feet," so named,
possibly, because of the dusty feet of the plaintiffs and
defendants).
Quick judgments were handed down concerning con
tracts, weights, measures, and disputed debts. A pair of
stocks, a whipping post, and a small jail were the usual
8
equipment of the court.
Literary accounts of the Sturbridge Fair.
Samuel Pepys, according to his diary, sent his wife to
the Sturbridge Fair on September 15* 1668, but, although
he undoubtedly followed her later, his daily writings are
omitted from the diary up to the eleventh of October.
Another account of the Fair is given by Daniel
DeFoe, who visited it in 1723 and reported in great de
tail his impressions of his visit:
Colin Simken, Fairs, Past and Present (Hartford,
Connecticut: The Travelers Insurance Company, 1939)*
5^
It is impossible to describe all the Parts
and Circumstances of this Pair exactly: the
Shops are placed in Rows like Streets. . . .
here, as in several other Streets, are all
sorts of Trades, who sell by Retale, and who
come principally from London with their Goods;
scarce any trades are omitted, Goldsmiths,
Toyshops, Braziers, Turners, Milliners, Haber
dashers, Hatters, Mercers, Drapers, Perterers,
China-Warehouses, Taverns, Brandy-Shops, and
Eating-Houses, innumerable, and all in Tents,
Booths, as above. .
The area of this square is about 80 to 100
yards, where the Dealers have room before
every Booth to take down, and open their Packs,
and to bring in Waggons to load and unload.
This place is separated, and Peculiar to
the Wholesale Dealers in the Woollen Manufac
ture. Here the Booths, or Tents are of vast
Extent, have different apartments, and the
Quantities of Goods they bring are so Great,
that the Insides of them look like another
Blackwell Hall, being as vast Ware-Houses
pil'd up with Goods to the Top.9
Prom DeFoe's description, it is apparent that at this
time the sale of merchandise from sample goods for future
delivery made up a large part of the business transacted
at the Fair; This would indicate, too, that the business
being done extended beyond the immediate exchange of
Cited in a folio collection, DePoe's Miscellane-
ous Writings, "A True Collection of the Writings of the
Author of the True Born English-man," Vol. I (1703), and
Vol. II (1705), in the possession of The Huntington
Library, Pasadena, California; inspected September, 1953;
hereinafter referred to as DeFoe's Miscellaneous Writings.
59
goods, and enabled the vendor to schedule future manu
facture and shipment of goods.
In this Duddery . . . there have been sold
£100,000 worth of Woolen Manufactures in less
than a Week's time, besides the prodigious
Trade carry'd on here, by Wholesale men from
London and all Parts of England, who transact
their Business wholly in their Pocket-Books,
and meeting their Chapmen from all Parts, make
up their Accounts, receive money chiefly in
Bills, and take Orders. These they say exceed
by far the Sales of Goods actually brought to
the Pair, and deliver'd In Kind; it being fre
quent for 'the London Wholesale Men to Carry
back orders from their Dealers for £100,000
worth of Goods a Man, and some much more.
This especially respects those People who
deal in heavy Goods, as Wholesale Grocers,
Salters, Brasiers, Iron-Merchants, and the
like; but does not exclude the Dealers in
Woollen Manufactures, and especially In Mer
cery Goods of all sorts, the Dealers in which
• generally manage their Business in this
manner.10
It is evident that sales transacted at the Pair
for future delivery enabled the producer to schedule the
production of these goods over a planned period, to sell
beyond his immediate market, and to enlarge his facili
ties. One can only speculate upon the great effect
which this practice must have had on the economy of the
nation at this time. Certain it is that substantial
quantities of goods from all parts of the country changed
Log. cit.
60
hands under this new system of selling from sample mer
chandise.
By these Articles a Stranger may make some
guess at the immense Trade carry'd on at this
place: what prodigious Quantities of Goods are
bought and sold here, and what a confluence of
People are seen here from all Parts of England.
Here are Clothiers from Hallifax, Leeds,
Wakefield and Huthersfield . . . with vast
Quantities of Yorkshire Cloths, Kerseyes,
Penningstons, Cottons, etc., with all sorts
of Manchester Ware, Fustians, and things made
of Cotton Wool; of which the Quantity is so
great that they told me there were near a
thousand Horse-Packs of such Goods from that
side of the Country, and there took up a side
and a half of the Duddery at least; also a
part of a street of Booths were taken up with
Upholsterer's Ware Stuffs, Blankets, Rugs,
Quilts, etc.
The commodities sold at the Fair included all types of
English manufactured goods:
. . . all sorts of wrought Iron, and Brass-Ware
from Birmingham; Edg'd Tools, Knives, etc.,
from Sheffield; Glass-Wares and Stockings from
Nottingham and Leicester; and an infinite
Throng of other things of smaller value, every
Morning.12
The Fair stimulated business throughout the entire
country, bringing together great masses of people who had
to be transported, housed, and fed. They also came to
11
Loc. cit.
Loc. cit.
61
the Pair to be entertained.
To attend this Fair, and the prodigious con
flux of People which come to it, there are some
times not less than fifty Hackney Coaches which
come from London, and ply Night and Morning to
carry the People to and from Cambridge; for
there the gross of the People lodge; nay, which
is still more strange, there are Wherries brought
from London on Waggons to plye upon the little
River Cam, and to row People up and down from
the Town, and from the Fair as Occasion presents.
It is not to be wondered at, if the Town of
Cambridge cannot Receive or Entertain the Num
bers of People that come to this Fair; not
Cambridge only, but all the Towns round are
full; nay, the very Barns, and Stables are
turn'd into Inns, and made as fit as they can
to Lodge the meaner sort of People.
As for the People in the Fair, they all
universally Eat, Drink and Sleep in their Booths
and Tents; and the said Booths are so inter
mingled with Taverns, Coffee-Houses, Drinking-
Houses, Eating-Houses, Cook-Shops, etc., and
all in Tents too; and so many Butchers, and
Hagglers from all the Neighboring Counties
come into the Fair every Morning with Beef,
Mutton, Fowls, Butter, Bread, Cheese, Eggs,
and such things; and go with them from Tent
to Tent, from Door to Door, that there's no
want of any Provisions of any kind, either
dress'd or undress'd.
In a Word, the Fair is like a well Fortify'd
City, and there is the least Disorder and Con
fusion (I believe) that can be seen anywhere,
with so great a Concourse of People.13
DeFoe describes tie manner in which disputes and
disagreements were handled at the fair:
13
Loc. cit.
62
I should have mentioned that here is a Court
of Justice always open, and held every Day in
a Shed built on purpose in the Pair; this is
for keeping the Peace, and deciding Controversies
in matters Deriving from the Business of the Fair.
The Judges in this Court, as being in their Juris
diction, or they are holding it by Special Privi-
ledge: Here they determine Matters in a Summary
way, as is practis'd in those we call Pye-Powder
Courts in other Places, or as a Court of Conscience;
and they have a final Authority without A p p e a l . 1 ^-
DePoe's account goes on in great detail about the
wonders of the Sturbridge Pair; the imaginative reader
can visualize, through the hustle and excitement, the
great influence which this and other fairs must have ex
erted upon the manners and customs and trading habits
of the people.
For the next one hundred years, the Pair continued
to follow much the same pattern in general, exeept that
there gradually developed a greater degree of specializa
tion among vendors,-and a grouping of similar commodities
15
into what amounted to "shopping districts." These are
treated in some detail in a later section of this report.
Although the Sturbridge Fair was the greatest of
the English fairs, others were held in many places. These
included fairs at Winchester, at Northampton, and, of
Loc. cit.
15
Walford, op. cit., p. 138.
63
course, at London.
The St. Bartholomew Fair. The London Fair was
held at Smithfield, a borough of London. It was known as
the St. Bartholomew Fair, chartered in 1123, and existed
actively for some seven hundred years.
This fair, in contrast to the one at Sturbridge,
was held for the benefit of the Church, and was licensed
for only three days, starting the day before, and con
tinuing through the day following the Feast of St.
Bartholomew. As a result of the connection of this fair
with the Church and the "firm peace" that was granted by
the King, it came to be thought that there were special
miracles in store for those who traveled to the Fair of
St. Bartholomew. The thought of entertainment was another
motivating factor which invited travel to the Fair, but
in the early days the type of entertainment sometimes
offered was rather brutal. Morley, quoted by Walford,
gave a vivid account of his first encounter with the St.
Bartholomew Fair:
Thus we have in the most ancient times of the
Fair a church full of worshippers, among whom
were the sick and maimed . . . a graveyard full
of traders, and a place of jesting and edifica
tion, where women and men caroused in the midst
of the throng; where the minstrel and the story
teller and the tumbler gathered in knots about
them; where the sheriff calls new laws to be
64
published by loud proclamation in the gathering
places of the people; where the young men bowled
at nine pins, while the clerks and friars peeked
at the young maids; where mounted knights and
ladies curvetted and ambled, peddlars loudly
magnified their wares, the scholars met for pub
lic wrangle, oxen lowed, horses neighed. . . .16
The St. Bartholomew Fair carried on commerce in
the same manner in which the Sturbridge Fair was con
ducted. However, here entertainment was much more prom
