Medieval and Municipal Fairs: a space for bargaining

In the mid-13th century, Europe was home to countless local fairs where merchants and artisans haggled over prices and exchanged their wares. These centers of dispute and trade clearly revealed the way urban spaces were lived, the art of selling, and often, the art of knowing what was being purchased.

Currently, celebrations of these so-called fairs, held in various locations during warm weather and holidays, are the result of a historically planned reconstruction, but with the aim of selling the public something new and, at times, little truth. Thus, also in terms of comparison with these spaces—which today, as in medieval times, were spaces for selling and exchanging ideas and goods—in the local elections, we can undertake an exercise in approaching these dynamics.

As September approaches, we see the lists and promises of those in power haggling with their customers over new "goods" and trying, like in medieval fairs, to demonstrate what good has been done and how it should continue. From the market to the town square, from merchant to promising candidate for local government, from selling products to selling dreams, it all seems the same to us.

The products sold at medieval fairs, and the way merchants sold them, were perhaps clearer and more objective—even in less-than-accurate historical reconstructions—than the campaign dreams or promises of politicians in power. The need to distinguish the copy from the original, as in the pseudo-fairs held today, stems from the customer's desire to be mindful of what was bargained for and what might be bargained for in the future.

Between exchanges and omissions, with replicas of 13th-century fairs or promises made in public squares, one thing is certain: at medieval fairs, perhaps the customer knew what he was buying. Today, at fairs that are reconstructions of an unfaithful past, and also in electoral promises, the customer has no idea whether it's really as they say.