Fermin to Pamplona in 1196, the city decided to mark the occasion with an annual event. Over the centuries, the saint's festival, the ancient annual fair and the running of the bulls and subsequent bullfights have all melded together. The Abbey of Saint-Acheul in Amiens was founded in 1085 on the supposed tomb of Saint Firmin. Under the choir of the abbey's church there is a vault in the place where the body of Saint Firmin was miraculously discovered. The cult of St Firmin was of great religious and economic importance to Amiens during the Middle Ages and into modern times.
Running of the bulls run for almost 700 years until it was abandoned in 1837. According to local tradition, the custom dated from the time of King John when William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey, saw two bulls fighting in the meadow beneath. Some butchers came to part the combatants and one of the bulls ran into the town, causing a great uproar. The earl, mounting his horse, rode after the animal, and enjoyed the sport so much, that he gave the meadow in which the fight began, to the butchers of Stamford, on condition that they should provide a bull, to be