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# Medieval Price List
Medieval Price List
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# List of price of medieval items
Courtesy of Kenneth Hodges (hodges@jif.berkeley.edu)
The list of medieval prices which follows is by no means complete or thoroughly researched; I merely extracted references from some of the books I have, and I thought others might like to inspect it. The sources I used are listed at the end. If an item is listed several times, it is because I had several references I wished to record.
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Money goes as follows:
1 pound (L) = 20 shillings (s)
1 crown = 5 shillings
1 shilling = 12 pence (d)
1 penny = 4 farthings
1 mark = 13s 4d
The French Livre, sou, and denier are equivalent to the pound, shilling and penny (Latin liber, solidus, and denarius).
For ease, I've divided this list into the following sections: tools, horses, food and livestock, books and education, buildings, cloth and clothing, armor, weapons, marriage, funerals, travel, miscellaneous goods, and wages.
Of course, a price list is a misleading guide to a feudal economy, because so many goods were either produced within a household, or supplied by a lord. Retainers could get money, but they would also get food, lodging, weapons (sometimes), and cloth. Knights Templar were provided with clothes, horses, and armor.
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TOOLS
Item Price Date Source Page
2 yokes 4s c1350 [3] 170
Foot iron of plough 5d " " "
3 mason's tools (not named) 9d " " "
1 spade and shovel 3d 1457 " "
1 axe 5d " " "
1 augur 3d " " "
1 vise 13s 4d 1514 [5] 27-28
Large biciron 60s " " "
Small biciron 16s " " "
Anvil 20s " " "
Bellows 30s " " "
Hammers 8d-2s 8d " " "
2 chisels 8d " " "
Compete set of armorer's tools £13 16s 11d " " "
Spinning Wheel 10 d 1457 [3] 170
HORSES
Item Price Date Source Page
War Horse up to 50s 12 cen (?) [7] 30
War Horse up to £80 13 cen [3] 72
Knight's 2 horses £10 1374 " 76
High-grade riding horse £10 13th cen " 72
Draught horse 10s-20s 13th cen " "
Note: Horse prices varied dramatically; for instance, they doubled
Cloth for peasant tunics 8d-1s 3d early 14 cen " "
per yard
Best Wool 5s/yard 1380 [3] 78
"Tawny and russet" 6s/yard 1479-1482 " "
Silk 10s-12s 15 cen(?) " "
per yard
Furs added to garment +£2-£3 to 15 cen(?) " 79
garment
The worth of cloth provided
yearly by a lord to:
esquires 2s 11d/yard 1289-1290 [3] 78
yeomen 2s/yard " " "
lesser servants 1s 7d/yard " " "
Note: loose tunics take 2.25-2.5 yards. In the late 14th century,
shorter doubled (lined) tunics, known as doublets, became fashionable,
requiring 4 yards ([3], pp 175,176).
ARMOR
Item Price Date Source Page
Mail 100s 12 cen(?? [7] 30
Ready-made Milanese armor £8 6s 8d 1441 [4] 112
Squire's armor £5-£6 16s 8d " " "
Armor for Prince of Wales,
"gilt and graven" £340 1614 [5] 20
Complete Lance Armor £3 6s 8d 1590 [5] 185
Complete corselets 30s " " "
Cuirass of proof with pauldrons 40s " " "
Normal cuirass with pauldrons 26s 8d " " "
Target of proof 30s " " "
Morion 3s 4d " " "
Burgonet 4s " " "
Cuirass of pistol-proof with
pauldrons £1 6s 1624 [5] 189-190
Cuirass without pauldrons £1 " " "
Lance Armor £4 " " "
Targets of Proof 24s " " "
Cuirass with cap £4 " " "
Armor of proof £14 2s 8d 1667 " 68
Bascinet 13s 4d + 1369 " 88
3s 4d to
line it
Armor in a merchant's house
(leather?) 5s 1285-1290 [3] 206
Total Armor owned by a knight £16 6s 8d 1374 " 76
Armor in house of Thomas of
Woodstock, duke of Gloucester £103 1397 " 77
Fee for cleaning rust off
corselets 5d each 1567 [5] 80
Fee for varnishing, replacing
straps, and rivetting helmet
and corselet 1s 4d 1613 [5] 90
Barrel for cleaning mail 9d 1467 [5] 79
Note: mail is chainmail; almost all the rest is plate-armor. The armor of the knight in 1374 was probably mail with some plates; same for Gloucester's. Mail was extremely susceptible to rust, and was cleaned by rolling it in sand and vinegar in a barrel. Pauldrons are shoulder plates; morions are open helms, burgonets and bascinets closed helms; and a target refers to any of a number different kind of shields. Armor of proof is tested during the making with blows or shots from the strongest weapons of the time; if a weapon is listed, the armor does not claim to be proof against everything, only that it is proof up to that weapon's strength (eg pistol proof is not musket proof, but may be sword proof). All plate armor was lined with cloth, to pad the wearer, quiet the armor, and reduce wear between the pieces. This, along with the necessary straps, was a significant amount of the expense. An armorer asking for money to set up shop in 1624 estimated production costs and profit for a number of different types of armor: I give two examples below ([5], pp. 189-190).
