Browsing my files, i found this price list. I achieved it from Bent C Dalager
( bcd@pvv.unit.no) from Rolemaster Mailing List. Because many’ve asked about
something like this, i send it - maybe you’ll find it useful.
This prices are from XV century (about 1450).


   Michal Domanski
   mdoman@plearn.edu.pl
   yeovil@148.81.142.16

Rare knowledge: 75d (reading dead languages, descriptions of
foreign lands, old history)


Very rare knowledge: 200d (reading ancient dead languages,
descriptions of the farthest reaches of the known world, ancient
history)


Dangerous/illicit knowledge: 500d+ (reading magical texts,
descriptions of poisons, heretical theological speculation)



Coinage:  the basic unit was the penny (d).  12 pennys made one shilling
(s), and 20 shillings made one pound (£) sterling.  (So we’re talking
silver, not gold).  There was also a coin called the Mark, which equalled
13s.4d, or 2/3 of a pound.  There were gold coins, called nobles or royals,
worth originally 6s.8d, and later 10s, and half-nobles worth 5s.  A
farthing = 2s.6d.


Incomes:
the Dukes of York, Buckingham, and the Earl of Warwick — the Donald
Trumps of their day — made between £4,000 and £6,000 per year.


minimum income to be an offical like justice of the peace — £20 (from
land, not trade, etc.).


minimum income needed to vote in a county election = 40s/year from land.


Aricultural Laborer — about 4d./day
Building worker — 5–6d. per day
Soldiers wages:
        a knight — 2s. per day
        a man-at-arms — 1s. per day
        an archer — 6d. a day


A large, fortified manor house/castle  with all the ammenities: (top of
the line) — £6,000
A one-bay cottage — £3.4s.
wheat — 5s.8d. per quarter (quarter what?  maybe someone else knows)
oats — 2–3s a quarter
salt — 5d. per bushel
eggs — 5d. per hundred
pepper — 2s. per lb.
sugar — 1s.6d. per lb.
raisins — 3d. per lb.
candles — 1d. per lb.
milk — 1d. per gallon
beer — 1d. per gallon
red wine — 10d. per gallon
cattle — 9–11s. each
sheep — 1–2s. each
pigs — 2–3s.6d. each

From: hodges@jif.berkeley.edu (Kenneth Hodges)


     The list of medieval prices which follows is by no means complete or
thoroughly researched; I merely extracted references from some of the
books I have, and I thought others might like to inspect it.  The sources
I used are listed at the end.  If an item is listed several times, it is
because I had several references I wished to record.


Money goes as follows:
 1 pound (£) = 20 shillings (s)
 1 crown = 5 shillings
 1 shilling = 12 pence (d)
 1 penny = 4 farthings
 1 mark = 13s 4d
The French Livre, sou, and denier are equivalent to the pound, shilling
and penny (Latin liber, solidus, and denarius, I believe, which is where
the weird English abbreviations come from).


For ease, I’ve divided this list into the following sections: tools,
horses, food and livestock, books and education, buildings, cloth and
clothing, armor, weapons, marriage, funerals, travel, miscellaneous
goods, and wages.


Of course, a price list is a misleading guide to a feudal economy,
because so many goods were either produced within a household, or
supplied by a lord.  Retainers could get money, but they would also get
food, lodging, weapons (sometimes), and cloth.  Knights Templar were
provided with clothes, horses, and armor.
     —Kenneth Hodges, hodges@math.berkeley.edu

* Source says 2s/day. This is not only insanely high, but the text also claims that the board was the same as at Oxford—i.e., 2s/week or 104s/year.

** A pecia is 16 columns of 62 lines of 32 letters, i.e., 31,744 letters, or about 7500–8000 words. Rental period is not specified, but I would guess a year; books were rented to be copied, and copying the Bible took 15 months. See [9], p. 172.

