410 ON THE PRICES OF FARM PRODUCE. 



subdivided, and there was a very large body of peasantry who 

 were actually occupying the soil as freeholders, or as villains c 

 at fixed rents, that most of these persons possessed one or more 

 cows, on the surplus produce of which they subsisted. 



GREASE AND FAT. Closely connected with the price of 

 butter is that of the different kinds of fat ; those, namely, 

 which were used for food, as lard and suet; for candles, as 

 the various hard fats, generally called c cepum ' for cart wheels 

 or mill machinery, commonly called c unctum ' or for sheep- 

 dressing and the manipulation of certain articles, as tawed 

 leather. 



In attempting an estimate of the money value of these 

 several commodities, I have adopted the same rule which was 

 used in dealing with cheese and butter. Five names are found 

 lard, cepum, unctum, pinguedo, sagmen. The first of these is 

 sold by the stone, the pondus, and the pound. In order to 

 avoid fractions, which are not always manageable, I have 

 taken, instead of the pound, a hypothetical weight of ten 

 pounds. Under this head we find on one occasion (1337) the 

 great libra or clove. Cepum is estimated by the petra, the pondus, 

 and the same weight of 10 Ibs. The price, however, which 

 occupies the middle column in 1295 is that of this commodity 

 measured by the gallon. Unctum is reckoned by the petra, 

 the gallon, and the v/eight of 10 Ibs. In 1281, 1288, and 

 1290, however, the middle column is that of the pund, a Sussex 

 weight alluded to above. Pinguedo is valued by the gallon and 

 10 Ibs. Once, in 1288, it is reckoned at is. \\d. the pund, 

 and once, in 1326, at is. 6d. the petra. Sagmen is generally 

 reckoned by the gallon. In 1289 it is valued at is. the stone, 

 in 1352 at is. Q\d. the 10 Ibs. 



There is considerable evidence of the price of lard in the 

 first ninety years of the enquiry, but information is entirely 



c I may observe here, in illustration of that which has been said above (p. 71 seqq.) as 

 to the condition of the villains, that the tenants of Maldon, described as "nativi" in a 

 Court Roll of 13 is, are styled " tenentes per copiam" in another Roll, written at the 

 conclusion of Edward the Third's reign. 



