The range of objects traded was only equalled by the range of people trading ! At some fairs not only goods were exchanged but also skills and labour.

What was traded at the Medieval fair ? Everything ! The illicit fake relic, the pilgrims’ medallions, vials of holy water. The more mundane but even more vital necessities of everyday life such as cloth, metal tools and pottery. Besides these there were the secular treats; the jewels, the silks or the ornate broaches. Trade was a constant of medieval life. Although there was a great self-sufficiency amongst the growing rural population, the expanding towns depended on trade for their very existence. Bartering is a form of trade that was unrecorded. The fairs of the Middle Ages were varied and constantly evolving and within this ferment trade played a central role. A typical English phenomenon was the hiring fair. Particularly after the plagues of the 1300’s, when there was a shortage of labour, employers established them when they needed manpower for new projects or seasonal tasks . At a hiring fair, workmen were hired for particular jobs, traditionally making their trade known by advertising it. A tuft of thatch for a thatcher, a piece of leather for a cordwainer, a milking stool for a milkmaid. This early form of employment agency was widespread in earlier days but few survived the to the modern period. However, in the borough of Daventry there was a modern version of a hiring fair as late as 1962. Unusual objects could be traded on the fair as well as the more mundane. In a later example, in the Netherlands in the 17th century the fair was the place where most art sales took place. There was no other country in Europe where the ownership of paintings was so widespread among common people. There were even painters (like Jan van Goyen) who worked directly for this market.