Henry III. History and Origin of Fairs. Before resuming the continuous narrative of the events of the reign, I must give an account of the Fairs which were at this time held in different parts of England. They were not only one of the greatest Fairs were sources of amusement in those times, but they were moreover of importance as a source of revenue to the King, and were among the means by which he oppressed his subjects. sources of revenue; existed in England in Fairs are of great antiquity. Stourbridge fair, the time of which at one time was of great importance, is said by some to have originated in the time of the originated occupation of Great Britain by the Romans. the Ro mans in pilgrimages to sacred places. Stalls were set up to supply the multitudes "The first fairs arose from the gathering together of worshippers and pilgrims about sacred places, especially within or about the walls of abbeys or cathedrals, on the feast days of the saints enshrined within them. The sacred building was often in the open country, or near some village, too small to provide accommodation for the throng assembled at its yearly feast of dedication. Then tents were pitched, and as the resources of the district could no more suffice to victual than to lodge its flying visitors, stalls were set up by the provision dealers to supply their wants; " 42 and thus by degrees, the convenience came mar- of these marts led to their use as general markets. The King, however, reserved to himself the right of Tolls were granting leave to hold these fairs, and tolls were levied on all goods sold there. siderable source of revenue. proclaimed a fair, all the tolls levied at which were paid to him; but more usually he granted the right of holding a fair to some favourite, or for some par with food, and thus fairs by degrees be kets. levied by the King, or licenses granted. This became a conSometimes the King Bartholo granted to of the ticular purpose. Thus the right of holding a fair at Henry III. Smithfield, was granted by Henry I. to the monks of Right of the priory of St. Bartholomew, for the benefit of the holding priory. Fairs were constantly held in churchyards, mew Fair and sometimes even in the church itself; and it was the monks not unusual, when a fair was held within the pre- priory. cincts of a cathedral, to oblige every man to bind Fairs held himself by an oath at the gate, not to lie, steal, or yards. cheat till he went out again. Those who attended fairs were greatly privileged; traders on their way to or from a fair, were free from arrest, except for debts arising out of the trade of the fair itself. in church the neigh during the abuses this All trade within a certain distance, was stopped All trade in during the fair, so as to compel traders to resort to bourhood the fair during its continuance, and it was unlawful stopped to set up two fairs within seven miles of each other. fair. This practice was much abused by Henry III. He Henry not only held fairs, for instance, at Westminster, to the great damage of the citizens of London, and with out any plea of old custom or general utility; but also, during its continuance, he prohibited other fairs, even one so far off as Ely, which the Bishop of Ely had a right to hold at that time. custom to increase his tolls. Winches ter. The fair on St. Giles's Hill, near Winchester, which Fair at was the greatest in Europe after that of Beaucaire in France, was given to the Bishop of Winchester by William the Conqueror for three days; and by Henry III., for sixteen days; and during its continuance, all the shops were closed, not only in Winchester, but also in Southampton. Wares sold out of the fair, within seven miles, were forfeit to the bishop. "This fair attracted merchants from all parts of Europe, and the fair of Beaucaire, in Languedoc, was Henry III. its only rival for centuries. The great hill or mount of St Giles overlooking the town, on which Earl Waltheof is said to have been executed by order of the Conqueror, was covered with store shops or stalls, some belonging to the Crown, and many to the bishop. There was the French street; the stalls of the men of Caen; the street of the Flemings; the streets of the men of Nottingham and other English towns; and there was also the 'street in which old clothes are sold.' In the town of Winchester itself, there was the High street with its Spicery, or quarter of the Grocers; the street where the Haberdashers sat; the Mercery street; the Drapery; Parchment street; the quarter of the Jewry; and the respective streets of the Fullers; Weavers ; Carpet-makers and Tanners." Court of Every fair had its own court of justice, for the Pié Poudré. immediate settlement of all disputes at the fair. This was called the Court of Pié Poudré (or Court of Powdered Feet), and its name was derived from the dusty feet of those who attended the fair. Shows and troduced at fairs. "To add to the attractions of a fair, and more games in especially to induce the rich and powerful to resort to it with full purses in pursuit of pleasure, amusements were introduced;" 43 and thus sprung up the games and shows of modern country fairs, which have now, however, nearly disappeared. For several centuries fairs were the best markets. For many centuries, fairs were the only places where every variety of goods could be purchased, and thus they were of great service. "Even so late as the 16th century, there was so little of commercial life in English towns, that stewards of country-houses, made their annual purchases of household stores at fairs, that might be a hundred miles distant from the estab THE KING'S EXACTIONS. lishments for which they were providing." 44 183 Thus it Henry III. is ordered in the Earl of Northumberland's household book, that "he that standes charged with my lordes house for the houll yeir, if he may possible, shall be at all fairs where the groice emptions shall be boughte for the house for the houlle yeir, as wine, wax, beiffes, multons, wheite and maltie."45 The beefs and muttons were salted meats, which shows the little progress agriculture and the breeding of cattle had then made. We must now leave the history of fairs, and resume the history of the reign from the time of the departure of Pandulph from England. The King's Attempts to raise Money. Rivalry of Hubert de Peter des On the return of the Pope's legate Pandulph, to A.D. 1221. Rome in A.D. 1221, the rivalry of the two ministers or favourites, Hubert de Burgh and Peter des Roches, became more decided. Peter des Roches always supported what may be called the foreign party, while De Burgh stood by the natives, apparently more from jealousy and ambition than from patriotism, for he often advised the King to act tyrannically. Henry's want of money. Royal dewasted by mesnes Henry was always in want of money, and resorted Causes of to all sorts of mean expedients to procure it. By the improvidence of his father, King John, the royal possessions had been greatly diminished; for he had been obliged to give many of the royal demesnes, to such of the barons as were base enough to support him in his attempts to oppress the people, and to the foreigners whom he hired to help him. Consequently some barons who of his natural sources of revenue were dried up. We helped him. must also recollect that in those days there were no No regular regular taxes. When the King wanted money, he applied to his Council. This This gave the Council great John, and given to the taxes. Origin of tutional mode of obtaining Origin of fifteenths. Henry III. power, for they often refused to grant him supplies till he had granted them redress of grievances. Hence the consti- arose, and in this reign thus began, the constitutional mode of obtaining redress of grievances, which redress of is practised at the present day. When supplies grievances. were granted, it was usually in the form of what was called a fifteenth. This was formerly the real fifteenth part of all the movable property belonging to the subject, when such movables or personal estates were a very different and a much less considerable thing than they now are, and originally, at each grant, a fresh assessment of the value of property was made.47 This was a very oppressive mode of levying revenue, for sometimes it was levied even on workmen's tools.55 Other revenue. There were also some other sources of revenue; sources of such as fines on taking possession of landed property at the death of the former tenant, payments in lieu of military duty, and others arising from the feudal system, as explained in my second Lecture. The King had also the right of keeping to himself the temporalities; that is the revenues of lands and tenements belonging to an archbishop's and bishop's see, and of all abbeys and priories of royal foundation, till the successor was appointed. 46 This was a source of great abuse, for the King often delayed the appointment of a successor for the sake of the revenues. Wars with France were a great source of expense. The wars with France were the most constant source of expense, and one of the earliest causes of Henry's demands of money. He was continually fitting out expeditions to recover the territories which formerly belonged to England, but which had been lost by John. It was provided by the treaty between Henry and |