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An historical account of Sturbridge, Bury and the most famous fairs in Europe and America. Printed in Cambridge by Fletcher and Hodson, 1773? Lower Library, 724/751

It has been remarked above that medieval society was a society geared for warfare, but medieval society was well-inclined to prosper from peace-times too. In England, the period following the Norman Conquest experienced an urban renaissance unparalleled in a thousand years. The climate was benign, royal government for the most part stable, international trade increased and the population doubled between 1100 and 1300. From 1066 many new towns were planted by the country’s new rulers and old ones grew; Cambridge, a trading centre at the intersection of Roman roads at a crossing of the River Granta, being a case in point. In any town the focus of mercantile activity was the market and the right to hold a market was granted only by the Crown. The new urban populations sought diversion as well as marketing so fairs developed. These too were licensed by the Crown and Cambridge was granted four annual fairs.

Stourbridge was one such. It was established to provide income for the local leper colony. The first three-day fair was held in September 1211, on a large riverside meadow to the north-east of the city, and continued until 1933, 722 years in all. As with all such events, the fair attracted a cross-section of society: some to buy and sell foodstuffs, textiles, tools and utensils, all licensed commodities; some to participate in the organised sporting, theatrical and musical events approved by the authorities; others attracted by the unlicensed ancillary events that inevitably occurred close by, such as cock-fighting, bear-baiting and gambling, that were the despair of the authorities. The penalty was a public whipping. The other fairs were Garlic, Reach and Midsummer. At one point Stourbridge was the largest fair in Europe.

Manuscript 724/751 is a curiosity. It was acquired at auction by the College in 1807. In part the printed account of the evolution of fairs, it contains several printed tracts in verse-form on Stourbridge Fair and several manuscript documents on the same in the hand of the Rev. J. J. Smith, Librarian of the College in the 1840s. The historical account begins by reminding us that the concept of a fair is as old as human civilisation itself. 'The Games of Greece, celebrated with the most pompous solemnity … may be reckoned the most splendid fairs of antiquity[.]'

As there were four annual fairs in Cambridge so there were in Greece four renowned Games: the Isthmian, the Nemean, the Pythian as well as the Olympics. Wrestling and 'fisty-cuffs' were among the feats of human endeavour practised on the gilded plains in the shadow of Mount Olympus in honour of Jupiter Olympius; wrestling and racing were authorised activities confined to the last day of the annual Stourbridge Fair on its miry meadow in the Fens.

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