An interlude: the Champagne fairs

자료: Fernand Braudel, Material Civilization, Economy, and Capitalism. vol.3



An interlude: the Champagne fairs

Thus it was that the two major economic zonesㅡthe Low Countries and Italyㅡslowly and simultaneously came into being. And it was between these poles, thes two potential 'core zones', that the Champagne faires had their day. Neither North nor South triumphed (nor indeed did they consciously compete with each other) in this early form of the European world-economy. Its economic center lay for many years midway between the two poles of attraction, as if to satisfy both, in the six fairs held annually in Champagne and Brie, changing location every two months.[93] 'First, in January, came the fair at Lagny-sur-Marne; then on the Tuesday before the middle of Lent, the fair at Bar-sur-Aube; in May (...); in June, the "hot fair" at Troyes; in September (...), and finally in October, the cycle was closed by the "cold fair" at Troyes'[94] (...)