Ye Cost of Lyvinge

he year is 1550.  You are the wife of a farm labourer.  

If you work for the Lord of the Manor at seed time or harvest you can earn up to 4 pence per day and your husband can earn up to 6 pence.  However, most of your time is taken up on your own holding where you have to work together to cultivate your 33 acres of land.  After the ploughing, sowing, and weeding your husband has to keep your house in repair, and make sure hedges, ditches, gates and roadways are maintained (or you will be fined!)
 

our own tasks (among many others) include, feeding the geese, chickens and pigs, taking the horse(s), cow and sheep to pasture, and looking after the herb garden.  In between, you collect firewood, draw water, light the fire, bake bread, milk the cow, make cheese and cook the pottage.  Of course you carry your distaff and spindle everywhere with you so that you can do a bit of spinning in between tasks. In your spare time, you make and repair clothing, look after the children, and brew ale or make cider (but don’t sell it without a licence or you will be fined!).    By the way, don’t forget to go to church on Sunday (or you will be fined!)
 

n a good year your land should produce up to 250 bushels of a mixed crop of oats, barley and wheat.  You’ll need about 36 bushels to feed yourself and your family, keep some more for seed, and reserve a tithe (tenth) of everything you produce for the church.  Selling the surplus should bring in about £10/8s/4d.  BUT what about your rent?  That will take about £1/0/0.  Then there’s the ancient tax known as Galesilver, paid by the community – your share will probably come to about 6d.  Better set aside some for fines – 3d if you miss the Manor Court; 12d for a licence to brew ale for sale, and 4d per offence if you try to get away with it; up to 20d if your animals stray and do damage; up to 5s for failing to repair hedges etc.  If a tenant dies his/her relatives may have to pay a heriot (their best beast) to the lord – and then buy it back for about 18s.  And if you want more land transferred to you it’s going to cost from £10-£20!  So what do you want to spend your money on?
 

 A bushel of barley 7d, oats 11½d or wheat 22d?  Best use your own crop – BUT you must have it ground in the Lord’s mill - for a fee of course (usually a proportion of the flour). 
 

A bushel of beans 12½d or peas 20d?  Grow your own in your herb garden. 
 

Bread?  Trenchers cost 3½d a dozen, better bake your own. 
 

A pound of butter 2d or cheese 2¾d?  A gallon of milk 2¾d or cream 10d?  A dozen eggs 2d?  Not when you can provide all these yourself. 
 

How about a pound of beef 1¼d or mutton 1d?  No, use your own chickens or pork.  Better salt some of that pork, or the fish you can catch on the nearby beach, for the winter – salt now costs ¼d per pound but you can’t do without it. 
 

Don’t forget clothing.  Linen for shirts and kirtles costs 10d a yard, so grow some flax and weave your own.  Wool is a scandalous 4s 3d a yard, so shear the sheep, get out the distaff and start spinning. 

The children need shoes?  At 1s 4½d a pair they’ll have to go barefoot a bit longer, especially as your husband needs a new spade which is going to cost 1s 4d. 
 

Tallow candles are nearly 2d a pound, so make your own rush lights. 
 

Soap is 4s a pound – who needs it?  A bit of mutton fat with lye leached from wood ash makes soap good enough to wash your linen occasionally.   (You don’t need to wash your woollen over dress!)
 

The folk up at the Manor House make sweet puddings with sugar at 1s 5½d a pound – much better to use honey from your own hives.  And they colour their food with saffron – at 2s 3d an ounce?  Mad! 
 

So how about a drink?  Forget about wine, at 1s 1½d a gallon, and we’re certainly not going to the ale house with beer costing more than 3d a gallon.  We'll stay at home and drink our home-made ale or cider! 

Gode helth!

Four silver pennies - your day's pay at seed time or harvest