Cuirass of proof with pauldrons:
plates: 5s 6d
finishing, rivets, and straps: 7s 6d
selling price 26s
Lance armor:
plates 14s 5d
finishing, et cetera 40s
selling price 80s
WEAPONS
Item Price Date Source Page
Cheap sword (peasant's) 6d 1340s [3] 174
Pair of wheel-lock pistols,
with tools for them £2 16s mid 17th [4] 208
Holsters for pistols 6d " " "
Wheel-lock carbine £1 10s " " "
Shoulder belt for carbine 1s " " "
Pair of flintlock pistols £2 5s " " "
Flintlock carbine £1 2s " " "
Musket 16s 6d-18s 6d " " "
Note: Sorry, folks, that's all I found. It was mandatory in England for all freemen to own certain types of weapons and armor. (In 1181 every freeman having goods worth 10 marks (1 mark = 13s 4d) had to have a mail shirt, a helmet, and a spear. All other freemen should have helmet, spear, and gambeson (quilted armor) [4], p. 39.) Later, the government stored arms and armour in churches for use; in the 13th century anyone with an income of £2-£5 (wealthy peasants) had to have bows; archery practice became compulsory on Sundays and holidays. You may know that the extreme range of the longbow was 400 yards, but did you know that a statute of Henry VIII no one over 24 could practice at a range of less than 220 yards? (See [4], p. 95 and elsewhere). Note: for guessing prices, see the section on tools (an axe for 5d). An armorer might make 24s a month; say a week to make a decent sword, and you might get a price that way. See the section on books and education for fencing instruction.
MARRIAGE
Item Price Date Source Page
Sample peasant dowries: 13s 4d, 14 cen(?) [3] 179
35s 11d,
57s, 63s 4d
For serfs, mechet (fees) to lord,
depending on wealth 1s-13s 4d 14 cen(?) [3] 179
Wedding feast, wealthy peasant 20s " " "
Wealthy peasant wedding total £3-£4 " " "
Dowry for esquire's daughter up to £66 15 cen " 84
13s 4d
Dowry for baron's daughter £1000 + " " "
London parents (both sets)
each offered couple £100 1385 [2] 154
Note: these costs will be wildly varying depending on circumstance.
FUNERALS
Item Price Date Source Page
Cheap gentlewoman's funeral
(bell-ringing, clergy, food) £7 1497 [3] 85
Brass monument, with a figure
incised, on marble base--
fitting for lesser aristocrat £8 early 14 cen " "
Bishop Mitford's funeral
(with 1450 guests!) £130+ 1407 " "
Memorial Chapel for Richard
Beauchamp, earl of Warwick £2481 1439-1463 " "
Bronze effigy on guilded tomb £400 " " "
Note: Christopher Dyer gives as a rough rule of thumb 1 year's income for
a funeral ([3], p. 85)
TRAVEL
Item Price Date Source Page
Queen's chariot £400 14 cen [1] 99
Lady Eleanor's chariot £1000 14 cen [1] 99
Chariot £8 1381 [3] 72
Chariot maintence 1-3s/year 14 cen " "
Barge £10 " " "
Iron-bound cart 4s c1350 " 170
Guide for a night 1d 14 cen [1] 129
Ferry ride per horseman 1d " " "
Keeping an earl's warhorse
82 days in summer 36s 9.5d 1287 [3] 71
Note: [1], pp 126-129, gives the following prices at an inn in 1331. For
one day, 3 men with 4 servants spent: Bread, 4d; beer, 2d; wine 1.25d;
Note: sheriffs of London paid 300 £s per year, hoping to make a profit from
the fines they collected.
Note: 30 adult sheep could produce about 20s of wool per year in 1299
([3], p. 114).
Note: To get a VERY ROUGH sense of money, I reproduce the following chart
from Dyer ([3], p. 206). These are averages of daily wages in pence.
Decade Thatcher Thatcher's mate
1261-70 2 -
1271-80 2.5 1
1281-90 2.25 1
1291-1300 2.5 1
1301-10 2.5 1
1311-20 3 1.25
1321-30 3 1
1331-40 3 1.25
1341-50 3 1.25
1351-60 3.5 2
1361-70 3.5 2
1371-80 4.25 2.5
1381-90 4 2.25
1391-1400 4.25 2.75
1401-10 4.5 3
1411-20 4.75 3
1421-30 4.5 3
1431-40 4.5 3.25
1441-50 5.25 4
1451-60 5.5 3.25
1461-70 4.75 3.75
1471-80 5.25 3.75
1481-90 6 3.75
1491-1500 5.5 3.5
1501-10 5.75 4
1511-20 5.25 4
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[1] _English Wayfaring Life in the XIVth Century_, J. J. Jusserand, trans Lucy Smith, Putnam's Sons, New York,1931 (Orig. 1889).
[2] _London in the Age of Chaucer_, A. R. Myers, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1972
[3] _Standards of Living in the Later Middle Ages_, Christopher Dyer, Cambridge University Press, 1989
[4] _English Weapons & Warfare, 449-1660_, A. V. B. Norman and Don Pottinger, Barnes & Noble, 1992 (orig. 1966)
[5] _The Armourer and his Craft from the XIth to the XVIth Century_, Charles ffoulkes, Dover, 1988 (orig. 1912)
[6] "The Cost of Castle Building: The Case of the Tower at Langeais," Bernard Bachrach, in _The Medieval Castle: Romance and Reality_, ed. Kathryn Reyerson and Faye Powe, Kendall/Hunt, Dubuque, Iowa, 1984
[7] _The Knight in History_, Frances Gies, Harper & Row, New York, 1984
[8] _Methods and Practice of Elizabethan Swordplay_, Craig Turner and Tony Soper, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, 1990
[9] _Life in a Medieval City_, Joseph and Frances Gies, Harper & Row, New York, 1969