At the fair you could do just about anything: cure your cough and find your true love.
At the fairs many day-to-day activities could take place, but they also provided an opportunity for uncommon services to be offered. The search for the miraculous cure was, without doubt, more poignant in the middle ages. Quack doctors, also known as charlatans, would come to the gatherings armed with cures for all known ailments. There would also have been more practical treatments given by dentists and itinerant surgeons. For those who sought to know their destiny, fortunes were told and fortunes were lost on the fairs of medieval Europe.
Still today on the fairground there are some services on offer. Rosehannah’s Palmistry Stall is seen here at a Sheffield Fair in 2001.
Dressed in a fancy uniform this elegant charlatan knows how to keep his audience captivated.
It is said that the word ‘charlatan’ comes from the Italian town Cerretano, where many itinerant comedians lived, and the word ciarlare (to chat). Until the 17th century the charlatan was someone selling medicines and ointments, drawing teeth and doing some sleight-of-hand tricks on market places and fairgrounds. They had their heyday in the 18th century. Some charlatans were very successful. Famous charlatan medicines were Thériaque or Orviétan. Orviétan was invented by an Italian quack in 1643, and named after his hometown Orvieto. He got an official concession to sell this drug. For centuries people from far and near came to Paris to buy his miracle medicine. ~Charlatans, miracle doctors and stage quacks seldom travelled alone. They hired animal trainers, clowns and musicians. They attracted crowds with their silver-tongued speeches. Very advantageous were their partners in the crowds pretending to be miraculously cured. Legendary quack doctors were Doctor John Case in England, Tabarin and Mondor in France, Doctor Eisenbart and Theophastrus von Hohenheim in Germany and Beppo Balsamo in Italy.
A village fair in the 17th century portrayed byPieter Maes.
Matthijs Naiveu painted this quack at a fairground at the end of the 17th century.
People studying a raree show at an Italian fair. Probably they don’t dare to come too close because of the snake the man on the right is giving an airing for no obvious reason.
In the Middle Ages dentistry was scarcely out of the egg. Here, a primitive dentist is shown in full action. These dentists were often accompanied by a trumpet player who, at the most excruciating moment, played his instrument as loud as possible to hide the victim’s screams of pain.