SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



milked the ewes during ten weeks, and mention is made of 4 sheep's milk 

 cheeses being used." At Shillington in 1303 12 cheeses de reivayn were 

 sold at id. each after MichaelmasJ* and next year 155 cheeses are entered 

 as being in stock, and 1 5 cheeses de reivayn made after Michaelmas " ; all 

 these would no doubt have been made of sheep's milk. 



Some idea of the crops grown, and their proportion to one another, may 

 be obtained from the following table : — 



The Dunstable Chronicle '' offers some glimpses of the effect of varying 

 seasons upon agricultural produce and agricultural prices.^' In 1253 there 

 was a scarcity of corn. In many places wheat sold at Ss. per quarter, 

 though 'with us' it reached only 5J. In 1254 seed corn cost the prior 2j. 

 an acre for wheat and oats. This was a year of abundance; in spite of which 

 great suffering was caused by the scarcity in the next year (1255), when 

 Crawley, Segenhoe, Roxox, and other places had to depend upon outside 

 supplies. The scarcity was so great in 1257 that many died of want ; and 

 for lack of food fifty-two nuns and ten lay brothers {conversi) had to be sent 

 away from Chicksands Priory to other houses of the order. The scarcity 

 continued in 1258. At Northampton wheat was 20J. per quarter ; at Bed- 

 ford ijs. ; and at Dunstable 13J. 4^. ; and yet when the prior had to buy 

 I2i quarters of wheat he was able to obtain three at Sj. 6d. per quarter, and 

 the rest at 6s. The shortage of barley raised the price of common malt to 

 6s. Sd. per quarter. The convent ale ran short, necessitating the purchase of 

 two casks (do/id) of wine for nine marks, which, says the chronicler, multum 

 nobis profutt. He also finds it noteworthy that ' this year we spent in bread, 

 drink, and provisions, above four score pounds.' In 1262 the convent ale 

 failed again, so that the prior had to borrow of a neighbour malt to the value 

 of ^C^Oj ^"^ to spend ten marks in buying five dolia of wine ; and, from the 

 Feast of Purification (2 February) until the new corn came in, had to supply 

 the horses of the priory with bread, oats having failed. In 1272 the prior 

 had to spend seven score marks for hard corn {duro blado), and to use the 

 new corn in the beginning of August. In 1274, apparently owing to a 

 shortage of barley, the convent ale failed as early as Whitsuntide, necessitating 



" Mins. Accts. bdle. 741, no. 4. " Ibid. no. 16. 



" ' Dragium.' Dredge is a mixed crop, usually oats and barley sown together. 



" Mins. Accts. bdle. 741, no. 4. ** Ibid. no. 18. 



" Jnn. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii, sub annis. 



*• For lists of prices in Beds, see table at end of this article. 



83 



" Ibid. no. 17. 

 °' Ibid. no. 29. 