inent than was trading. Drama had an important place in
each year's program, and such outstanding personages as
17
Ben Jonson presented their plays.
The St. Bartholomew Fair of 1641 was described in
another account:
It is remarkable and worth your observation
to behold and hear the strange sights and con
fused noises in the Fair. Here a Knave in a
Fool's coat, with a trumpet sounding, or on a
drum beating, invites you and would fain per
suade you to see his puppets; there a Rogue
like a Wild Woodman, or in an antick shape
like an incubus, desires your company to view
his motion; on the other side Hocus Pocus with
three yards of tape or ribbon in's hand, show
ing the art of Legerdemain to the admiration
and astonishment of a company of cockoloaches.
16
Ibid., pp. 181 ff.
17
There is record of the presentation of one of
Ben Jonson's works at the St. Bartholomew Fair in the
year 1614 (ibid., p. 195)•
1 f t
Ibid., p. 200.
Contrary to the puritanical doctrine which dis
couraged entertainment and gatherings of non-religious
nature, the Commonwealth under Cromwell did not halt the
St. Bartholomew Pair. Morley's colorful account is of
the St. Bartholomew Fair at the time of Cromwell:
Across the Smithfield pavement, Cavaliers in
boots two inches too long, and with laced tops
wide enough to contain each of them a goose,
straddled about; compelled to straddle in order
that the long and Jingling spur of one boot
hooked into the ruffle of the other, might not
bring down the whole man into the gutter. Women
I say might no-te such things, but the men were
in earnest. The dainty Cavalier in the histori
cal shirt embroidered with the deeds of profane
heroes, might glance from the speckled face of
his companion towards the clean cheeks of the
Puritan maid in the religious petticoat worked
over with texts and scripture scenes; all had
their vanities, their froth and weakness float
ing loose above the storm; all had an eye for
the Jest of the Fair, but under it lay in a
heaving mass the solemn earnest of the time.
The Fair brought together from almost all parts
of England, men who had urgent thoughts to ex
change, harmonies and conflicts now of principle
and now of passion to express. The destiny of
fatherland was hidden from all in a future black
with doubt. Men brave and honest had their
souls pledged in allegiance to an earthly king,
over whom and against whom others as brave and
as honest set up rights given to them by the
King of kings.ly
During the period of the Restoration, the Fair
was not only continued, but was extended from three to
19 Ibid., p. 203.
66
fourteen days. During the year 1665-66, as in many
previous times, there was a discontinuation of the fair
because of the plague which was sweeping the country.
However, the following year, Samuel Pepys records, under
date of August 28th, that the St. Bartholomew Pair did
take place:
Went twice round Bartholomew Fair, which
I was glad to see again, after two years miss
ing of it by the plague, and there did see a
ridiculous, obscene little stage play called
"Mary Audrey," a foolish thing, but seen by
everybody; and so to Jacob Hall's dancing of
the ropes— a thing worth seeing and mightily
followed.20
It was in connection with the woollen cloth trade
that the St. Bartholomew Pair found its strongest link
with commerce. It was the greatest center for the ex
change of woollen cloths held in England. The Arms of
the Merchant-Tailors were engraved upon a silver yard,
thirty-six inches in length and thirty-six ounces in
weight. This became the accepted standard and was used
by merchants in settling disputes regarding measurements
21
of cloth.
The St. Bartholomew Pair continued on for another
two hundred years, until the year 1840, at which time the
last Proclamation was called. Because of the dwindling
---------20----------
Ibid., p. 209.
21
__________ Ibid., p. 211.___________________
67
of commercial ventures and the mushrooming of cheap en
tertainment of the "Coney Island" type, the St. Bartholomew
Pair came progressively to hold a position of less and
less favor and importance. Many descriptions of the fairs
held between the years I667 and 1840 are available, but,
/
like most of the others cited, the major emphasis is upon
ihe entertainment rather than upon the commercial activi
ties. Eventually, this Pair, which had started as a re
ligious undertaking, was closed because of its "wicked"
character. The purveyors of cloth and other merchandise
had long since moved their wares to other less unsavory
markets.
The decline of the importance of the fair. The
last "Calling of the Pair" by the University occurred
in the year 1855* As compared to earlier "Callings,"
it was decidedly short. Four paragraphs of precautions
directed at the bakers were reduced to one sentence of
generalities. Eight paragraphs of instructions to the
brewers were reduced to one. In addition, there were
stern warnings to persons of "ill repute" to stay away,
and warnings were given to booth-keepers of the conse
quences to be suffered if such persons were found on
their grounds. A final "pain of imprisonment" was re-
served for those "who put to sale any kind of wares upon
68
the Sunday.”
An entry on April 29, 1882, in the Book of Formulae
in the University registry reads:
The fair lingers on. Its commercial greatness
has long since passed away--ebbed out of existence
by slow degrees, resulting from many social and
other changes, rather than from any one marked
cause. But, as may be expected after six and a
half centuries (at least) of notable existence,
it dies hard. Three of its features still remain:
The horse fair, always famous,. was this year
greater than for some time past. The onion fair
is still associated with Garlick row, while
hurdles, gates, and implements of wood are
still prominent. Thus traditions c l i n g .22
II. DECLINE OF THE ENGLISH FAIR
The decline of medieval fairs and markets. The -
market system had reached the peak of its development
during the early part of the fifteenth century and, al
though many well established markets still persist today
in England, their importance as the only means of trade
has long since passed away. One of the factors that af
fected the decline was the establishment of permanent
shops and communities of trade. Merchants, tradesmen,
and guilds found that permanent central locations for
trade were more lucrative, especially after towns and
22
Ibid., p. 157-
69
cities grew in size and importance.
Another factor that decidedly weakened the insti
tution of the market was the increase in the practice of
23
"forestalling." It is said that at one period, as much
as three-fourths of the cattle coming into London were
purchased in the country on the way to the market. An
other writer in 1636 reported that forestalling:
. . . hath so long dwelt amongst us that the
offenders are ready to prescribe use and custom.
It hath not only infected these parts, but like
a venomous humor hath it spread its infections
through the veins of the body of the whole King
dom, and poisoned almost the life blood of gov
ernment, especially in many parts of our Western
region, where it hath crept into borough towns
and corporations, and there sojournes in the
houses of magistrates and a l d e r m e n .24
The main cause for the breakdown of the markets,
however, was the tendency towards monopoly which develop
ed. Strangely enough, the same cause had brought about
the decline of markets in Rome more than a thousand years
9
earlier. The strength of the guilds was such that com
petition was almost eliminated. People in the same trade
were brought together in frequent meetings, which served
23
p_ 82_ See discussion of forestalling in Chapter IV,
24
Robert Powell, Depopulation, Arraigned, Con
victed, and Condemned by the Laws of God and Man (London:
I636), p. 103! cited by Walford, op. cit., p. 159-
70
as focal points for the fixing of prices and the breaking
down of all market rules and customs. The growing monopo
lies of the various trades were known by the central
government, but were not examined too closely because the
contributions of these large organizations were convenient
additions to the royal treasury. Finally, in 1772, the
laws against forestalling, engrossing, and regrating were
repealed. At last the monopolies of the guilds had been
victorious by masquerading their interests under the
guise of the public interest.
It can be readily seen, however, that the market
served an important role in uniting peoples, sections,
towns, cities, and even nations.
CHAPTER IV
AN ANALYSIS OP THE FUNCTIONS OP PAIRS AND MARKETS
The preceding discussion of the historical begin
nings of fairs and markets has presented a number of high
lights in the story of the development of fairs and
markets. Of especial interest to us today are the ele
ments which bear directly on present-day retailing--
elements which one can detect as one reviews the story
of the emergence of well-defined customs, practices and
institutions. One cannot read of these early-day fairs
without being impressed by many similarities between them
and modern-day practices, in spite of their colorful
and often quaint dissimilarities.
So striking are some of these similarities that
they seem to be threads which form the pattern of today's
merchandising practices. Let us consider the elements
which have carried over into our present retailing struc
ture, especially: (l) the functions served by fairs and
markets, (2) the major problems encountered, and (3)
the curbs and controls which were found necessary and
which soon became common practice.
72
First of all, Just what purposes were served by
these early merchandising centers? And which of these
functions are still being served?
I. THE FUNCTIONS SERVED
The fair as a medium for disseminating information.
Getting product-information to the public is an essential
phase of distribution. Even though the product on dis
play may not be purchased on the spot, a knowledge that
such merchandise exists is beneficial to retail trade in
