PREFACE. 



-LHEE-E is no need of any apology in offering the 

 facts contained in these volumes to such persons as 

 are interested in the social history of the southern 

 part of our island. They are an attempt to satisfy 

 a total void the complete absence of all satisfactory 

 information on prices in medieval England. As no 

 treatment of the subject has been in any sense hereto- 

 fore attempted, it was necessary to publish the great 

 mass of facts which have been gathered, as well as to 

 offer comments on their significance. 



There is no European country, I believe, except Eng- 

 land, the archives of which could supply satisfactory 

 evidence of prices. Up to the time of Henry the Eighth 

 the changes in the English currency, even if they were 

 really operative on prices, were effected at well-known 

 dates. I have attempted in the course of this volume 

 to give reasons for the opinion which I entertain, that 

 up to the reformation of the currency by Elizabeth, 

 payments were made by weight. But in eveiy other 

 European community, the administration has tampered 



