Las ferias mercantiles de Navarra en la Edad Media y su contexto europeo [Trade fairs in Navarre the Middle Ages and their european context]

Abstract

The fair phenomenon was one of the keys of the international trade during the Middle Ages. It achieved its highest level during the 12th and 13th centuries, when the annual cycles were fixed and the trade law and fair ordinances developed. Seeking a growth of merchants, goods and currencies´ traffic, sovereings granted charters of fair to their main towns, taking the successful Champagne’s fairs as a model. The fair phenomenon reached Navarre late. The «thibaut» established the first fair cycle in the mid-13th century. During the Late Middle Ages, the fairs of Navarra suffered periods of rise and fall, in a similar way of the other western European fairs.