general. Historical accounts seem to agree that the
whole diet and manner of living in Europe changed mater
ially after the Crusades, thanks to the fact that return
ing Crusaders brought back with them new ideas, new tastes
in food, new food products, and other material things
from the continent of Europe and the culture of the Near
1
East. It did not take long for astute men of business
to take advantage of their newly "educated" public, and
to import larger and larger quantities of merchandise--
merchandise which only a few years earlier would have
Article on "Crusades," Encyclopaedia Britannica,
Eighth edition (Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, n.d.),
Vol. VII, pp. 53^-535.
73
2
elicited little or no consumer response.
A more modern example of the same type of "educat
ing" can be seen in the experience of a young druggist
at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1 8 7 6.
This druggist concocted an herb tea . and opened a booth
at the Pair to sell it. The drink became so popular that
hundreds of druggists from all over the United States
placed orders for the product before leaving the exhibi
tion, and soon were selling it in their own stores. In
this manner, an "education" at a fair was responsible for
creating a large demand, a large industry, and for making
3
Hire's Root Beer a household word.
Other well known products that were first offered
to the market through the medium of the fair might be
cited, among them the sewing machine, the telephone, the
4
phonograph, and many others.
The fair as an advertising medium. One important
function of the fair was to provide a sort of show window
2 Ibid., p. 535-
3
J. A. Murphy, "A Business Debt to World Pairs of
the Past," Nation's Business, 27:14-17* August 1939.
4 Ibid., p. 17.
74
for the sundry products to be displayed. In the days of
the early fairs there were no advertising agencies or
other major means of presenting to the public except by
displaying it at central points where groups of people
commonly gathered. In this respect, the ancient fair,
as it; has been described in the preceding two chapters,
was virtually the sole important medium for exhibiting
the merchandise available for sale. This statement is
more applicable to the earliest forms of the fair, which
provided central buying points for those who sought to
buy at wholesale as well as for those buying at retail,
than to the later fifteenth century fairs which had begun
to experience a decline in trading patronage and a change
5
of function and character.
As has been pointed out, this decline was caused
by many factors: poor roads, an increase of peddlers
who brought goods directly to the consumer, and the es
tablishment of permanent markets where the buyer could
6
go whenever he pleased.
5
Cf., supra, pp. 68 ff.
^ ¥. Cunningham, The Growth of English Industry
and Commerce During the Early and MicTdle Ages (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 19^7), p. 451*
75
This is not to state, however, that the fair as
an institution actually disappeared. It merely changed
its form from a large, annual market type of gathering
to a sort of exhibit where all could see what was new
and different, and where the businessman could show
samples of his products and take orders for future de
livery. This new style of fair had essentially the same
function as did those of earlier times, but differed in
a number of important respects: instead of presenting
the actual goods intended for sale, an exhibit was built
in some eye-appealing manner around one or more samples
of the product.
Such a change became more valuable to the producer
as manufacturing processes developed to the point where
similar items appeared on the market in competition with
each other. A vantage point or clever display at a well-
frequented fair could then be most beneficial in reaching
the buyer. This at once suggests a secondary function
fulfilled by the successful fair--that of providing con
sumer information.
The fair as a. community service. Although the
fair was primarily an advertising exhibit, from a commer
cial standpoint, those who displayed merchandise at the
fair were not the only business people expecting to
76
profit thereby. A third important function of the fairs
relates to the benefit and value they had for the commun
ities in which they took place. Large crowds of visitors
in a holiday or festive mood needed little excuse or en
couragement to spend money freely. And this money was
spent not only at the fair--it was spent throughout the
whole town and surrounding community. It was spent along
the roads leading in to the Fair city. It was spent for
lodging, for refreshment * for entertainment. As a result
of this great influx, other business establishments of
secondary character received their share of benefit from
the increased trade.
II. REGULATORY ORGANIZATIONS AND MEASURES
The history of early fairs and markets was also
the history of man's efforts to safeguard the integrity
of the sales transaction, not alone from the standpoint
of the buyer and seller (the two persons most intimately
involved in the exchange of goods), but also from the
standpoint of the sponsoring agent (whether that sponsor
was the church, a feudal lord, a political body, or merely
a group or community of interested persons).
A series of volumes would be required to trace the
77
account of the many statutory and common laws which grew
up about the conduct of the earliest fairs. Such regula
tions were intended not only to encourage men to do their
trading in the open marketplace, but to assure all partici
pants of an honest dealing. The merchant of the twentieth
century relinquishes possession of his goods with little
question of the honesty of the purchaser. If he has any
question in regard to the matter, all he has to do is to
telephone one of several reliable credit sources. Not
so in the year 1283, when, like as not, any small transac
tion might well lead to bloodshed before it was finally
consummated and just debts paid. A royal decree, the
Statute de Mercatoribus, had to be declared so that when
the merchant supplied his goods, the buyer must publicly
7
acknowledge his indebtedness before a royal officer.
A few years later, in 1285, a special Statutum Mercatorum
was required to insure than non-Englishmen would receive
the same fair treatment which was accorded to native mer
chants, and that the goods of foreign merchants would be
weighed on the same scales and by the same standards as
8
those applied to the local merchants.
^ Cornelius Walford, Fairs, Past and Present (London
E. Stock, 1883), p. 24.
8
Loc. cit.
78
A.. MERCHANTS' GUILDS
The preceding two chapters have traced briefly
the growth of autonomy of medieval towns, and the emer
gence of the townsmen as a distinct social class whose
prime concern was with commerce. Not content to be com
pletely at the mercy of governmental decree and governing
boards, the merchants themselves during the Middle Ages
began to organize into small groups for protection of
their own interests. They soon became powerful enough to
administer their own business relations.
The associations which were thus created for the
furtherance of the merchants’ mutual economic and social
9
interests were called "guilds." Guilds were designed
to solve all employer-worker problems, to regulate prices
and wages, to govern production and distribution, to
create a code of fair business practices, to protect the
individual member as a business associate, and to assure
the social status of his family. Re-reading the above
sentence, one cannot help but be struck with the similar
ity to present-day thinking in economic matters. With
James W. Thompson, An Economic and Social History
of the Middle Ages (New York: The Century Company, 1928),
p. 7pU.
79
but few changes, it might have been quoted from any modern
writing on business problems.
Originally, guilds were of two kinds: (l) merchant,
and (2) craft. The fundamental purpose of the merchant
guild was to ensure monopoly of trade within a given
locality. Membership was usually limited to merchants of
a particular town, although' members were sometimes admitted
from other places. With a monopoly of the town's import
and export trade, the guild could enforce its standards
as it willed. All alien merchants were supervised closely
and made to pay fixed tolls and fees. Weights and
measures were also closely supervised. Disputes among
merchants were settled at the guild court according to
its own legal code. A standard quality for goods was
insisted upon, and a legitimate profit only was allowed
by the fixing of a “just price," which should be fair,
according to its standards, both to the producer and con
sumer. The chief merit of the guild was its emphasis
upon fair business practices and its protection of the
individual trader, for, without the guild, he would al
ways have been at the mercy of the local lord.
The increase of commerce brought a quickening of
industrial life in the towns so that, in the eleventh
century especially, an artisan class arose within the
80
city walls. Craftsmen in each of the necessary medieval
trades (weaving, cobbling, tanning, etc.) began to or
ganize. The result was the craft guild, which had the
same purposes as the merchants' guilds— the creation of
a monopoly and the control and enforcement of a set of
trade rules. But the craft guild differed from the mer
chant guild in that it was limited to one specific trade
or craft. Thus, the goldsmiths were all banded together
in one guild, the arrow-makers in another, and so on
with each variety of artisan class. Each guild had a
monopoly of a certain article in a particular town, and
regulations were enforced to protect the consumer from
bad workmanship and inferior materials.
The guilds were instrumental in forming other
market rules. For example, to promote equal opportunity
for both retailers and buyers, individual trade was pro
hibited until such time as all might be ready to do
business. With this in mind, no sales were allowed to
