penny near three times as heavy [r].
As to the value of money in those times, compared to commodities,
there are some, though not very certain, means of computation. A
sheep, by the laws of Athelstan, was estimated at a shilling; that is,
fifteen pence of our money. The fleece was two fifths of the value of
the whole sheep [s]; much above its present estimation; and the reason
probably was, that the Saxons, like the ancients, were little
acquainted with any clothing but what was made of wool. Silk and
cotton were quite unknown: linen was not much used. An ox was
computed at six times the value of a sheep; a cow at four [t]. If we
suppose that the cattle in that age, from the defects in husbandry,
were not so large as they are at present in England, we may compute
that money was then near ten times of greater value. A horse was
valued at about thirty-six shillings of our money, or thirty Saxon
shillings [u]; a mare a third less A man at three pounds [w]. The
board wages of a child the first year was eight shillings, together
with a cow's pasture in summer, and an ox's in winter [x]. William of
Malmesbury mentions it as a remarkably high price, that William Rufus
gave fifteen marks for a horse, or about thirty pounds of our present
money [y]. Between the years 900 and 1000, Ednoth bought a hide of
land for about a hundred and eighteen shillings of our present money
[z]. This was little more than a shilling an acre, which indeed
appears to have been the usual price, as we may learn from other
accounts [a]. A palfrey was sold for twelve shillings about the year
966 [b]. The value of an ox in King Ethelred's time was between seven
and eight shillings; a cow about six shillings [c]. Gervas of Tilbury
says, that in Henry I.'s time, bread which would suffice a hundred men
for a day was rated at three shillings, or a shilling of that age; for
it is thought that, soon after the Conquest, a pound sterling was
divided into twenty shillings: a sheep was rated at a shilling; and so
of other things in proportion. In Athelstan's time a ram was valued
at a shilling, or four pence Saxon [d]. The tenants of Shireburn were
obliged, at their choice, to pay either sixpence or four hens [e].
About 1232, the Abbot of St. Alban's going on a journey, hired seven
handsome stout horses; and agreed, if any of them died on the road, to
pay the owner thirty shillings a-piece of our present money [f]. It
is to be remarked, that in all