BUILDINGS

Item	Price	Date	Source	Page
Rent per annum for 138 shops on London Bridge	£160 4s	1365	[2]	114
Rent for the three London taverns with the exclusive right to sell sweet wines (hippocras, clarry, piments)	£200	1365–1375	[2]	195–196
Rent cottage	5s/year	14 cen(?)	[3]	208
Rent craftsman’s house	20s/year	"	"	"
Rent merchant’s house	£2–£3/year	"	"	"
Cottage (1 bay, 2 storeys)	£2	early 14 cen	"	205
Row house in York (well built)	up to £5	"	"	"
Craftsman’s house (i.e., with shop, work area, and room for workers) with 2–3 bays and tile roof	£10–£15	early 14 cen	[3]	205
Modest hall and chamber, not including materials	£12	1289	[3]	79–80
Merchant’s house	£33–£66	early 14 cen	[3]	205
House with courtyard	£90+	"	"	"
Goldsmiths’ Hall (in London, with hall, kitchen, buttery, 2 chambers)	£136	1365	[2]	114
Large tiled barn	£83	1309–1310	[3]	79
Wooden gatehouse (30’ long), barn, and drawbridge: Contract	£5 6s 8d + builder’s clothing	1341	[3]	81
Estimated total	£16	"	"	"
Stone Gatehouse (40’ X 18’):
with all except stone	£16 13s 4d	1313	[3]	79–80
estimated with stone	£30	"	"	"
Tower in castle’s curtain wall	£333, £395	late 14 cen	"	"
Castle & college at Tattershall	£450/annum for 13 years	1434–1446	"	81
Transept of Gloucester Abbey	£781	1368–1373	[3]	79–80
Stonework of church (125’, no tower)	£113 (contract)	13 cen(?)	"	"

note: tithes were often calculated at 1d a week for every 20s of annual rent paid (4, p. 208).

The following are the estimates of raw materials and labor that went into the tower of Langeais, a rectangular, tapering stone tower built in 992– 994. The source is [6], pp. 47ff. The dimensions at the base were 17.5 meters by 10 meters; the height was 16m (3 floors); the walls were 1.5m thick, made of two shells filled with loose rock.

Limestone in building: about 1050 cubic meters, or 2 600 000 kg
Wood in building: 47.5 cubic meters, or 34 600 kg
Nails: 3 400, or 50 kg
Mortar: 350 cubic meters.
To make the mortar:
  sand: 225 cubic meters, or 360 000 kg
  limestone: 40 cubic meters, or 160 000 kg
  green wood: 540 cubic meters, or 286 000 kg
Labor Costs, in Average Working Days (AWD):
  procurement: 14 250
  transport: 2 880
  labor:
    unskilled: 63 500
    mason: 12 700
    smith: 1 600

Note: loose tunics take 2.25–2.5 yards. In the late 14th century, shorter doubled (lined) tunics, known as doublets, became fashionable, requiring 4 yards ([3], pp 175,176).

ARMOR

Item	Price	Date	Source	Page
Mail	100s	12 cen(??	[7]	30
Ready-made Milanese armor	£8 6s 8d	1441	[4]	112
Squire’s armor	£5–£6 16s 8d "	"	"
Armor for Prince of Wales, "gilt and graven"	£340	1614	[5]	20
Complete Lance Armor	£3 6s 8d	1590	[5]	185
Complete corselets	30s	"	"	"
Cuirass of proof with pauldrons	40s	"	"	"
Normal cuirass with pauldrons	26s 8d	"	"	"
Target of proof	30s	"	"	"
Morion	3s 4d	"	"	"
Burgonet	4s	"	"	"
Cuirass of pistol-proof with pauldrons	£1 6s	1624	[5]	189–190
Cuirass without pauldrons	£1	"	"	"
Lance Armor	£4	"	"	"
Targets of Proof	24s	"	"	"
Cuirass with cap	£4	"	"	"
Armor of proof	£14 2s 8d	1667	"	68
Bascinet	13s 4d + 3s 4d to line it	1369	"	88
Armor in a merchant’s house (leather?)	5s	1285–1290	[3]	206
Total Armor owned by a knight	£16 6s 8d	1374	"	76
Armor in house of Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester	£103	1397	"	77
Fee for cleaning rust off corselets	5d each	1567	[5]	80
Fee for varnishing, replacing straps, and rivetting helmet and corselet	1s 4d	1613	[5]	90
Barrel for cleaning mail	9d	1467	[5]	79

