

Hf, 



SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



pensed in kind in a way suggesting that their work was in the nature of a 

 feudal service. Thus the Bulwell men received is. 6d. in bread, beer, and 

 cheese, and is. 2d. in meat. Seven men and five servants received is. zd. for 

 one day, and lod. for meat. Where direct wages were given they do not 

 seem to be high; two paviours for instance received only iod. a day. 85 On the 

 whole the great rise in wages seems to have been confined to Nottingham. 



For agricultural wages there is little evidence ; but the fact that arable 

 land decreased so little in value suggests the idea that they did not vary 

 much : besides the custom of labour rents would have tended to render 

 them less easily affected by external influences. This contrast between town 

 and country wages must have increased the attraction of the towns, especially 

 since the depreciation in money rendered the prevailing scale of agricultural 

 wages quite inadequate. This depreciation had been going on throughout 

 the 1 3th and I4th centuries, and seems to have been particularly serious 

 at the period now under discussion. The silver penny in 1351 contained 

 1 8 grains; in 1412 it was reduced to 15 ; in 1464 it fell to 12 grains." 

 Nottinghamshire especially must have suffered from debased coinage, since 

 it was probably largely supplied with coin from York mint, of which the 

 issue was stated in 1423 to be especially bad. 87 



This fall in the value of money must have affected prices, but the 

 information is too scanty for any general conclusion to be drawn as to prices 

 in Nottinghamshire. As far as the evidence goes, they seem to have been 

 highest towards the end of the I4th century, and to have fallen slightly in 

 the 1 5th ; thus coinciding with the fluctuations in the value of the arable 

 land which, as has been shown, fell towards the end of the I4th century and 

 then recovered. Where details of prices do appear they are usually below 

 the average of the time ; thus in six cases in which the price of wheat is 

 given between 1377 and 1433, only twice is it definitely above the average : 

 in i 377, when it is 4-r. a quarter, and in 1397, when it is is. ^.d. a bushel in 

 Nottingham town. 88 The price of barley appears four times between 1388 

 and 1403 ; and only once, about 1397, is it above the average, being 6d. a 

 bushel. 89 At other times it varies between 2s. and 2s. 8d. a quarter, though 

 even at this rate it shows an advance on earlier prices. 



The price of oxen, like that of wheat and barley, seems to have been 

 highest in Nottingham towards the end of the I4th century, and to 

 have sunk slightly during the earlier years of the I5th century. In 1388 

 an ox was sold for i6s. 8</.,' slightly above the average; but during the 

 1 5th century the price frequently given is below io/., an extraordinarily low 

 figure. 



Sheep were also apparently above the average price in 1394, when is. bd. 

 and zs. were given for them. 91 In 1450 also, a flock of sixty sheep and a cow 

 were held to be worth 1 5 marks. 92 Otherwise Nottinghamshire sheep seem 

 to be slightly below the average price, and the same appears to be true of 



84 Accts. Exch. K.R. bdlc. 460. no. 22. * W. A. Shaw, Hist, of Currency, 44. 



87 Pad, R. (Rec. Com.), iv, 200. 



88 Rec. of Borough ofNott. i. 355, no. 182. 



89 Ct. R. 20 Ric. II, Carburton and Edwinstowe. 



90 Inq. p.m. 1 1 Ric. II, 196 (2), C, fi'e 240 (Goods of Archbp. of York at Southwell). 



91 Ct. R. 19 Ric. II (Carburton and Edwinstowe), 196 (2). 

 91 Esch. Inq. file 1442 (Ser. l), m. 6. 



277 



