Title: animal-prices-msg
Subject: Lists of animal prices in period.
Author: Edited by Mark S. Harris
Last saved by: Mark S. Harris
Keywords: medieval, animal, livestock, price, list, value, pet, dog, horse

animal-prices-msg – 3/27/00

Lists of the prices/value of various animals in period.

NOTE: See also the files: p-prices-msg, cattle-msg, dogs-msg, livestock-msg, p-thts-animls-msg, pets-msg, horses-msg, hunting-msg, falconry-msg.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.

Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).

Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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Subject: Re: [SCA-U] Medieval vs modern economics was Re: [SCA-U] cotton
     undies?
Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 10:54:35 -0800
From: Heather Rose Jones <hrjones at SOCRATES.BERKELEY.EDU>
To: SCA-UNIVERSITAS at LIST.UVM.EDU

On Sat, 25 Dec 1999, sunshinegirl wrote:
> > From: Heather Rose Jones <hrjones at SOCRATES.BERKELEY.EDU>
> snip
> The Welsh laws
> > also list common domestic animals -- their use, their valuation, and so
> > on.  They mention horses, cattle, sheep, goats, chickens, pigs, geese,
> > dogs, cats ...
> snip
>
> I would be interested in a comparative value on some things.
> For example - what would a cow cost in the middle ages (take your pick as
> to time)  How many days labor would that be?  What would be the equivelent
> (days labor, etc) in modern terms?
> I read someplace that a nutmeg was worth its weight in gold.  What would be
> the modern $ of that?

Here's a brief summary of the value of domestic animals in medieval Welsh
law.  Note that the age of the animal affects its value.  Values are given
in "legal pence" -- i.e., using a standard reference amount, although
actual payment would most likely be in kind rather than coinage.

Horses

fetus - 14 days old = 4 p
15 days - 1 year = 24 p
2-3 year = 48 p
4 year until trained = 60 p
destrier = 240 p
palfrey = 120 p
sumpter = 120 p
draft horse = 60 p
untrained horse = 60 p

(there follows the value of various equine body-parts)

Cattle

Female

birth - Winter Kalends = 6 p
>from Winter Kalends, 2p more for each season until first pregnancy
at first pregnancy + 4p
while pregnant, 2p more for each season until calving
after calving 40p total
then until the 2nd calving, 2p more for each season
then through the 5th calf 60 p total
afterward, by appraisal

Male

(similarly to female, except the mile-stones are based on ploughing rather
than calving)

Pigs

birth until "it goes grubbing" = 1p
from then until weaned (3 mo. old) = 2p
then until St. John's Day = 4p
St. John's Day until New Year = 15p
New Year until following St. John's Day, + 4p
afterward = 30 p total

Sheep and Goats

birth to Winter Kalends = 1p
Winter Kalends until 1 year old = 2p
after that = 4p
a ram = twice that (8p)_

Cats
birth until eyes are open = 1p
thence until it kills mice = 2p
after it kills mice = 4p

Poultry

goose = 1p
gander = 2p
brooding goose = 1/2 p for each chick
hen = 1p
cock = 2p
chick, until it can fly = 1 farthing
after than until sexual maturity = 1/2 p

Dogs

(Here we hit another facet of the Welsh legal system: value was affected
by social status as well as by inherent worth.)

The King's Dogs
Staghounds
- birth to opening eyes = 15 p
- thence until it leaves the kennel = 30 p
- one year old = 60 p
- an unskilled adult hound = 120 p
- a skilled adult hound = 240 p
Lapdog = 240 p

A Nobleman's Dogs
Staghounds -- half the value of a king's hound (at any given stage)
Greyhound -- ditto (although the value of a king's greyhound wasn't given)
Lapdog = 240 p

A Free Man's Dogs
Lapdog = 120 p

A Villein's Dogs
Lapdog (or any other type of dog) = 4 p

Misc. Dogs (owner unspecified)
Herding dog = the value of the most valuable beast it guards
Guard Dog = 24 p if on duty, if not there is no value

Falcons
the nest = 240 p
a "red" chick (before fledging?)
- king's = 120 p
- nobleman's = 60 p
a "white" bird (after fledging?)
- king's = 240 p
- nobleman's = 120 p
a tiercel (i.e. male falcon) = 24 p

Sparrowhawks
nest = 24 p
"red" chick = 12 p
"white" = 24 p

Any bird of prey belonging to a villein = 1 p

Bees
- an old colony = 24 p
- first swarm (of the year?) = 16 p
   - a swarm from that one = 12 p
- a "bull" swarm (meaning unclear) = 12 p
   - a swarm from that one = 8 p
- a swarm that occurs after August = 4 p
the values of swarms hold until Winter Kalends and after that they cound
as "old colonies" at 24 p, except for a post-August swarm which doesn't
attain full value until May Day.
- a queen bee = 24 p

Deer
- Winter Kalends to St. John's Day = 60 p
- St. John's Day to Winter Kalends (the hunting season) = 780 p [sic]

Misc. Wild Animals
- badger -- no value
- hare -- no value
- wolf and fox -- no value
- any wild animal kept as a pet
   - of the king or queen = 240 p
   - of a nobleman = 120 p
   - of a villein = 1 p
- beaver = 120 p
- marten = 24 p

It's hard to set up a comparison scale for these values based on, for
example, a day's skilled labor, because the value of labor depends on the
status of the person doing it.  For example, a value of a day's ploughing
in the spring is set at 1p.  One comparison scale might be found in the
nature and value of the "food render" -- i.e., the "tax" in kind paid
twice yearly by each manor in a lord's control.  The winter render due
from a "free" manor consists of:

- a horse-load of the best flour
- a meat steer
- a vat of mead
- seven thraves (bundles) of oats for fodder
- a 3-y.o. pig
- a salted flitch of bacon three fingers thick
- a tub of butter three fist-breadths deep and three wide

and for this 240 p can be substituted, with the expectation that half will
go for bread, a quarter for drink, and a quarter for everything else.

One other thing to keep in mind about the legal values of things noted
above is that these amounts are set for compensation, not for purchase
(although presumably the two are related).  So these amounts are what you
would have to pay if you caused the destruction of an animal (or its
usefulness) rather than being what you would pay to buy one. A comparison
can be seen if you look up the individual legal values of the components
of the food render, to the extent that they can be found listed:

- a horse-load of the best flour = ?
- a meat steer = 60p
- a vat of mead = ?
- seven thraves of oats  at  4p/thrave = 28p
- a 3-y.o. pig = 30p
- a salted flitch of bacon = ?
- a tub of butter = ?

It isn't clear where the oats go in the accounting of the 240p money
equivalent, but the steer and pig alone add higher than the theoretical
60p "everything else" category.  So if the cash alternative for the food
render is intended as what it would cost to purchase the components, then
it's clear that the "legal value" of animals is set _higher_ than their
actual market value.

And furthermore, the law texts as we have them were compiled over a period
of several centuries.  It is unclear to what extent actual market
prices/costs remained stable over that period or to what extent the legal
valuations eventually became disconnected with reality.

Economics is _not_ one of my specialties.

Tangwystyl
*********************************************************
Heather Rose Jones         hrjones at socrates.berkeley.edu
*********************************************************

<the end>

Edited by Mark S. Harris	animal-prices-msg	Page  of