Infrastructure and Centrality in Town during Annual Fairs: Three Polish Examples (1385-1655)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to reflect on how annual fairs challenged the urban spatialities of trade in medieval and old-regime towns. It is also to pose the question of centrality under the point of view of both the centrality of commercial towns in regional and international networks and the urban centrality of spaces dedicated to trade activities. The study is based on the example of three towns of Greater Poland in the late Middle Ages and Early Modern period. Focusing on trade facilities and on the management of the city space during annual fairs (extraordinary times in the life of cities, when the guild monopoly was suspended and many foreign merchants and ordinary people were gathering in the city), the aim here is to analyse the way in which urban authorities handled the organisation of such big endeavours and how the city space was managed, valorised, and utilized.