Martini market

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Martinimarkt or Martinsmarkt is a fair throughout the German-speaking area that takes place around November 11th ( Martinstag ). Martini markets go back to medieval market law. Holding a fair required an additional permit, which was not covered by the pure market law.

background

The feast day of St. Martin of Tours marks the beginning of the rural annual course, on this day interest and tithes were due, and contracts (employment relationships, leases) were terminated and new ones concluded. On this day people often parted with "useless eaters", pigs and geese were slaughtered. Servants and maidservants were given notice, they were paid out or newly hired and then received a bonus . It is not by chance that the Church emphasizes that St. Martin was a benevolent giver. In many places it was the custom for children to go from house to house asking for gifts.

So in many ways, Martin's Day was payday. This day was used by the rural population to stock up on their periodical needs such as laundry, shoes and tools or to sell products and goods before the onset of winter. Nowadays the Martini market is a folk festival in many cities.

In the Middle Elbian dictionary it says:

"Martini market - the annual fair around Martini, in some places (e.g. Gardelegen, Klötze) the most important market of the year"

In Switzerland there was also the custom of martini markets and there, too, it was an interest day. This is how it was written about the market in Muri in 1897:

“On this day, Muri holds the so-called 'Martiniraert' [Martinimarkt], which is usually well attended, especially by tree growers, as it is also connected to a 'Baum-Mert' [fruit tree market].
Martini is the farmers' interest day. [...] Whoever had to pay interest earlier on that day had threshed his grain and sold the fruit. When paying the interest he received a certain amount (5 chunks to 1 franc) of it back, depending on the amount; this was called 'Zeisschillig' [Zinsschilling]. "

It was similar in other areas. In Dornbirn , Martini Day was the “interest day” until after 1900, on which the debtors had to pay their interest. Those who paid this on time got the so-called "interest penny" back, part of the amount paid. In addition, there were further interest days during the year at Candlemas (February 2), Georgi (April 23) and Jakobi (July 25). The Dornbirn market was held for martini.

Fair rights

Already in a document from the year 1035 it emerges that the fair law was connected with a special protection and a peace obligation. The right to hold a fair could be granted by bishops, princes, counts, dukes, kings or emperors and was sometimes confirmed by papal envoys. It could also bring some amenities (or special protection for annual fairs) with it, so from a document from 1475 for the city of Neuss it was recorded that Emperor Friedrich III. the right was granted to hold a fifth in addition to the four annual fairs on the day of St. Martin. The law stipulated that on four days before and four days after everyone who attended the fair, escort, peace, freedom and security should be granted. In addition, all towns within a two-mile radius of Neuss were forbidden from holding annual fairs during this time. Another example is the Martini market in Tann . On October 15, 1481, Duke Georg granted the place the right to hold a fair every year on the Sunday after Martini in addition to the other markets. As early as 1459, Marktoberdorf was given the right to hold a fair two days a year; in addition to St. Martin's Day, this was Urban Day (25 May).

literature

  • Martin Happ: Old and new pictures of Saint Martin, customs and uses since the 19th century. Böhlau, Cologne 2006, ISBN 3-412-05706-1 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Martinimarkt  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Martinimarkt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martini Market. In: Middle Elbian Dictionary . uni-halle.de, accessed on May 20, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Swiss Folklore Archives . Swiss Society for Folklore, Basel 1897, p. 32 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  3. ↑ Martini. Dornbirn City Museum, accessed on May 20, 2020 .
  4. ^ Siegfried Rietschel: Market and city in their legal relationship; a contribution to the history of the German city constitution . Veit, Leipzig 1897, p. 48 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  5. ^ Fr. J. Löhrer: History of the city of Neuss . L. Schwann, Neuss 1840, p. 183 ( books.google.de ).
  6. ↑ Martini market with a long tradition. pnp.de, November 8, 2017, accessed May 20, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Marktoberdorf: The Martinimarkt is 550 years old. all-in.de, September 14, 2009, accessed on May 20, 2020 .