e have a schedule of the price of wool in the various
counties of England, for in that year 30,000 sacks of the best wool
was ordered to be bought in various districts by merchants for Edward
III, to provide the sinews of war against France. The price for the
best wool was to be fixed by the king, his council, and the merchants;
the 'gross' wool being bought by agreement between buyer and seller.
Of the former the highest price fixed was for the wool of Hereford,
then and for long afterwards famous for its excellent quality, 12
marks the sack of 364 lb.; and the lowest for that of the northern
counties, 5 marks the sack.

Somewhat more than a century afterwards we have another similar list
of wool prices, when in 1454 the Commons petitioned the king that 'as
the wools growing within this realm have hitherto been the great
commodity, enriching, and welfare of this land, and how of late the
price is greatly decayed so that the Commons were not able to pay
their rents to their lords', the king would fix certain prices under
which wools should not be bought. The highest price fixed was for the
wool of 'Hereford, in Leominster', L13 a sack; the lowest for that of
Suffolk, L2 12s.[107]; the average being about L4 10s.

The manorial accounts of the Knights' Hospitallers, who then held land
all over England, afford valuable information as to agriculture in
1338.[108] From these we gather that the rent of arable land varied
from 2d. to 2s. an acre; but the latter sum was very exceptional, and
there are only two instances of it given, in Lincolnshire and Kent.
Most of the tillage rented for less than 1s. an acre, more than half
being at 6d. or under, and the average about 6d. On the other hand,
meadow land is seldom of less value than 2s. an acre, and in
Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, and Norfolk rose to 3s. This is one of the
numerous proofs of the great value of meadow land at a time when hay
was almost the sole winter food of stock; in some places it was eight
or ten times as valuable as the arable.[109] The pasture on the
Hospitallers' estates was divided into several and common pasture, the
former often reaching 1s. an acre and sometimes 2s., the latter rarely
exceeding 4d. The most usual way, however, of stating the value of
pasture was by reckoning the annual cost of feeding stock per head,
cows being valued at 2s., oxen at 1s., a horse at a little less than
an ox, a sheep at 1d. The reign of Edward III was a great era for
w