Note: mail is chainmail; almost all the rest is plate-armor. The armor of the knight in 1374 was probably mail with some plates; same for Gloucester’s. Mail was extremely susceptible to rust, and was cleaned by rolling it in sand and vinegar in a barrel. Pauldrons are shoulder plates; morions are open helms, burgonets and bascinets closed helms; and a target refers to any of a number different kind of shields. Armor of proof is tested during the making with blows or shots from the strongest weapons of the time; if a weapon is listed, the armor does not claim to be proof against everything, only that it is proof up to that weapon’s strength (eg pistol proof is not musket proof, but may be sword proof). All plate armor was lined with cloth, to pad the wearer, quiet the armor, and reduce wear between the pieces. This, along with the necessary straps, was a significant amount of the expense. An armorer asking for money to set up shop in 1624 estimated production costs and profit for a number of different types of armor: I give two examples below ([5], pp. 189–190).

Cuirass of proof with pauldrons:
  plates:                         5s 6d
  finishing, rivets, and straps:  7s 6d
  selling price                  26s
Lance armor:
  plates                        14s 5d
  finishing, et cetera          40s
  selling price                 80s

Note: Sorry, folks, that’s all I found. It was mandatory in England for all freemen to own certain types of weapons and armor. (In 1181 every freeman having goods worth 10 marks (1 mark = 13s 4d) had to have a mail shirt, a helmet, and a spear. All other freemen should have helmet, spear, and gambeson (quilted armor) [4], p. 39.) Later, the government stored arms and armour in churches for use; in the 13th century anyone with an income of £2–£5 (wealthy peasants) had to have bows; archery practice became compulsory on Sundays and holidays. You may know that the extreme range of the longbow was 400 yards, but did you know that a statute of Henry VIII no one over 24 could practice at a range of less than 220 yards? (See [4], p. 95 and elsewhere).

Note: for guessing prices, see the section on tools (an axe for 5d). An armorer might make 24s a month; say a week to make a decent sword, and you might get a price that way. See the section on books and education for fencing instruction.

MARRIAGE

Item	Price	Date	Source	Page
Sample peasant dowries:	13s 4d, 35s 11d, 57s, 63s 4d	14 cen(?)	[3]	179
For serfs, mechet (fees) to lord, depending on wealth	1s–13s 4d	14 cen(?)	[3]	179
Wedding feast, wealthy peasant	20s	"	"	"
Wealthy peasant wedding total	£3–£4	"	"	"
Dowry for esquire’s daughter	up to £66 13s 4d	15 cen	"	84
Dowry for baron’s daughter	£1000 +	"	"	"
London parents (both sets) each offered couple	£100	1385	[2]	154

Note: these costs will be wildly varying depending on circumstance.

FUNERALS

Item	Price	Date	Source	Page
Cheap gentlewoman’s funeral (bell-ringing, clergy, food)	£7	1497	[3]	85
Brass monument, with a figure incised, on marble base— fitting for lesser aristocrat	£8	early 14 cen	"	"
Bishop Mitford’s funeral (with 1450 guests!)	£130+	1407	"	"
Memorial Chapel for Richard Beauchamp, earl of Warwick	£2481	1439–1463	"	"
Bronze effigy on guilded tomb	£400	"	"	"

Note: Christopher Dyer gives as a rough rule of thumb 1 year’s income for a funeral ([3], p. 85)

