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Trade
Fairs: Soon a new kind of marketplace appears - the
trade fair. A fair was a big deal. A fair might last for two weeks. To hold a
fair, you needed a grant from the king or from the fief owner - you needed
permission.
Often there was a tax that sellers had to pay to the landowner or
to the king to be able to sell their wares. Sellers were in effect renting a
space at the trade fair for a two week period. People probably fussed about
the tax, but they had to admit it was fair, and they paid it. That gave the
landowners a new form of income.
The fairs were held outside, open to the
elements. Goods were displayed in the rain, snow, sleet, and mud. Sellers had
no choice really. They had paid a fee. They needed to sell their goods.
The fair attracted pickpockets and other petty
thieves. Some sellers rented space in homes to protect their goods. Some slept
near their goods to protect them. Some people spent the night in inns,
sheltered from the weather.
Fairs were noisy, dirty, exciting places.
Musicians, jugglers, and entertainers worked the fair for the coins tossed at
them. Sellers hawked their wares. Buyers bargained loudly. The people loved
them.
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