(48 ) 



utterly spoilt that within the year there was actual scarcity ; 

 now in this year, though the crop was but moderate, there 

 nevertheless was such abundance that, owing to the dry 

 season of the harvest, there was a very sufficient provision 

 made quite unexpectedly. Moreover while this year was 

 in England one of scanty crops, in France the vineyards 

 were utterly spoilt by the rain (M. of W.). A very queer 

 description (T. H. B.\ 



1260 Wheat, 45. gd. per qr. ; barley, 3*. $d. ; oats, i s. 6\d. ; 

 malt, 3-r. $d. Price of a horse, 5^. 6d. ; cattle, 6s. to us. ; 

 pig, 2s. ; sheep, <)d. ; hen, \d. Thrashing wheat, 2d. per 

 qr. Wool, 4|^. per Ib. 



In the summer of this year great and enormous pro- 

 digies were seen in the air, so that some said that the last 

 Judgment was close at hand. There was now an intoler- 

 able famine, and such excessive and uninterrupted thunder- 

 storms that scarcely any one dared to go out of his house, 

 and many people were killed, and the lightning destroyed 

 houses and fields of corn and woods, and inflicted un- 

 heard of dangers in the country. Also there were such 

 hailstones that the stones were not only like peas, but 

 of the thickness of three fingers, and in some places as 

 thick as fifteen fingers. Moreover, as was declared upon 

 oath, great stones were found to have fallen of such a 

 weight that it required three men to lift them. And in 

 other places the crops, which had been expected to be 

 abundant, were so utterly destroyed that they were hardly 

 sufficient to repay the reapers. So this year passed by 

 not very rich in crops, but one which produced great 

 abundance of fruit. For the orchards and gardens and 

 woods were all so fertile in their different kinds that the} 

 appeared sufficient to make up for the scantiness of the 

 corn crops. For the price of corn as it existed at the 

 end of the autumn was said to have fallen by Christmas 

 on this account (M. of IV.). 



1261 About Christmas there was such unbroken fine 