be made until a certain signal was given. For example,
at Yarmouth in 1551> no one was to "open ether sak pooke
pedde mawnde or anye other vessell wherein his victualles
10
or other things be . . ." before -the market bell rang,
10
L. F. Salzman, English Trade in the Middle Ages
(London: Oxford University Press,193177 P* 132.
81
and they were to cease selling and tie up their sacks
. .as soon as the bell be rong at afternoone."
B. REGULATORY MEASURES
As these small market towns grew in size and im
portance, small shops were opened and daily buying and
selling became a regular practice.
A means of promoting competition among the estab
lished shop keepers was provided by market authorities
who sometimes forbade the sale of goods in shops on
market days. The Market-Master of the city of Worms
issued an ordinance in the year 1299 which stipulated
that "... all shoemakers in buying and selling of their
shoes must go to the public market on or where they are
being ordered, and no one is allowed to sell his shoes
on market days any where else, not in his house or under
n11
his house gates in any way."
Other market laws, some of which were so old that
they were considered to be common law, declared that all
practices that enhanced or depressed the price of essen
tial commodities above or below the regular market price
were offenses of a criminal nature. Of these practices,
11
Ibid., p. 20.
82
forestalling* engrossing, and regrating were perhaps the
most common.
Common trade offenses♦
a. Forestalling. Forestalling was the private
purchase of goods, before they had reached the market, as
well as any activity misleading a seller or dissuading
him from bringing his goods to market. The prohibitions
on forestalling were designed to prevent private dealing
away from the open market places, and to thereby insure
free and effective competition among both buyers and
sellers.
b. Engrossing. Engrossing was the buying up of
the whole or a large part of a commodity in order to
"corner" the market and thus control the price to the
benefit of the engrosser.
c* Regrating. Regrating was the buying up of
wholesale merchandise at a market to be resold at retail
in the same market without having changed the merchandise.
This offense was usually confined to what was classified
as "dead victual," such as fish, fresh meats, dressed
poultry, butter, cheese, wine, and corn. Here was a sort
of "middle man" operation that was resisted from the
83
earliest of markets. Spicerers often got around the law
through the loophole of buying whole spice, grinding it,
12
and reselling it as a changed product.
Punishments for offenders. In order to provide
punishment for engrossers, forestaliers, and regrators,
as well as for those found guilty of other market offenses
of serious nature, every market was required to have a
pillory and tumbrel or cart for use of subjecting market
offenders to public ignominy. Often markets that had a
pond nearby would find a use for the ducking stool, and
13
in some places stocks were employed.
There is little wonder that these punishments were
also directed at other than forestaliers, engrossers and
regrators when one considers the crafty merchants with
whom customers had to deal. Salzman points out:
The subtle craft of the London bakers, who,
while making up their customer's dough, stole
a large portion of the dough under their cus
tomer's eyes by means of a little trap door in
the kneading board, and a boy sitting under
the counter, was exceptional only in its in
genuity. . . . cloth was stretched and strained
12
Clive Day, Economic Development in Europe
(New,York: The Macmillan Company, 1942), p. 51.
13
F. Mansell, The Wayfarer's Book (London and
Melbourne: Ward, Lock and Company, Ltd., 1940), p. 49.
84
to the utmost and cunningly folded to hide
defects; a length of had cloth would be joined
into a length of superior quality, or a whole
cheap cloth substituted for the good cloth
which the customers had purchased; inferior
leather was faked up to look like the best,
and sold at night to the unwary; pots and
kettles were made of bad metal which melted
when put on the fire; and everything that
could be weighed or measured was sold by
false measure.14
C. PRICE AND QUALITY CONTROLS
Price controls. A century ago the common prac
tice was to effect a sale by the process of haggling.
The seller asked far more than he expected to receive,
and the buyer offered much less than he was actually pre
pared to pay. Such a thing as a definite one-price policy
by which goods were offered at the same price to all buy
ers was almost unknown. It was unthinkable that you
could walk into a fair or market and see the prices of
goods marked in plain figures.
Yet to those who think of price controls as charac
teristics of recent war-time economy, it may be somewhat
surprising to learn that the practice of price controls-
goes back as far as the early days of the English fairs--
14
Salzman, op. cit., p. 309-
_ , _I
for early in the history of the Sturbridge Fair, price
controls were well worked out and rigidly enforced. v
Examples of early price regulations may be seen in such
controls as: (l) Bread was to be sold at "two loaves a
penny." (2) "Horse bread" was to be sold at "three a
penny." (3) A barrel of ale was to sell for two shill
ings. (4) The price of wine at the fair should not ex-
16
ceed the "London price."
These controls, set up for the protection of vendor
and customer alike, served to prevent the sale of mer
chandise above "ceiling price," and perhaps protected the
vendor from eut-price competition.
Quantity standardization. Similarly, quantity
measures were controlled by the establishment of stand
ards of weights and measures. These were originally es
tablished in order to set up standard and acceptable
units by which commodities could be sold. They also
helped to provide a known and commonly-understood termin
ology--!.e., a set of measurable standards so that traders
could compare values in their trading. These new and
15
Cf., supra, pp. 55-57.
-j /T
Walford, op. cit., pp. 79-87*
86
understandable trading terras served as a sort of "language
of commerce" by which fair and equitable exchanges could
take place. Some of the earliest attempts at standardiza
tion of quantity measures for the English fairs included
the following:
(1) That liquids be sold by the barrel, hogshead,
gallons, quarts, pints, and half pints.
(2) That each barrel hold 14 gallons, and that
each hogshead hold 7 gallons.
(3) That all measures by volume should be the
bushel, half bushel, peck, and half peck.
(4) That all measures by weight be the stone and
the pound.
(5) That all linear measurements be the yard and
the ell.
An additional demand was made that all of the above
17
measures be tested and sealed before being sold.
Standardization of quality. Quality controls were
the controls exercised on the seller for the protection
of the buyer, just as the modern buyer is protected by
the many regulations of the Pure Pood and Drug laws.
^ Loc. cit.
The regulations of the Sturbridge Pair, as an example,
required that: (l) A trademark or brand be placed upon
each item. (2) No butchers or fishmongers were permitted
to sell any products that were deteriorated. (3) Bakers
and brewers were required to use good grain in their
products. (4) Similar wares of various grades had to be
plainly marked.
Needless to say, many merchants failed to live up
to these laws, and a special court had to be set up on
the Pair grounds to deal with such cases and to serve as
an arbiter and enforcer of price and quality controls.
Summary. In the modern sense, one thinks of
"price controls" as a war-time emergency regulation for
the control of the country's economy. By regulating
prices, and setting ceilings above which prices cannot
go, producers and distributors of goods are restricted
from raising the prices of their demand products beyond
a prescribed reasonable limit. This regulation also
forces strategic goods and labor into essential channels,
thus curbing inflation and directing people's spending
into prescribed outlets.
The gradual evolution of modern controls can be
seen in the development of the organisation, as well as
88
in the rules and practices which were worked out in the
early fairs and markets. One has only to look back to
the medieval fairs to see a continuing process of trial
and error, a constant trying out of new retailing prac
tices, the dropping of those which were found inadequate,
and the changing and adapting of those which proved more
advantageous and effective.
The chapter which follows discusses in more detail
a number of the ways and means by which the structure and
practice of early fairs and markets were carried over
into modern retailing.
/
CHAPTER V
THE INFLUENCE OF EARLY FAIRS AND MARKETS
ON MODERN RETAILING
Any attempt to analyze the functions of the fairs
and markets of the present, and to evaluate their place
in the field of retailing must take into account their
original forms and purposes, their historical development,
and especially the various branches of commercial ven
tures which grew from their common ancestor, the fairs
and markets of medieval days.
The pattern of the medieval fairs, it can be said,
has lived on into modern-day retailing in many subtle
ways. A number of these have been mentioned in the pre
ceding chapters. In two major aspects of modern retail
ing the early fairs have exerted an especially strong and
recognizable influence. These are: (l) in the organiza
tion of the Big Stores of today, and (2) in the modern
forms of the fair.
I. THE BIG STORE
Implications for modern retailing from early
90
markets. It would be outside the limitations set for
this study to carry the history of markets through the
period of the modern specialty shops and department
stores. Nevertheless, the latter have been a natural
and inevitable outgrowth of the former.
From the occasional meeting of buyer and
seller to the modern busy department store is
a far cry, yet the line of descent— ‘ though
frequently wavering--is clear and unbroken.
