SC - > So long as we are making assumptions on what the poorest folk

[Jenne Heise]

> I think I am losing track of the original assertion we were discussing.  I thought there 
> was an assertion that amounted to "spices (black pepper in specific) were common 
> among peasants".  

No, I beleive the original assertion was that peasants would not have had
access to spices except that flavoring whatever largesse was distributed.

> I'm not saying it ain't so, just that from my deduction, based on presented evidence, it
>  is more likely that spices were a pretty rare investment for this group of people.

I don't disagree on this point, that it would be a pretty rare investment.
I simply disagree with the person who said that they would never have had
spices. 
 
> (I almost forgot, I think that a pennyworth of spice would be a pennyweight (dwt) - 
> one 20th of an ounce - rather than what a penny would buy, which would mean it could 
> easily cost more than a penny; e.g. saffron is oft sold by pennyweight)

Yes, I was making a point about the possibility of buying not a pound, but
a quanitity costing a penny-- the use of the term pennyworth or
pennyweight is unnecessarily confusing in my argument.
- -- 
Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise	      jenne at tulgey.browser.net
disclaimer: i speak for no-one and no-one speaks for me.
"I do my job. I refuse to be responsible for other people's managerial 
hallucinations." -- Lady Jemina Starker