196Chapter 11
with the services of the village baker. Many different
kinds of bread existed, ranging from the fine white
loaves and cakes prized by the nobles and high-ranking
clergy to coarse breads made of rye or of oats and mixed
grains. An important consideration in the grading of
bread was the proportion of bran left in the flour. This
created a strange paradox: The lower grades of bread
consumed by the poor were often higher in nutritional
quality than was the bread of the rich with its bleached,
highly refined, wheaten flour. Another oddity of the
baker’s trade was that in many countries the price of a
loaf of bread was fixed by law or custom but the size
was not. A ha’penny loaf in England always cost 1/2 d.,
but its weight might vary radically according to the
price of grain. The shape and appearance of loaves was a
matter of local preference and differed widely from re-
gion to region. Whatever its form or content, baked
bread was often too expensive for the very poor, espe-
cially on a regular basis. Unbaked bread, or gruel, could
be cooked at home and was commonly eaten by all
classes for its economy and ease of preparation.
Baked or unbaked, bread accounted for at least 50
percent of a rich family’s diet and for more than 80 per-
cent of the calories consumed by poor people. The
price and availability of grain was therefore a valid mea-
sure of living standards because few substitutes were
available and a bad harvest brought widespread misery.
Rice was expensive and little known outside parts of
Spain and the Middle East until the fifteenth century. It
seems to have been consumed largely by wealthy in-
valids. In some upland areas, chestnuts were ground
and baked into a coarse but nutritious bread. In most
areas the best insurance against hunger was to grow
several kinds of grain at different seasons.The relationship between earnings and prices is an im-
portant measure of living standards. This table provides
estimated average earnings for several occupations in me-
dieval England. Women, then as now, earned far less than
men for the same work. The annual wage of a mason re-
flects the fact that bad weather shortened the number of
days he could work. For the same reason, a carpenter do-
ing outdoor work would make less than the amount
noted below. There were twelve pennies (d.) in a shilling
(s.) and twenty shillings in a pound (£). The wages for
skilled laborers increased by 40 to 50 percent after the
Black Death.
Estimated earnings
Occupation Per day Per year
Agricultural laborer
Boy 1/2d.
Female 1d. £1.7s. 3d.
Male 2d. £2.14s.6d.
Carpenter 3d.–3 1/2d. £4
Mason 5d.–6d. £4. 8s.5d.
Peasant family with 20 acres £4
Royal huntsman 7 1/2d.
Rural priest £5–£15
Sawyer 3 1/2d.–4d. £5
Stonecutter 4d. £5. 8s.
Thatcher’s assistant (female) 1d. £1.7s. 3d.
Town priest £75–100
Unskilled laborer 2d. £2.14s.6d.
Source: Figures abstracted from John Burnett, A History of the Cost of
Living(Harmondsworth: Pelican Books, 1969), pp. 17–54.TABLE 11.1Wages and Earnings in
Thirteenth-Century England
The prices listed below are averages only. In reality, the
medieval family had to contend with wild fluctuations ac-
cording to the harvests.
Product Average price
Ale (per gallon) 1/4d.–3/4d.
Bread (per loaf, weight varied) 1/4d.–1/2d.
Candle wax (per pound) 4d.–5d.
Capons (each, fully fattened) 2d.–3d.
Eggs (per 100) 4d.
Hens (per 1) 1/2d.
Pears (per 100) 3 1/2d.
Pepper (per pound) 10d.2s.
Pike (per 1) 6s.8d.
Salt herrings (per 10) 1d.
Second-quality malt—2 quarters
(1 year supply of ale for 4) 7s. 7d.
Sugar (per pound) 1s.–2d.
Wine (per quart) £1.3s. 6d.
Wheat—4 quarters (sufficient for
a family of 4 for 1 year) 1d.
Source: Figures taken from John Burnett, A History of the Cost of Living
(Harmondsworth: Pelican Books), 1969, pp. 17–54.TABLE 11.2Prices in Thirteenth-Century England