It runs from the fair, which marked the revival
of commerce in Europe, to the continuous market,
the logical outgrowth of increased production
and stimulated wants; from the peddler, with
his pack, to the-, shopkeeper, with his well-
stocked shelves.
And with the establishment of permanent shops came
the development of a flow of merchandise--a link between
producer, manufacturer and retailer to the consumer.
With the accompanying increased demand for
goods, came the demand for the increased pro
duction, and the Industrial Revolution, with
its steam power, machinery and factory system,
was inevitable.
This great economic change first came to
England and then spread outward, reaching the
United States in full force about the middle
of the 19th century.2
Before the department store could become an actual
ity, however, several economic and scientific developments[
1 Frank M. Mayfield, The Department Store Story
(New York: Fairchild Publications, Inc., 1938), pi j - T 7
2 Ibid., p. 25.
91
all important to its existence, were necessary. These
were:
. . . the growth of our cities, improvement in
their transportation systems, a rise in the
standard of living, increased capital, the com
ing of the electrical age, and, by no means un
important, the development of plate glass and
retail advertising.3
Up until the middle of the nineteenth century,
transportation difficulties were such that families had
4
to purchase in or near their own neighborhoods.
Before the Big Store could come into the scene of
commerce, the economic and social atmosphere of the period
had to be "favorable," as Pasdermadjian analyzes it.
Furthermore, there had to be leadership, and the type of
genius which was capable of utilizing the economic and
6
social factors which were at hand. Prior to 1850, there
had been many abortive attempts to develop and to stan
dardize the idea of big retail store groupings; however,
these were not successful--!.e., "the time was not right."
3 Ibid., p. 28.
4
Cornelius Walford, Fairs, Past and Present
(London: E. Stock, 1883), p~ 212.
5
_ H. Pasdermadjian, Le Grand Magasin: Son Origine,
Son Evolution, Son Avenir (Paris: Dunod, 1949), P~ JT
^ Loc. cit.
7
Ibid., p. 4.
92
Many factors were "right" at the mid-point of the
nineteenth century for the growth of Big Stores. Mer
cantile establishments of the dimensions of modern-day
department stores were the outgrowth of twentieth century
living:
Large department stores were made possible by
the growth of large cities. Electricity was very
important in their development, for lighting,
ventilating, and elevators, and later for operat
ing streetcars. . . . To attract trade from wide
areas they have usually emphasized service— deliv
ery of goods, credit, restaurants, shopping as
sistance, and many other services.°
Mercantile leaders had long seen the many advan
tages which would ensue: (l) the convenience of having
merchandise groups located under one roof, (2) the ad
vantage of having unified advertising, and (3) the ease
of transportation in getting customers to and from one
large shopping area.
Two factors contributed to the actual working
out of the idea of large-scale centralized retail store
groupings. One was the invention and perfection of the
use of electricity which made possible the lighting of
8
Paul D. Converse and Harvey W. Huegy, The Ele-
ments of Marketing (New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1946),
p. 46.
93
large premises with safety; it also solved much of the
transportation problem. "It was only with the development
of transportation facilities that the possibility of ex
ploiting the possibilities of huge retail enterprises
9
could be developed." The second was a less tangible and
possibly more profound influencing faetor--the steady im
provement in the general standard of living, and an in
creased demand for more and better quality of merchandise.
First steps toward a successful Big Store. Accord
ing to Pasdermadjian, the first Big Store occurred in
Paris in I85O:
La Naissance du Grand Magasin (I85O-I88O)
. . . We have seen in the centuries past a number
of attempts to bring into existence and to exploit
the idea of a large assemblage of retail stores,
grouped with their different specialties under
the same roof. . . . However, these first attempts
were without success because they were in advance
of their times. The Big Store did not actually
appear until about the middle of the nineteenth
century, because it was not until that period
that economic conditions, themselves dominated
by technical developments, made the existence of
the Big Store possible. In fact, the Big Store
was, in itself, but one aspect of a more general
transformation . . .10
Q
Pasdermadjian, op. cit., pp. 1-4; translation
by the writer.
10
Ibid., p. 2.
94
Pasdermadjian emphasizes the close relationship
between early specialty shops and the Big Store:
. . . Stores of the type called specialty shops
(those situated in the center of a large city,
recruiting their clientele from within its
borders) did not really make their appearance
in the larger cities of Europe . . . until the
first decades of the nineteenth century. But
they attained a size previously unknown (30
employees at most).H
One naturally wonders just what caused the Big
Store to succeed at this particular time and place, when
all other attempts had failed so far. Just what were the
innovations which brought success to the venture of M.
Boucieaut, when seemingly similar enterprises had failed?
Pasdermadjian attributes the success of the Bon Marche
to several factors:
In 1832, Aristide Boucieaut opened in Paris
a small store selling goods and novelties under
the name of Bon Marche. This modest shop was
destinbd to become the cradle of a new form of
distribution, the Big Store.
Prom the standpoint of the assortment of
goods sold, the enterprise of Boucieaut was no
different from many other stores carrying similar
goods. But Boucieaut built his store on prin
ciples which were completely opposite from those
followed by commerce of his. period.
He introduced a number of revolutionary inno
vations, among which were the following:
11
Ibid., p. 3-
95
(1) While it was common practice for retail
ers of the period . . . to raise the prices of
those items which moved slowly, Boucieaut sold
his merchandise by lowering the prices of such
merchandise as remained on his shelves, with the
idea of compensating by the volume of sales and
a rapid turnover of stock for the loss in selling
price.
(2) It was common practice in retail mer
chandising at the time not to let the customer
see the marked price of the goods and to rely
on bargaining. Boucieaut himself marked all his
goods according to well-known quality and fixed
prices, thus assuring that his clientele would
receive uniform and fair treatment. (To under
stand the importance of this innovation one has
only to recall that as late as the eighteenth
century there were laws prohibiting the display
of marked prices on merchandise.)
(3) Contrary to common practice among retail
merchants, Boucieaut built his enterprise follow
ing the principle of "l*entree libre," that is,
that all persons might enter the store and exam
ine the merchandise at will, without any "moral
obligation" to buy— an atmosphere which dominated
other stores at the time.
(4) . Finally, Boucieaut very early introduced
the practice of conducting "sales."12
So commonly accepted are these "revolutionary"
principles today that it is difficult to imagine a time
when prices were determined by haggling, and when free
viewing of merchandise was tantamount to its enforced
purchase. Boucieaut's success was immediate.
12
Loc. cit.
All these innovations, which answered the
needs of a new epoch, brought with them a spark
ling success. The sales of the Bob Marche,
which had mounted to 500,000 francs in 1852, sud
denly shot up to 5 millions in i860. . . . From
i860 to I87O the sales of Bon Marche continued
to mount . . . and climbed from 5 to 20 millions
of francs.13
And rapidly mounting sales called for rapidly ex
panding selling space:
The stage was set for the emergence of the
great retail enterprises, and /it was a natural
development/*for the rapidly expanding selling
space to enlarge itself to not one, but many,
floors.14
It was inevitable that expansion should take place also
in the lines of goods being offered for sale:
Following this success, Boucieaut decided to -
enlarge upon the idea and increase the assortment
of goods offered. At the outset he had sold only
dry goods and novelties. He soon enlarged his
goods to include lingerie, fashion articles, etc.
And, since all specialty articles were being
sold in the same store, if in separate depart
ments, it can be said that the first of the Big
Stores had appeared in the world.15
Obviously, Boucieaut had hit upon a magic formula
But it was an idea for which there was no blueprint. In
13
Ijbid- , p. 4.
14
Loc. cit.
Loc. cit.
97
the open competitive markets there was nothing to protect
his vastly expanding emporium from being copied by every
merchant, or group of merchants, who could amass enough
capital to start a similar large-scale retailing opera
tion. True, he had gotten there first. But it took only
five years for the appearance of a second Big Store in
Paris, this one directed at a more exclusive type of
16
clientele.
Finally in 1855j Chauchard and Heriot, inspired
by the example of Boucieaut, established an enter
prise, "le Louvre," founded on the same sales
formula, but intended to serve a clientele some
what more selective. Furthermore, . . . Chauchard
. . . showed himself to be even more enterprising
than Boucieaut . . . expanding his merchandise
lines to answer all of the needs of the household
(by the addition of draperies and furniture) as
well as those of dress . . .
These two first Big Stores were soon followed
by many others. "Le Printemps" was founded in
1865 by Jaluzot, a former executive with Boucieaut
at the Bon Marche.- * - 7
Within another five years the Big Store idea had
spread to the United States where in the larger metro
