Medieval fairs, and seasons

jennontheisland said:

Lammas. Also called Lughnasadh.

Click to expand...

AW Admin said:

These are not the same; they're really not. Yes, the timing is similar, but it's like calling Hanukkah and Christmas the same.

Lammas literally means loaf mass. It's Christian; it takes place on August 1.
Lughnasadh (OI) is also around August 1, but the two are not directly related. (I say around because earlier calendars tie it to celestial cycles).

Medieval holidays are dependent on two thing; time and place. Horse fairs are going to be tied to culture and time; Samain or Samhain was associated with equin sports and trade, for instance. There are traditional horse fairs in English and Ireland, and elsewhere in Europe, often closely associated with the Rom.

Click to expand...

jennontheisland said:

Given the Christian habit of co-opting existing holidays for their own, it makes sense to me that Lammas is the Christianized version of Lughnasadh, just as Christmas is their version of Yule. Yes, I read the wiki. I see that Lammas is about bread. Lughnasadh is about the first grain harvest and we make bread with grain. I suppose one can ignore the similarities if they want.

Click to expand...

AW Admin said:

Forgive me for being pedantic, but this is my academic field; so I care a great deal.

Click to expand...

The Great Fair of St. Edward

Trading was carried on in Westminster from the early Middle Ages onwards; but it changed dramatically in character between the ninth and sixteenth centuries. In the mid-Saxon period Westminster appears to have taken part in the international commerce focused upon Lundenwic; in the thirteenth century a great cosmopolitan fair gathered here each year. In the later Middle Ages, however, this international role was lost; after the early fourteenth century Westminster's enduring importance was as a centre of purely local marketing.

The archaeological evidence indicative of trading activity in Westminster in Saxon times strongly suggests that the fair which Henry IIIO promoted here had its origins at a much earlier date. Both the royal court from the eleventh century onwards, and the religious community from a previous period, may have encouraged such commerce. Nevertheless, the mid-thirteenth century seems to reflect a significant extension of the importance and prestige of the Westminster fair. It was in 1245 that the monks of Westminster received from King Henry their first charter to hold two annual fairs, each of three days, espectively about the deposition (5 January) and the translation (13 October) of St. Edward the Confessor. In 1248 the period of the latter fair was extended to a fortnight. In addition, the business of all other fairs held throughout England at this time of the year was suspended; and all the shops of London were closed for the duration of the fair by royal command. The chronicler Matthew Paris makes clear that the king's dual intent by these grants was both to provide additional financial aid to the great work of rebuilding Westminster Abbey, which was taken over by the crown at this very date, and at the same time effectively to tax his recalcitrant subjects, the citizens of London. The extravagant gifts of money and of 'a highly precious vase', which the Londoners were prepared to offer to the king for the remission of the fair, are the first indications of its significance. All remonstrance, however, was in vain: 'whether they would or no', In October the traders of London must make their way to Westminster for the fair of St. Edward.

It is apparent from the vivid account of Matthew Paris that little thought had been given to the practicalities of officially establishing Westminster as on of the great annual fairs of western Europe. The site, the abbey churchyard, was far too small for the attending crowds, and did not even provide covered stalls, an inconveniences aggravated by torrential rain. The keeping of a major fair so late in the year may be explained in part by the need to avoid infringement of the privileges of existing fairs, in part by the inordinate devotion of the monarch to his adopted patron saint, reckless of the inclement season of that saint's feast. Crushed, drenched, and muddied, the unhappy merchants wished themselves at home by their hearths, among their families. After three years of such discomfort, it was decreed that the fair should be removed from the churchyard to Tothill. Ecclesiastical censure of the desecration of holy ground may also have affected this decision; in 1285 Edward I would legislate (ineffectually) against the keeping of fairs in churchyards. But in fact at Westminster there is no evidence that the transfer was ever made; indeed, the marshy fields of Tothill (a 'hill' in little but name) must have appeared an even less suitable venue for an international mart than the cramped, but at least better drained, gravel soil of the churchyard. Here, then, the October fair remained. In 1298 the fair in early January (even more hopeful of the climate in its conception than the other, albeit equally pious) was discontinued, the autumn event being prolonged to a total of thirty-two days. The latter had become established as a fixed point in a cycle of fairs, to which merchants travelled in turn: from St Ives (easter), through Boston (June), Winchester (August), and Westminster (October) to Northampton (November)...

Click to expand...