Rather than giving modern equivalents of incomes and prices in the early fourteenth century, which are almost impossible to calculate accurately and which, with inflation, date quickly, this page is intended to give an idea of the value of money in Edward II’s reign.
The only coin in general circulation in England was the silver penny, which could be broken in two to make a half-penny, or into four to make a farthing. The main unit of currency was the pound, consisting of 240 pence or twenty shillings, though it remained a purely theoretical notion for most people. Large sums of money could only be transported in barrels containing thousands of pennies. The mark was another unit of currency often used in accounting: it equalled two-thirds of a pound, or thirteen shillings and four pence, or 160 pence.
The average daily wage of an unskilled labourer was one or one and a half pence.
Skilled craftsmen of course earned more: Edward II’s carpenters were paid three pence a day, and his master carpenters six pence.
In Edward’s household, pages earned two pence per day, grooms and archers three pence, squires seven and a half pence, and sergeants-at-arms twelve pence (one shilling). His steward earned 200 marks per year, or £133, six shillings and eight pence.
The minimum annual income to qualify for knighthood was £40.
The annual gross income of the earl of Lancaster, the richest man in England, was £11,000.
A loaf of the cheapest bread cost a farthing (quarter of a penny). A chicken, two dozen eggs and a gallon of ale each cost a penny.
The cost of a trained warhorse was £50 to £80, a cow cost ten or twelve shillings, and a sheep cost twenty pence or less.