politan areas conditions were similarly "right" for the
creation of Big Stores. New York, Philadelphia, and
Chicago soon fell into line.
fr°c♦ cit.
^ Ibid., p. 5.
98
The first country to follow the example of
Prance was the United States. There were already
at that time in America . . . a number of great
specialty shops, specializing in the sale of just
a single category of merchandise.
The first of them which, under the influence
of the Parisiens, developed the Big Store idea
during the period from 1870 to 1880 were Stewart
in New York (later absorbed by Wanamaker),
Wanamaker in Philadelphia, and Marshall Field in
Chicago.1°
Nystrom, a recognized authority on the history of
merchandising, has confirmed the above account:
Le Bon Marche of Paris has served as the in- -
spiration for the establishment of the Big Stores
in America. Stewart, Wanamaker and Marshall Field
owe to Boucieaut the greater part of their mer
chandising ideas . . . In England and in Germany
the story was much the same as in America.19
Summary. This section has sketched briefly those
aspects of the medieval fairs and markets which have
furnished the pattern for modern-day Big Store retailing,
and has mentioned the economic and scientific developments
which made this transformation possible.
In yet another way the early fairs and markets
■ " have lived on in modern retailing— i.e., in the modern
1*°° • c i t .
19 /
P. Nystrom, Economics of Retailing (New York:
The Macmillan Company, 1932), p.-¥2 9.
99
forms of the Fair.
II. MODERN FORMS OF THE FAIR
Some idea of the general merchandising situation
which existed in the mid-nineteenth century can be gained
from one of the economic leaders of the time who, in ex
tolling the virtues of the Nineteenth Annual Fair held
in Chicago in 1846, addressed the following eulogy to the
members of the American Institute on Fairs: "It is the
aim of this great Fair to (1) advance the good work of
artisans, (2) give publicity to the labors of the ingen
ious workman, (3) offer stimulus and encouragement to
the producers of goods, (4) improve breeds, (5) advance
discoveries in science and art, and (6) open libraries
r , 20
and resources.
Westervelt's remarks might well apply, with little
revision, to the Fairs which took place a century later.
The idea of the ancient fair still persists, its aims
little altered, except that the modern trend toward
specialization has had its effect on the institution.
PO
Forrest Crissey, editor, An Address Delivered
Before the American Institute of FaTrs~~During the Nine-
teenth Annual Fair, October 6, 1846, by Herman C.
Westervelt, Esq! ("New York: Privately printed by Joseph
H. Jennings, Printer, 1864); reprinted by the Chicago
Fair, 1915*
1 0 0
Today's fairs are of several specialized types:
(1) the Trade Fair, (2) the Industrial Fair, and (3)
the International Exposition.
The Trade Fair: a buyers 1 preview. The first
departure from the generally accepted form of the ancient
fair was what became known as the Trade Fair. This was,
in essence, the first form of the "sample" type of fair,
and was more concerned with displaying wares to those in
the field of retailing than to the general, public. The
essential feature of the Trade Fair was the multiplicity
of goods which the trade-buyer could see and compare.
These fairs were usually held in large municipal build
ings, but, because of their strictly commercial nature,
the entertainment features (carnivals, etc.) were not
included. The Trade Fair is well known today in most
areas. The best known of the Trade Fairs, and those on
which most of the others have been patterned, are those
held annually in London, Paris, and (until recently) in
Leipzig. The exhibitors at these fairs are mostly manu
facturers; it was said that of the more than nine thousand
exhibitors at the Leipzig Spring Fair in ±931, ninety-
seven per cent were manufacturers, while only three per
cent were wholesalers or agents. The fair was described
as "strikingly international"--nearly one thousand of the
101
21
exhibitors were from twenty-two foreign countries.
The Industrial Fair: a place for retailer and
consumer to buy. Another type of fair closely associated
with the Trade Fair was the Industrial Fair, the main
difference being that the latter was usually open to the
public. Industrial Fairs have been beneficial to both
manufacturers and retailers. Brussels, for example, was
considered instrumental in helping Europe to recover from
World War I by promoting an Industrial Fair in August of
1920. This was a "sample" type of fair, in that nothing
was for sale on the premises. The exhibitors were there
only to take orders from buyers for future deliveries.
World trade must have benefitted to a great extent, if
we consider that more than sixteen hundred firms had
samples on display, and that exhibitors came from Belgium,
France, Holland, Italy, Denmark, Switzerland, Great
22
Britain, and America.
The Industrial Fair is still playing an important
role in retailing. A list of Industrial Fairs for the
"Business Abroad," Business Week, March 6, 1937*
pp. 59-60.
22
C. Kellogg, "The First Industrial Fair at
Brussels," Atlantic Monthly, 126:264-269* August, 1920.
U ni vessw f r fe te r e th e r n California
1 0 2
year 1948 included the British Industries Pair in London,
the Brussels International Industries Fair, the Canadian
International Pair in Toronto, the Danish Industrial Ex
hibition in Copenhagen, the Hanover Export Fair, the
International Trade Pair in Lyon (France), the Prague
International Trade Fair, the Royal Netherlands Inter
national Industrial Fair in Utrecht, the St. Ericks Fair
23
in Stockholm, and the Swiss Industries Fair at Basel.
The International Expositions,and Fairs:
media for promotion of world trade. The fairs known as
International Expositions, or World Fairs, are those that
take place less frequently and whose chief purpose is
to acquaint the public with the latest technical achieve
ments and industrial progress, rather than stressing im
mediate trading. The main difference between the Inter
national Exposition and the World Fair is not necessarily
in the matter of size of the fair, but rather, in the
total number of nations participating. For instance,
the Century of Progress held in Chicago was originally
designed to be a World's Fair, but developed into an
International Exposition because only six other nations
Article in Business Week, December 14, 1948,
p. 24.
103
24
were represented by pavilions.
These great expositions are mainly a development of
the last hundred years. England held the first exposition
in 1756. Germany, Bohemia, and other continental countries
adopted the practice, but all of these expositions were
25
more of a national than world-wide nature.
The idea of the International Exposition originated
in England when Prince Albert, Royal Consort to Queen
Victoria, conceived the project of an Exhibition embrac
ing the industrial and artistic achievements of all na
tions. Albert's suggestion that such an event would
celebrate the universal peace of the world met with great
enthusiasm. The result was the Crystal Palace Exhibition
in 1851, a striking undertaking by reason not only of
its international appeal, but of the novelty of its con
struction; for,, while previous Expositions had been
built of wood, this was built of glass and iron. Commer
cial benefit was derived from this fact alone, for, after
this time, iron and .glass were used as a common feature
in architecture.2^
i
24
Loc. cit♦
2^-"Why Do Cities Hold Fairs?" Scholastic, 34:
22-23, March 11, 1939.
of
A. Neville, "World's Fairs of the Past," Over
land Monthly, 58:152-154, August, 1911.
104
The first international fair met with great suc
cess. It is interesting to note that the St. Bartholomew
Bair; which originated hundreds of years earlier, was
still going on in another part of the city at the time
of the inception of this newer type of fair.
More recently, the World's Fair which proved to
be probably the greatest fair that has ever been held
occurred in New York City in 1939* Commercial interest
was again evident, for a casual glance at the list of ex
hibitors includes such well-known international industries
as the Addressograph-Multigraph Corporation, Agfa Ansco
Corporation, American Telegraph and Telephone Company,
American Tobacco Company, Bethlehem Steel Corporation,
California Olive Association, Canada Dry Ginger Ale
Corporation, Chrysler Motors, Crosley Radio Corporation,
Curtiss Candy Corporation, National Distillers Corpora
tion, Singer Sewing Machine Company, Westinghouse Electric
Corporation, Remington Arms Company, and hundreds of
27
others.
Values derived from the modern fair. Besides
fulfilling the functions commonly attributed to fairs—
27
From the Official Guide Book, New York World's
Fair, p. 250.
■ 105
i.e., serving as an advertising medium providing customer
information, and serving as a community service--the
successful modern fair accomplishes a number of other
valuable services. Successful fairs are credited with
luring new industries and manufacturers to the cities in
which they are held. New and growing industries consider
it advantageous to locate branches in prosperous trade
centers. The presence of new industries not only helps
the local business interests but provides employment and,
in so doing, increases the purchasing power of the
city.
An extension of the influence of a successful fair
can also be carried to those visitors who are not directly
identified with the commercial aims of the fair, in that
through repeated annual visits to a particular city, the
residential possibilities of that community are presented.
As a result, many visitors might be induced to purchase
homes and take up permanent residence in the city. As a
city’s prosperity depends upon new industries together
with an influx of new and desirable citizens, the drawing
power of an annual fair can be a profitable medium for
enlarging and enriching the community.
Pairs and markets have proven themselves, through
