Development of fair towns in Western Europe during the Middle Ages

This article is devoted to some aspects of development of fair towns in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. There was one big difference between trade towns and fair towns. Fair towns didn't take part in trade very much. Such fair towns didn't have their own merchants. As for citizens, they acted as trade assistants. Firstly, there were fairs in Champagne, Bruges, Frankfurt am Main, Geneva, Zurzah. Fairs in Lyon, Leipzig and Antwerp appeared later.