TRAVEL

Item	Price	Date	Source	Page
Queen’s chariot	£400	14 cen	[1]	99
Lady Eleanor’s chariot	£1000	14 cen	[1]	99
Chariot	£8	1381	[3]	72
Chariot maintence	1–3s/year	14 cen	"	"
Barge	£10	"	"	"
Iron-bound cart	4s	c1350	"	170
Guide for a night	1d	14 cen	[1]	129
Ferry ride per horseman	1d	"	"	"
Keeping an earl’s warhorse 82 days in summer	36s 9.5d	1287	[3]	71

Note: [1], pp 126–129, gives the following prices at an inn in 1331. For one day, 3 men with 4 servants spent: Bread, 4d; beer, 2d; wine 1.25d; meat, 5.5d; potage, .25d; candles, .25d; fueld, 2d; beds, 2d; fodder for horses, 10d. The four servants staying alone sleep 2 nights for 1d. Generally, all 7 spend 2d a night on beds; in London, it is 1d per head.

MISCELLANEOUS

Item	Price	Date	Source	Page
6 silver spoons	14s	1382	[2]	24
2 gold rings with diamonds	£15	"	"	"
Gold Ring with ruby	26s 8d	"	"	"
3 strings of pearls	70s	"	"	"
6 gold necklaces	100s	"	"	"
Fee to enroll an apprentice:
with mercers (rich merchants) 2s	14 cen	[2]	111
with carpenters	1s	"	"	"
Fee to join guild at end of apprenticeship:
with mercers	20s	"	[2]	111
with carpenters	3s 4d	"	"	"
Fee to join guild	6s 8d–£3	14 cen(?)	[3]	208
Fee to gain freedom of a town (to enjoy its exemption from feudal duties, I assume)	3s 4d–20s	14 cen(?0	[3]	208
To empty a cesspit in a city	6s 8d	15 cen(?)	[3]	209
Candles
Somerset	1.5d/lb	1338	[3]	210
London	2d–2.5d/lb	"	"	"
Candles
tallow	1.5d/lb	15 cen(?)	[3]	74
wax	6.5d/lb	1406–1407	"	"
Vat	4d	1457	[3]	170
Barrel	3d	"	"	"
Bottle	4d	"	"	"
2 buckets	1s	"	"	"
1 sheet	4d	"	"	"
1 mattress	2d	"	"	"
4 pillows	4d	"	"	"
3 boards for a bed	4d	"	"	"
2 sheets, 4 blankets	5s 8p	1349–1352	"	"
16 bedspreads, 20 sheets, 8 featherbeds	£3 1s	1285–1290	[3]	206
Duke’s bed of cloth of gold, with blue satin canopy	£182 3s	1397	[3]	77
Table	6d	1457	[3]	170
Chair	3d	"	"	"
Chest with necessaries thereto	2s 2d	"	"	"
2 chests	6d each	"	"	"
Metal ewer	6d	1349–1352	"	"
Brass pot	2s	"	"	"
Basin and ewer	8d	"	"	"
Basin and ewer	2s 8d	"	"	"
Towel	6d	"	"	"
Coffer	1s	"	"	"
2 stools	8d	"	"	"
Ceramic cooking pot	.5d	1340s	"	174

Note: most of these come from inventories of peasants’ belongings. The fine goods would be more expensive.

Note about lighting: great houses could use 100 lb of wax and tallow in a single winter night ([3], p. 74). Others, not as rich, would go to sleep earlier.

