HERB - Re: cost of herbs

[khkeeler]

> I would be interested in knowing what the period cost, put into today's
> spending value, for spices, peppers, cinnamen, nutmeg, all spice, clove,
> etc.
> ie,  if a nutmeg cost its weight in gold in 1350,  What was that cost
> compared to a typical day's wages.  If we were to pay the equivelent cost
> in spending power today, how much would it be?  Does anyone have any
> information on this type of thing?
> 
> Melandra of the Woods

Yes, this would be fun, but its very difficult.  I tried to work out the
value of the Saladin Tithe (tax for the Crusade) in England 1187 and
found it hard to find things to compare.  The price of wheat was 1-2
shillings per bushel in the 1190s; $3-4/bushel in 1995.  But a "knight's
fee", the price of buying the rights to a knighthood from the English
Crown, was 50 or 100 pounds.  Since only upper class were knights, that
has to be 50 or 100 thousand dollars in 1998 values.  Or substantially
more, considering the number of people who own a house valued at
$100,000.  So wheat is pretty flat in cost per bushel, coinage steeply
deflated.  In 1190 Longchamp bought 60 iron fetters for 15 shillings: 
we estimated a blacksmith would charge over $1000 today. (This is
something where production methods aren't much changed.) 

	There are records of King John's household expenses and I think we
could find the information to make comparisons there. I'll try looking
over the weekend.  Coming forward in time, more records exist but the
problem of shifting relative values remains.

Agnes
kkeeler1 at unl.edu
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