334 THE PRICE OF LIVE STOCK. 



Battle, in 1498, for 13^-. id., two in 1531, among many others 

 at Durham, at 135-., when some oxen are double this price. 

 After 1540, one is bought in 1546, at Edingworth, for i8s., 

 when an ox is bought at 36^. ; one in 1552, for 41^., at 

 Churchill, when an ox is purchased at 66s. 8d. ; one in 1555, 

 at Oxford, for zos., when an ox is bought at 40^. ; one at Ox- 

 ford, in 1556, at 33^. 6d., and two at 43^. n\d., when the 

 highest priced ox is 56^. 8d. at the same place; one in 1558, at 

 Oxford, for 37.$-. 8d, ; one at Oxford, in 1560, for 13^-. 4^., and 

 in 1561, three at 41^. 8d., 38 s., and 40^. ; another in 1563, at 

 Oxford, for 25^., four in 1565, at 32^. 6d., when in the same 

 place five oxen are bought for the Queen at 120^. In 1582 six 

 cows are bought at Gawthorp, at prices varying from 24^. Q\d. 

 to $2s. 6d. But generally both early and late cows are very 

 cheap, at IDS. and less, up to 1540, and at corresponding prices 

 afterwards. 



It is not easy to interpret to any practical purpose the 

 various other kinds of horned cattle which come under the 

 head oxen, etc., by various names. Calves are of course much 

 cheaper in the early summer than they are in the autumn when 

 they are described as weaned, or in one place wenard. But 

 I find that taking as before the highest price at which calves 

 are sold, the average for the first 140 years is zs. 3^., for the 

 last forty-two 8s. $d., a rise which is even greater than that 

 in the case of oxen, where it is rather less than three and a half 

 times, the rise in the price of calves being much more than 

 three and a half, and nearly approaching four times. 



The custom commented on in the first volume, p. 330, of 

 letting out cows for the year ceases before the close of the 

 fourteenth century. Cows, as well as other cattle and animals, 

 are still rented in the fifteenth century, but only as the rest of 

 the live and dead stock in the land and stock lease. But that 

 which is true of other agriculture is true of dairy farming. Un- 

 fortunately, as we shall find below, the prices of butter and 

 cheese are very interrupted. Most of the monasteries and colleges 

 kept their own cows, made and consumed their own produce. 