WAGES

Profession	Wage	Date	Source	Page
Mercenaries:
knight banneret	4s/day	1316	[4]	78
knight	2s/day	"	"	"
man-at-arms or squire	1s/day	"	" "
Regular Army
Esquires, constables, and centenars	1s/day	1346	[4]	79
Mounted archers, armored infantry, hobilars, vintenars	6d/day	"	"	"
Welsh vintenars	4d/day	"	"	"
Archers	3d/day	"	"	"
Welsh infantry	2d/day	"	"	"
Captain	8s/day	late 16 cen	[4]	181
Lieutenant	4s/day	"	"	"
Ensign	2s/day	"	"	"
Drummer or trumpeter	20d/day	"	"	"
cavalryman	18d/day	"	"	"
infantry	8d/day	"	"	"
Laborer	£2/year max	c1300	[3]	29
Crown revenues (at peace)	£30 000	c1300	"	"
Barons per year	£200–500+	c1300	"	"
Earls per year	£400–£11000	c1300	"	"
Sergeant at Law (top lawyer)	£300/year	1455	"	47
Chief armorer	26s 8d/month	1544	[5]	182
Other armorers in same shop	24s/month	1544	"	"
except "Old Martyn" who made	38s 10d/month	1544	"	"
Apprentices in same shop	6d/day	1544	"	"
Master mason	4d/day	1351	[2]	24
Master carpenter	3d/day	"	"	"
Carpenters’ Guild stipend to a sick member	14d/week	1333	[2]	156
Weavers	5d/day, no food	1407	[2]	146
Chantry priest per year	£4 13s 4d	1379	[2]	24
Squires per annum	13s 4d-£1	14 cen	[1]	116–117
Carters, porters, falconers, grooms, messengers	5s–8s 8d per year	14 cen	[1]	116–117
Kitchen servants	2s–4s/year	14 cen	[1]	116–117
Boys and pages	1s–6s/year	14 cen	[1]	116–117
Wardens of London Bridges	£10/year	1382	[2]	128

Note: sheriffs of London paid £300 per year, hoping to make a profit from the fines they collected.

Note: 30 adult sheep could produce about 20s of wool per year in 1299 ([3], p. 114).

Note: To get a VERY ROUGH sense of money, I reproduce the following chart from Dyer ([3], p. 206). These are averages of daily wages in pence.

Decade	Thatcher	Thatcher’s mate
1261–70	2	-
1271–80	2.5	1
1281–90	2.25	1
1291–1300	2.5	1
1301–10	2.5	1
1311–20	3	1.25
1321–30	3	1
1331–40	3	1.25
1341–50	3	1.25
1351–60	3.5	2
1361–70	3.5	2
1371–80	4.25	2.5
1381–90	4	2.25
1391–1400	4.25	2.75
1401–10	4.5	3
1411–20	4.75	3
1421–30	4.5	3
1431–40	4.5	3.25
1441–50	5.25	4
1451–60	5.5	3.25
1461–70	4.75	3.75
1471–80	5.25	3.75
1481–90	6	3.75
1491–1500	5.5	3.5
1501–10	5.75	4
1511–20	5.25	4

1. English Wayfaring Life in the XIVth Century, J. J. Jusserand, trans Lucy Smith, Putnam’s Sons, New York,1931 (Orig. 1889).
2. London in the Age of Chaucer, A. R. Myers, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1972
3. Standards of Living in the Later Middle Ages, Christopher Dyer, Cambridge University Press, 1989
4. English Weapons & Warfare, 449–1660, A. V. B. Norman and Don Pottinger, Barnes & Noble, 1992 (orig. 1966)
5. The Armourer and his Craft from the XIth to the XVIth Century, Charles ffoulkes, Dover, 1988 (orig. 1912)
6. "The Cost of Castle Building: The Case of the Tower at Langeais," Bernard Bachrach, in The Medieval Castle: Romance and Reality, ed. Kathryn Reyerson and Faye Powe, Kendall/Hunt, Dubuque, Iowa, 1984
7. The Knight in History, Frances Gies, Harper & Row, New York, 1984
8. Methods and Practice of Elizabethan Swordplay, Craig Turner and Tony Soper, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, 1990
9. Life in a Medieval City, Joseph and Frances Gies, Harper & Row, New York, 1969