What is a typical charter fair?

Question

for example what qualities does a fair have to have to be named a typical charter fair?

Answer 1

It had to have been granted by written charter or warrant by the king. This gave the town a legal right to hold a fair or market every year on a set date, often the feast of a particular saint; the grant also allowed the town to charge various rents, tolls and fees for traders to set up their booths, for the movement of goods and so on. Such events might then be known as "St Nicholas Fair", "St Peter's Fair" and so on.

Naturally, a portion of the income went straight to the king's exchequer.

For the earliest example see

http://www.cirencester.co.uk/market.htm

See another example at

http://www.charterfair.com/history.html

Answer 2

Brother Ranulf is quite right.

I would add that the typical charter fair (or statute fair, which in practice comes to much the same thing - an annual major fair, established by authority) functioned in three ways:

1.....An employment exchange. Farm-workers were hired by the year from one fair to the next; at the end of the year if they or their employer wanted a change the place to go to find a job or to replace staff was the fair. Workers stood around to be interviewed by farmers; if they came to an agreement, the deal was confirmed by a "fastening penny" - a present in money.

2.....A centre for exchange of news and learning about new developments in farming. It was also a centre for amusements with swings, roundabouts, boozing, gambling etc. In short, a once-a-year social occasion.

3.....A market for almost everything: farm machinery, livestock, furniture, clothes, kitchen eqipment........in fact whatever you needed and might not have another chance to get. The only thing it didn't sell much of was ordinary food such as you might buy in the weekly town market.

To get the idea, read the description of the fair in Hardy's 'Mayor of Casterbridge' or the one of the hiring fair in 'Brother to the Ox' by Fred Kitchen.

Answer 3

If you want to see all of pagentry associated with a chartered market town,  Rothwell in Northants holds an anual re-enactment of the reading of the charter by the local sherrif.  (Note: This takes place at 6 in the morning, involves the crowd of onlookers attacking the bailifs and the pubs being opened at 6am).

Luck