338 PRICES OF WINE 



CHAP. XII, 



hundred and seventy-one pipes, which cost 

 2/. 10*. W^d. per pipe. It seems probable, from 

 some casual remarks, that this wine was drawn 

 from the estates belonging to the earl in Anjou, 

 where, like some others of the English nobility, 

 he had extensive possessions. In 1340, the cur- 

 rent value of French wine, according to the 

 Foedera, was 4/. 10*. the pipe. 



By an act of Richard II. in 1381, wines were 

 to be sold by retail at the following prices, viz. 

 Gascon, Spanish, and Rhenish wine at 1*. 3cL 

 per gallon, and Rochelle wine at Wd. the gallon. 



According to Stow's Survey, the price of Gas- 

 con wine in 1499 was 2/. II*. 6d. per pipe. 



The price of wine seems to have fluctuated 

 much, according to the relative productiveness 

 of the respective seasons, similar to what is seen 

 in this country in the price of cider in those 

 counties where it forms the common drink of 

 the most numerous class of the inhabitants. It 

 may not be the most certain test to apply to the 

 value of money, but it seemed improper to omit 

 the few notices of its price which are scattered 

 through the early records of this kingdom. 



Rymer, in the Foedera, gives an account of 

 a transaction which throws light incidentally on 

 the prices of several commodities at nearly the 

 latest time of the period we are viewing, a few 

 years before the discovery of America. 



In 1470, seven Spanish ships, loaded with iron, 



