men of England. This cowardly lie did not avail Henry III. him, and his sentence of exile was carried out. When he arrives in France the tences him hanged, capes the sentence He appeals to inter to the Pope Henry for cede with When he landed in Normandy, fresh misfortunes befel him. The King of France took him prisoner, and sentenced him to be hanged as one of those who had fought against his son Louis. Fulke, however, was always ready in devising means of escape, and to avoid but he esdeath by hanging, he made a vow to turn crusader. He was accordingly sent to Rome; where he was repre- by promis sented to the Pope as one that had taken the cross, and crusader. had been much injured, and oppressed by his enemies in England. Fulke now presented an address to the Pope, full of falsehood; with the view to persuade him that he was a much injured man, and had got into trouble, only by resisting a conspiracy of the pardon, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Hubert de Burgh, the Grand Justiciary, to dispossess the nobility of those castles which had been committed to their trust by the Pope's legate. He then went on to He then went on to say that "the Archbishop had excommunicated him; and that notwithstanding he had surrendered himself to the King, after his castle had been taken; yet that the Archbishop would not absolve him till he had stood naked all sermon time, while the Archbishop preached a sermon at him." 126 Fulke's adroit falsehoods induced the Pope to help him, and he directed his legate, on his arrival in England, to move the King in his behalf. But the King refused to reverse his sentence, and we now hear nothing more of him till near his death. It which at seems that his pardon was at length secured, and he was on his way to England, through France, when he died of eating a poisoned fish. So ends the history of Fulke de Bréauté,—an average specimen of not a few of the mercenary barons who were John's allies. length is but he dies poisoned granted, of eating a fish. 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 the Ro mans, 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. grimages first fairs arose from the gathering together of to sacred worshippers and pilgrims about sacred places, es in pil places. Stalls were set up to with food, and thus "The pecially 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, supply the and as the resources of the district could no more multitudes 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 of these marts led to their use as general markets. The King, however, reserved to himself the right of granting leave to hold these fairs, and tolls were levied by levied on all goods sold there. This became a considerable source of revenue. Sometimes the King 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 fairs by degrees be came markets. Tolls were the King, or licenses granted. Bartholo 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 in the stopped fair. All trade within a certain distance, was stopped All trade during the fair, so as to compel traders to resort to neighbourthe fair during its continuance, and it was unlawful hood to set up two fairs within seven miles of each other. during the 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 without 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. abuses this increase custom to his tolls. Winches The fair on St. Giles's Hill, near Winchester, which Fair at was the greatest in Europe after that of Beaucaire ter. 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.” 54 Court of dré. Shows and games in fairs. Every fair had its own court of justice, for the 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. "To add to the attractions of a fair, and more troduced at 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 the best markets. For many centuries, fairs were the only places where fairs were 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 lishments for which they were providing." 1944 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. On the return of the Pope's legate Pandulph, to 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. Causes of want of money. mesnes wasted by Henry was always in want of money, and resorted 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 Royal deof 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. of his natural sources of revenue were dried up. We must also recollect that in those days there were regular taxes. When the King wanted money, he taxes. applied to his Council. This gave the Council great and given John, no to the barons who helped him. No regular |