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1. The Riches of England
*1 1450 values may be roughly related to 1995 values by multiplying by 234. Thus the Duke of York’s income would be equivalent to approximately £702,000 in 1995 prices. The multiplier of 234 is derived from the following calculation:
1 The price of a quarter of wheat in 1450 compared to 1914, which gives a multiplier of 4.68.
2 The change in the price level between 1914 and 1995, which gives a multiplier of 50. After 1914 wheat is not a very useful indicator of prices (food expenditure dropped with rising incomes and the 1930s tariffs on wheat distort prices). Reference may therefore be made to the retail price index for 1914 to 1995, which rises 50 fold: 4.68 x 50 = 234. For this calculation I am indebted to Dr R. B. Weir, Provost of Derwent College at the University of York and lecturer in economic history.
2. A Race of Magnates
*2 Their tomb was lost in the Great Fire of London.
8. The Daisy Flower
*3 The Spitalfields silk industry was still flourishing in the early nineteenth century.
9. Murder at Sea
*4 Baynard’s Castle was again rebuilt after the Wars of the Roses, but was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. In 1972, during excavations for an office block, its foundations were discovered. These showed that the castle had been built around an irregular quadrangle. Surviving engravings depict a rectangular-shaped house with a double courtyard, above which soared a hexagonal tower. On the river side, the walls rose straight up from the water, while houses either side were built on stilts.
*5 Geoffrey had been called Plantagenet after his emblem the broom flower (planta genista), a sprig of which he wore in his hat. Although his son and successive kings until the mid fifteenth century are now referred to as the Plantagenets, none of them had actually used the name.
10. John Amend-All
*6 A Roman monument, thought by historians to have marked the centre point of their road system.
20. Fugitives
*7 The practice whereby great lords would enter into contracts with men who were willing to fight for them and wear their livery in return for a pension, or wage, known as ‘maintenance’.
21. ‘Now Take Heed What Love May Do’
*8 Now called Brungerly.