the centuries, to have been institutions of great influence
106
not only upon the commercial exchange of goods as in
modern forms of retailing, hut also upon the exchange
of ideas and attitudes which have furthered the growth
of modern civilization.
CHAPTER VI
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
It has been the purpose of this study to explore
the development of the early methods of retailing from
which the present complex marketing system has grown.
It has traced a number of historical developments of
fairs and markets which have influenced modern retailing
institutions, and has attempted to show how the latter
may have grown from these earlier marketing forms.
The early fairs and markets were responsible for
the establishment of permanent shops in central shopping
districts in much the same way as we find them today.
The stalls were arranged in a circle around a "square"
and, as needs or demands arose, permanent shop quarters
were set up on these same sites. One could assume, there
fore, that the early fair and market structure is the
basic foundation for our present-day shopping centers.
An example of consolidation in the modern retailing es
tablishment would be the large metropolitan department
store with its many departments functioning much as did
1 0 8
the small shops of the early fair accumulated under one
roof.
From the accounts of the early fairs and markets
there is a definite indication that many present-day
marketing practices originated in the trade customs which
were developed in these fairs and markets; such practices
as standardizing and grading merchandise, and of repair
ing or replacing faulty merchandise were, without doubt,
the forerunners of the establishing of customer service
departments, with their complaint, adjustment, and shop
and home repair services as we see them today. Inventory
controls and retail accounting systems easily trace
their origins to the methods of record keeping used by
these early merchants.
Present-day fairs, as modern retailing institu
tions, are an extension of the early fairs and are
frankly organized and conducted in very much the same
way as those of earliest historical record. The fairs
continue to serve their communities as display centers
for newly manufactured goods, as a means of consumer
information, and as central meeting places between pro
ducers, buyers and consumers. They have had a direct
influence on other modern retailing institutions.
American merchants today continue to sell from sample
10S
displays for future delivery, much in the same way that
it was developed in the earlier days of the English fairs.
This practice enables manufacturers to schedule production
and shipment of goods over a longer planned period, thus
stabilizing working conditions and better utilization of
facilities. Today, orders are placed in February, ship
ments made in August or September, and payments made in
January of the following year.
The manufacturers and distributors today test
their products to sound out consumer reaction at fairs
and markets in much the same way as did the producers
of goods in the early days of the Greek, Egyptian, Roman
and medieval European fairs. This practice enables the
distributors to make changes and to explore markets at
a minimum cost. It also enables inventors to get finan
cial backers and others interested intheir products or
services.
Markets today are conducted in much the same way
as they were in the earlier days. The cooperative market
ing agencies that serve small growers and producers today,
as well as retail associations, are a carry-over from the
*
earlier mercantile associations which were organized for
the protection and promotion of their members. They
H 3
enable local producers to sell their goods to local
buyers, and are held in most cities on a weekly basis.
Many of the controls in use today originated dur
ing the early days of fairs and markets. Standards of
weights and measures, quality controls, the use of labels
and the standard pricing of merchandise are all gifts to
modern retailing from the long years of the development
of fairs and markets, especially those of medieval-day
merchants and their controlling Boards and "lords."
Standards of weights and measures are checked periodically
by our government agents, and violators are penalized in
somewhat the same manner as they were during these early
days.
This study, being concerned in large measure with
early English methods of commerce, has suggested the
vital role played by,early-day merchants on present-day
retailing. Yet it makes no claim that medieval methods
and techniques and controls were adequate iri toto for
application to modern American forms of retailing. An
altbgether different set of economic factors and dynamics
is at work in American life today, and today's merchandis
ing methods are an expression of an elaborate system of
checks and balances which were naturally unknown to early
merchants. American methods currently in use, for example,
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ J
Ill
are founded on the principle of a developed supply and
demand, and no longer coincide with the slower-moving
commercial system which persists in England, even today.
As a further extension of the present study, it
is recommended that a similar type of survey be conducted
of the period of growth and expansion of modern American
retailing which began in the i860's. Such an investiga
tion would trace those factors which historically led
to the emergence of-today's department stores and newer
selling techniques.
B I B L I O GR A PH Y
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. BOOKS
Baldwin, Summerfield, Business in the Middle Ages, The
Berkshire Studies in European History. New York:
Henry Holt and Company, 1937. 106 pp.
Converse, Paul D., and Harvey W. Huegy, The Elements of
Marketing. New York: Prentice-Hall, Ine., 194b.
795 PP.
Cunningham, W., The Growth of English Industry and
Commerce During the Early and Middle Ages. Cam-
bridge: The University Press, 1927* b8l pp.
Day, Clive, Economic Development in Europe. New York:
The Macmillan Company, 1942. 746 pp.
_______ , A History of Commerce. New York: Longmans,
Green and Company! 19^0. 640 pp.
DeFoe, Daniel, An Humble Proposal to the People of
England. Pasadena, California: Folio Collection,
Huntington Library, n.d.
_______ , A True Collection of the Writings of the
Author. Pasadena, CalTFornia! Folio Collection,
Huntington Library, n.d.
_______ , The History of the Principal Discoveries and
Improvements. Pasadena, California: Folio Col
lection, Huntington Library, n.d.
Fernald, Paul H., Salesmanship. New York: Prentice-
Hall, Inc., 1^42: 3bl pp.
Gemmill, Paul F., and Ralph H. Blodgett, Economics:
Principles and Problems. New York: Harper and
Brothers, Publishers, 1942. 760 pp.
114
Gras, N. S., Business and Capitalism. New York: P. S.
Crofts and Company, 1939. 408 pp.
Harris, William, The Market or Payre of Usurers.
Pasadena, California: Photostatic copy in collec
tion of the Huntington Library, n.d.
Kern1s Travels, 1824, "Historical Sketch of Progress of
Discovery, Navigation, and Commerce," Vol. 18.
Pasadena, California: A Polio Compilation, The
Huntington Library, n.d.
Mansell, P., The Wayfarer's Book. London and Melbourne:
Ward, Lock and Company, Ltd., 1940. 236 pp.
Marshall, Alfred, Economics of Industry. London and
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1892; reprinted
in 1930. 871 PP.
Mayfield, Prank M., The Department Store Story. New
York: Fairchild Publications, Inc., 1938• 260
PP-
Mund, Vernon A., Open Markets, An Essential to Free
Enterprise. New York and London: Harper and
Brothers, 1948. 272 pp.
Nystrom, P., Economics of Retailing. New York: The
Macmillan Company,~T932. 26l pp.
Pasdermadjian, H., Le Grand Magasin: Son Origine,.Son
Evolution, Son Avenir. Paris: Dunodl 92 Rue
Bonaparte, "1949j translated by J. Flynn. 242 pp.
Pirenne, Henri, Economic and Social History of Medieval
Europe. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company,
1937. 243 PP.
_______ , Medieval Cities, Their Origin and the Revival
of Trade. Princeton: Princeton University Press,
1925. 249 PP.
Powell, Robert, Depopulation, Arraigned, Convicted and
Condemned by the Laws of God and Man. London:
Printed by the Author,~T636. (Viewed at Huntington
Library, Pasadena, California, 1953*)
115
Salzman, L. F.., English Trade In the Middle Ages.
London: The Oxford University Press * 1931•
464 pp.
Selfridge, Harry Gordon, The Romance of Commerce. New
York and London: John Lane Company,I918. 422 pp.
Simken, Colin, Fairs, Past and Present. Hartford,
Connecticut: The Travelers Insurance Company,
1939.
Sophocles, Antigone. A Dramatic translation by F.
Kinchin Smith. New York: Oxford University
Press. 68 pp.
Taylor, Fred Manville, Principles of Economics. New
York: The Ronald Press Company,1925• 589 PP-
Thompson, James W., An Economic and Social History of
the Middle Ages. New York and London: The Century
Company, 1928. 900 pp.
Walford, Cornelius, Fairs, Past and Present. London:
E. Stock, 1883. 318 pp.
B. PERIODICAL ARTICLES
Kellogg, C., "The First Industrial Fair at Brussels,"
Atlantic Monthly, 126:2, August, 1920.
Murphy, J. A., "A Business Debt to World Fairs of the
Past," Nation's Business, 27:14-17, August, 1939*
Neville, A., "World's Fairs of the Past," Overland
Monthly, 58:152-154, August, 1911.
"Why Do Cities Hold Fairs?" Scholastic, 34:22-23,
March 11, 1939-
C. ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLES
"Crusades," Article in Encyclopedia Britannica, Eighth
Edition, Vol. VII. :
"Fairs and Markets," Article in The Encyclopedia Ameri
cana. New York: Americana Corporation, T55H7
VoTT XXIX.
D. PAMPHLETS
Official Guide Book of the New York WorldJs Fair. New
York: The Worlds Fair, I933JT ”^5TTpp.
Report of the Royal Commission on Market Rights and
ToTTs . London," nip., 1888, Vol. I. (Collection
of Huntington Library, Pasadena, California.)
E. MAGAZINES
Business Week, March 6, 1939.
Business Week, December 14, 1949* p. 24.
OtMvewwty «* CriMpra**

