472 ON THE PRICE OF MATERIALS 



of course of far more easy manipulation than larger masses 

 would be. Under these -circumstances, however, the cost of 

 working iron, even before the Plague., was equal to that of the 

 raw material. The small fagot of iron, each bar of which weighed 

 a little over 4 Ibs., was kept by the bailiff, and served, as 

 occasion required, for the various uses of the farm. These 

 pieces are also called esperducts, particularly in the eastern 

 counties, and in the thirteenth century. It seems that the 

 dozens of iron bought at Draklowe in 1353 were dozens of 

 these bars. 



Iron is also purchased in mass. These masses were either 

 blooms obtained directly from the mine, or similar lumps, 

 generally containing a hundred-weight. Thus the bailiff of 

 Peckham buys (1380, 1330) iron in the former shape; the 

 bailiff of Boxley Grange does so in 1329, 1331, 1333? T 337j 

 1339, 1340, 1344; and account is given from the Tendale 

 iron- works of 294 blooms in 1333, of 204 in 1350, of 143 in 

 I 35 I ? an< ^ f ^6 in 1353. The reader will observe, on com- 

 paring these entries, how great was the rise in price effected 

 by the Plague. Sometimes it would seem that the mass is 

 smaller. Thus the virga is plainly about half the old hundred- 

 weight. The pilect, an unknown weight quoted from Camel, 

 is perhaps about 10 Ibs., as the daker almost certainly is. In 

 South Wales the measure is the c sum,' which appears to contain, 

 judging from the Neath entry, nine pieces. The slab, which 

 sometimes occurs in Oxford, was probably a mass of about 10 

 or 12 Ibs., but is certainly less in other places. It may be 

 observed that the Tendale bloom is sold at a far less price 

 than other kinds of iron. 



The commonest weight, however, at which iron is sold in 

 the mass is the hundred. This is the measure for Spanish 

 produce, and is so common that it is possible to construct 

 a table of averages, sufficiently consecutive for comparison, and 

 convenient for the purpose of contrast with purchases of iron by 

 the piece. The quintal is identical with the hundred. 



Steel is generally sold by the garb or sheaf, containing thirty 



