The Bruges Fairs: The Great Emporium of the North
The great fairs of Bruges, the Foires de Bruges, were the principal commercial event in medieval Europe, and the principal market for the goods of the Baltic in the West. The fairs were held twice a year, in the spring and in the autumn, and they attracted merchants from all over Europe. The fairs were, in many ways, the principal meeting point for the merchants of the Hanseatic League and the merchants of the Italian and Iberian peninsulas, and the fairs were one of the principal channels through which the goods of the Baltic reached the markets of the West.
Foundation and privileges
The fairs of Bruges had been established by the counts of Flanders in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and the fairs were protected by a series of privileges that the counts granted to the merchants who attended. The privileges included the right to be judged by their own law in disputes with the Flemings, the right to be exempt from most customs duties, and the right to be protected from arbitrary arrest. The privileges were valuable, and they were the principal attraction of the fairs for foreign merchants.
The fairs and the cloth trade
The fairs were, in the first instance, a market for the cloth of Flanders. The cloth of Flanders was, in the late Middle Ages, the principal manufactured good of Europe, and the cloth of Flanders was sold in markets throughout Europe. The fairs of Bruges were the principal market for the cloth, and the merchants who attended the fairs were the principal buyers of the cloth. The cloth was bought by the merchants of the League, by the merchants of Italy, and by the merchants of England and France.
The fairs and Baltic goods
The fairs were also a market for the goods of the Baltic. The merchants of the League brought to the fairs the grain, timber, furs, and naval stores of the Baltic, and the merchants of the League sold the goods to the merchants of the West. The fairs were, in effect, a clearing house for the goods of the Baltic, and the fairs were one of the principal channels through which the League’s commercial dominance was asserted.
The fairs and Mediterranean goods
The fairs were also a market for the goods of the Mediterranean. The merchants of Italy and the Iberian peninsula brought to the fairs the spices, silks, and other luxury goods of the Mediterranean, and the merchants sold the goods to the merchants of the North. The fairs were, in effect, a clearing house for the goods of Europe, and the fairs were one of the principal channels through which the long-distance trade of medieval Europe was conducted.
The decline of the fairs
The fairs of Bruges began to decline in the late fifteenth century, and the decline was marked by a series of crises that gradually eroded the foundations of the city’s prosperity. The first of these crises was the silting up of the Zwin, the waterway that connected the city to the sea. The silting, which had been going on for several centuries, accelerated in the fifteenth century, and the great ships could no longer reach the city’s quays. The merchants of the city began to move to Antwerp, which had a better harbour and which was becoming the new centre of the Atlantic trade.