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Conceptually similar

PDF

A market analysis and trade study of Santa Ana, California

PDF

An analysis of cooperatives as a solution to the basic social and economic problems of the Philippines

PDF

The development of a marketing program for a downtown Los Angeles club and its attendant problems

PDF

Polyethylene: Its history and markets: The future

PDF

The marketing of large-scale electronic business data processors

PDF

A study of the United States maritime industry and effects of the subsidy program

PDF

An investigation of the cooperative movement in India

PDF

An investigation of the development and growth of baseball farm systems: With special reference to its inventor, Branch Rickey

PDF

An analysis of the limits and responsibility for control over unethical advertising practices

PDF

Training salesmen: A study of principles and methods, and their application to a specific training program

PDF

A study of state regulations affecting the alcoholic beverage industry

PDF

A study of sales and distribution methods of the furniture industry of California

PDF

The role of aviation in modern education

PDF

A comprehensive study of the distribution of major electrical appliances

PDF

An investigation of consumer acceptance of the Consumer Cooperative Society of Santa Monica

PDF

A study of federal labor legislation: Its effects on management-labor cooperation

PDF

A study of changes in Air Materiel Command warehouse procedures made possible by the use of electronic data processing equipment

PDF

The marketing characteristics of the Southern California chemical industry

PDF

An investigation of certain pricing practices in restraint of trade

PDF

A study of selected life insurance companies to determine the effect of their operations in California on the flow of capital into and out of that state during the year 1947

Asset Metadata

Creator Flynn, John Miles (author)

Core Title A study of the history of fairs and markets and their influence on modern retailing

Degree Master of Business Administration

Degree Program Business Administration

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag business administration, general,economics, history,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Lockley, Lawrence C. (committee chair), Dockson, Robert R. (committee member), Mead, Richard R. (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c20-129852

Unique identifier UC11263152

Identifier EP43379.pdf (filename),usctheses-c20-129852 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier EP43379.pdf

Dmrecord 129852

Document Type Thesis

Rights Flynn, John Miles

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA