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30-456: The Bartholomew Fair was one of London's pre-eminent summer charter fairs . A charter for the fair was granted by King Henry I to fund the Priory of St Bartholomew in 1133. It took place each year on 24 August within the precincts of the Priory at West Smithfield, London until 1855 when it was banned due to causing public disturbances. Granted by charter from King Henry I to Rahere to fund

60-420: A person's patron saint, having already attained the beatific vision , is able to intercede with God for their needs. Apart from Lutheranism and Anglicanism, it is, however, generally discouraged in other Protestant branches, such as Reformed Christianity , where the practice is considered a form of idolatry . A saint can be assigned as a patron by a venerable tradition, or chosen by election. The saint

90-542: A city which grew to prominence obtained for its cathedral the remains or some relics of a famous saint who had lived and was buried elsewhere, thus making them the city's patron saint – such a practice conferred considerable prestige on the city concerned. In Latin America and the Philippines , Spanish and Portuguese explorers often named a location for the saint on whose feast or commemoration day they first visited

120-454: A considerable profit from hosting these events, and in turn the crown benefited from the payments given for the original charter. Over 2,200 charters were issued to markets and fairs by English kings between 1200 and 1270. Between the 12th and 15th centuries, the number of markets and fairs across England burgeoned. Although the terms "fair" and "market" were often used synonymously, key differences distinguished them. Markets were held daily in

150-633: A cup of sack (fortified white wine) from the governor. The Merchant Taylors Guild processed to Cloth Fair to test the measures for cloth, using their standard silver yard, until 1854. The annual fair grew to become the chief cloth sale in the kingdom. By 1641, the fair had achieved international importance. It had outgrown the former location along Cloth Fair, and around the Priory graveyard to now cover four parishes: Christ Church , Great and Little St Bartholomew ’s and St Sepulchre ’s. The fair featured sideshows, prize-fighters, musicians, wire-walkers, acrobats, puppets, freaks and wild animals. The fair

180-465: A four-week event each year, turning the normally small town into "a major commercial emporium". Dozens of stalls would be established and hundreds of pounds of goods bought and sold. Special courts, called courts of piepowders would be established to govern the events and settle disputes; this would include establishing local law and order, imposing systems of weights and measures; monitoring legal contracts and other features of medieval trade. Towards

210-513: Is a saint who in Catholicism , Lutheranism , Anglicanism , Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person. The term may be applied to individuals to whom similar roles are ascribed in other religions . Saints often become the patrons of places where they were born or had been active. However, there were cases in medieval Europe where

240-489: Is considered a special intercessor with God and the proper advocate of a particular locality, occupation, etc., and merits a special form of religious observance. A term in some ways comparable is "titular", which is applicable only to a church or institution. Although Islam has no codified doctrine of patronage on the part of saints, it has nevertheless been an important part of both Sunni and Shia Islamic traditions that particularly important classical saints have served as

270-466: The 13th century. During the 12th century, many English towns acquired the right from the Crown to hold an annual fair, usually serving a regional or local customer base and lasting for two or three days. By the end of the century, however, international trade with Europe in wool and cloth was increasing; London merchants were attempting to exert control over this process, acting as middlemen, but many of

300-472: The 17th century; but in 1691, it was shortened to only four days. With a change in the calendar, the fair commenced on 3 September from 1753. A trading event for cloth and other goods as well as a pleasure fair, the event drew crowds from all classes of English society. It was customary for the Lord Mayor of London to open the fair on St Bartholomew's Eve. The Mayor would stop at Newgate Prison to accept

330-698: The 18th century. Elijah and Jethro ( Shuaib ) are considered patron saints of the Druze people . In the Old Testament , Jethro was Moses ' father-in-law, a Kenite shepherd and priest of Midian . Muslim scholars and the Druze identify Jethro with the prophet Shuaib, also said to come from Midian. Shuaib or Jethro of Midian is considered an ancestor of the Druze who revere him as their spiritual founder and chief prophet. Druze identify Elijah as "al- Khidr ". Druze, like some Christians , believe that

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360-516: The English producers and ports on the east coast attempted to use the chartered fair system to circumnavigate them. Simultaneously, wealthy magnate consumers in England began to use the new fairs as a way to buy goods like spices , wax , preserved fish and cloth in bulk from the international merchants at the fairs, again bypassing the usual London merchants. Local nobles and churchmen could draw

390-462: The Priory of St Bartholomew in 1133, the fair became London's most important fair, it took place each year on 24 August within the precincts of the Priory at West Smithfield , outside Aldersgate of the City of London . The site of Bartholomew Fair was the south-east side of Smithfield roundabout and was originally a cloth fair. Originally chartered as a three-day event, it would last a full two weeks in

420-583: The Prophet Elijah came back as Saint John the Baptist , since they believe in reincarnation and the transmigration of the soul, Druze believe that El Khidr and Saint John the Baptist are one and the same; along with Saint George . Due to the Christian influence on the Druze faith , two Christian saints become the Druze's favorite venerated figures: Saint George and Saint Elijah. Thus, in all

450-453: The biggest fair in Europe towards the end of the medieval period. Many of these fairs would have been small in comparison to the largest European international fairs, but still involved international contracts and advance selling on a significant scale. These "great fairs" could be huge events; St Ives' Great Fair drew merchants from Flanders , Brabant , Norway , Germany and France for

480-487: The chartered fairs. Foreign merchants, upon whom the great chartered fairs had to some extent depended, were being crowded out by English merchants, particularly in critical areas such as the cloth trade. The control of the crown over trade in the towns, especially the emerging newer towns that lacked central civic government, was increasingly weaker, making chartered status less relevant as more trade occurred from private properties and took place all year around. Nonetheless,

