( 97 ) 



1438 A year of undoubted famine, the most serious since 

 1315-16, from which it is separated by an interval of 122 

 years. The scarcity is universal, as well on the Conti- 

 nent as in England. The cause of the calamity was 

 heavy and long continued rain in summer, with an 

 almost total absence of the normal solar heat. The 

 dearth was early recognised, as in November the price is 

 nearly up to the average of the year. The scarcity of the 

 year, 1438-9, is the most serious in the fifteenth century. 

 It does not equal in severity or extent those of the four- 

 teenth, but it created general distress, perhaps loss of 

 life, in the more impoverished and inaccessible districts. 

 Wheat rose to 2os. per qr. 



Wheat, 14-5-. >jd. ; barley, 6s. 8f^. ; oats, $s. ^\d. ; rye, 

 us. 6d. ; beans, js. ^\d.] malt, 6s. &%d. per qr. (Rogers). 



Wool, 4-r. per tod (Rogers). 



Great dearth of corn from 1437 to 1440. Wheat 

 worth 40^. a bushel in many places, yet men might not 

 have enough. Wherefore Stephen Brown, the Lord 

 Mayor, sent into Prussia and brought to London certain 

 ships laden with rye, which eased and did much good to 

 the people, for corn was so scarce in some places that 

 poor people made bread of fern roots ( Caxton) . 



Unskilled labour, ^d. per day; mowing grass, i6d. per 

 acre (Rogers). 



1439 Price of wheat lower. It remains high in Cambridge, 

 Sussex, and Devon, but low in Oxfordshire and the Cots- 

 wold district. Barley does not fall proportionately. 



Wheat, 7.5-. 6f^. ; barley, $s. 2\d. ; oats, 2S. $d. ; rye, 

 4S. io\d. ; beans, 4*. ; malt, js. 2d. per qr. (Rogers). 



Wheat, 23,$-. 4</. per qr. (Adam Smith). 



Wool, 6s. $d. per tod (Rogers). 



Land sold at ten years' purchase, so great was the in- 

 security of possession (Rogers). 



By reason of great tempests, raging winds, and rain, 

 there rose such scarcity that wheat was sold at 3^. $d. the 



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