THE PRICE OF LIVE STOCK. 335 



HORSES. In the early part of this period there are numer- 

 ous entries of horses employed in agricultural operations. 

 Some of these are designated as affri, a term frequently em- 

 ployed at an earlier period to denote a small common animal, 

 which can still be found in out-of-the-way country places. It 

 is probable that jumentum is a synonym of this kind of horse, 

 and perhaps stot, when it means a horse. The last entry of 

 an affer is in 1419, but stots are found to the close of the 

 fifteenth century, and cart-horses through nearly the whole 

 period. The price of these animals does not vary greatly from 

 that noted in the first two volumes, till after 1540, when the 

 entries, though rare, give proportionate prices. 



But the information about saddle-horses is very full. Some 

 of the Colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, and the monastic 

 orders, had large and often scattered estates, which it was the 

 custom to visit periodically. Hence a stable of riding-horses 

 was part of every considerable establishment, and horses were 

 bought and sold by the fellows of colleges and the monks in 

 considerable numbers. Besides these, there are purchases made 

 on behalf of the crown, and by opulent persons such as the 

 Duke of Buckingham and Sir John Howard, sometimes at 

 very high prices. The table given below gives the highest 

 price of each horse bought in the year. Thus a palfrey is 

 bought at York, in 1402, for 5, another is claimed at the 

 same place as a mortuary, and valued at 6 13^-. 4^. Two are 

 bought at Yarmouth for Fastolfe, in 1435, and are probably 

 war-horses, at i j is. 6d. One is bought for the king's use in 

 1519, for 5, and three others in 1522, 1523, and 1524, for the 

 same personage at the same price. One is bought for the king 

 at 6 i^s. ^d. in 1534, another for the king in 1537, for 6> 

 and another in 1539 at tne same rate - After this date the 

 price of horses for the saddle rises rapidly in value, never 

 falling at the maximum of the year below 5, but reaching 

 9 los. in 1562, 1568, and 1571, 10 in 1574, 10 is. in 

 1578, and reaching 12, the highest price recorded, in 1576, 

 though even here it is only slightly in excess of that given by 