510-456: The end of the medieval period, the position of fairs began to decline. One important shift was that the major merchants, particularly in London, began to establish commercial primacy by the 14th century over the larger magnate customers; rather than the magnate buying from a chartered fair, they would buy from the merchant. As an example of this shift, the household accounts of Henry III show that

540-421: The feast day of the patron saint to whom the church was dedicated. In England, these early fairs were called a wake, or a vigilia , and many formed the basis for later chartered fairs. In an era in which communications and travel were difficult and often dangerous, local markets and fairs were central to commerce and trade. In England, fairs began to develop in the early Norman period, reaching their heyday in

570-541: The great fairs remained of importance well into the 15th century, as illustrated by their role in exchanging money, regional commerce and in providing choice for individual consumers. The evolution of the canal and eventually the railway system in England during the 19th century finally pushed the fair system into near extinction, although in recent years many have been revived as cultural, rather than primarily economic events. Patron saint A patron saint , patroness saint , patron hallow or heavenly protector

600-635: The heavenly advocates for specific Muslim empires , nations , cities , towns , and villages . Martin Lings wrote: "There is scarcely a region in the empire of Islam which has not a Sufi for its Patron Saint." As the veneration accorded saints often develops purely organically in Islamic climates, in a manner different from Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity , "patron saints" are often recognized through popular acclaim rather than through official declaration. Traditionally, it has been understood that

630-616: The heroine meets a well-dressed gentleman at the fair. In Wordsworth's The Prelude (1805) mention is made of the din and the Indians and dwarfs at the fair. The Bartholomew Fair of 1845 features as the primary location of The Wireless Theatre Company 's "The Carnival Of Horrors", the second episode of " The Springheel Saga , Series Two: The Legend of Springheel'd Jack". 51°31.1′N 0°6′W  /  51.5183°N 0.100°W  / 51.5183; -0.100 Charter fair In Roman times, fairs were holidays on which there

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660-679: The international markets. The major fairs had formed a set sequence by the mid-13th century, with the Stamford fair in Lent, St Ives at Easter, Boston in July, Winchester in September and Northampton in November. Secondary chartered fairs, such as those at Stourbridge , Bury St Edmunds , King's Lynn , Oxford and Westminster filled the gaps in between, although Stourbridge fair would grow to be

690-463: The monarch bought 75% of his requirements from the great fairs; by the time of Edward II , the majority was being bought directly from the major merchants. The rise of international trading confederations such as the Hanseatic league during the 15th century, improved communications and the growth of a larger England merchant class in the major cities, especially London, gradually eroded the value of

720-787: The more populous towns and cities or weekly in rural districts, and sold fresh produce and necessities, while fairs operated on a periodic cycle, and were almost always associated with a religious festival. Fairs were associated with high value goods and non-perishables such as farm tools, homewares, furniture, rugs and ceramics. Although a fair's primary purpose was trade, it typically included some elements of entertainment, such as dance, music or tournaments. By 1516, England had some 2,464 markets and 2,767 fairs while Wales had 138 markets and 166 fairs. Both fairs and markets were important centres of social life in medieval society. Towns such as Boston , Winchester , Stamford and St Ives acquired royal charters to hold huge, extended events focusing on

750-453: The patron saint of a particular place prays for that place's wellbeing and for the health and happiness of all who live therein. However, the Wahhabi and Salafi movements have latterly attacked the veneration of saints (as patron or otherwise), which they claim are a form of idolatry or shirk . More mainstream Sunni clerics have critiqued this argument since Wahhabism first emerged in

780-426: The place, with that saint naturally becoming the area's patron. Occupations sometimes have a patron saint who had been connected somewhat with it, although some of the connections were tenuous. Lacking such a saint, an occupation would have a patron whose acts or miracles in some way recall the profession. For example, when the previously unknown occupation of photography appeared in the 19th century, Saint Veronica

810-452: The villages inhabited by Druzes and Christians in central Mount Lebanon a Christian church or Druze maqam is dedicated to either one of them. According to scholar Ray Jabre Mouawad the Druzes appreciated the two saints for their bravery: Saint George because he confronted the dragon and the Prophet Elijah because he competed with the pagan priests of Baal and won over them. In both cases

840-473: Was an intermission of labour and pleadings. By the 7th century, a regular fair was being held at Saint-Denis under the French Merovingian kings. In later centuries across Europe, on any special Christian religious occasion, particularly the anniversary dedication of a church , tradesmen would bring and sell their wares, even in the churchyards . Such fairs then continued annually, usually on

870-474: Was made its patron, owing to how her veil miraculously received the imprint of Christ 's face after she wiped off the blood and sweat. The veneration or commemoration and recognition of patron saints or saints in general is found in Catholicism (including Eastern Catholicism ), Eastern Orthodoxy , Oriental Orthodoxy , and among some Lutherans and Anglicans . According to the Catholic catechism

900-551: Was suppressed in 1855 by the City authorities for encouraging debauchery and public disorder. The Newgate Calendar had denounced the fair as a "school of vice which has initiated more youth into the habits of villainy than Newgate itself." The Bartholomew Fair is the setting for Bartholomew Fair , a play by Ben Jonson . Samuel Pepys wrote about the fair in his diary. John Evelyn also refers in his diary to having visited "the celebrated follies of Bartholomew Fair" on 16 August 1648 . In Daniel Defoe 's Moll Flanders (1722)

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