In practice, people seldom spoke of ordinary amounts of money in terms of pounds, unless it was in thousands, like the annual value of an estate, or a special “voluntary” tax.
- Ordinary, daily expenses were a few shillings and pence.
- A pair of gloves would cost around 7 shillings.
- For smaller items, like food and drink, a few pennies would suffice. A pot of ale would cost about a penny or two.
- A household servant’s salary was about £2-5 per year.
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Typical Elizabethan Prices of Clothing and Fabrics
Contents
- Canvas for Livery: 4d per yard
- Clothing for the Earl of Leicester: £563 for 7 doublets & 2 cloaks
- Broadcloth: £6 for 24 feet
- Good Shirt: £1
- Pair of knitted stockings: 15s
- Courtier’s breeches: £7
- A good pair of boots: £4 – £·10 a pair
- Shoes for a child: 7d a pair
Major Outlays
- Annual household expenses for the Earl of Derby: £3,000
- Cost of rebuilding Kenilworth: £60,000
Food and Drink Costs
- A loaf of bread: 2d
- A quail: 1/2d
- Oysters: 4d per bushel
- 200 herrings: 3s
- A chicken: 1d
- Raisins: 3d per pound
- A goose: 4d
- Best beef: 3d per pound
Elizabethan Era Wages and Salaries
Elizabethan jobs and wages varied according to rank. The Royalties and the nobility would earn large sums of money:
- The Queen – 60,000 pound per annum
- Nobility – 15,000 – 25,000 pound per annum
- Country Gentleman – 50 – 150 pound per annum
The middle class that lived in the town earned slightly less:
- Merchants – 100 – 25,ooo pound per annum
- Skilled labourers – 8d – 12d per day
- Unskilled labourers – 3d – 4d per day
- Carpenters – 5s per week
Servants had a more or less steady income:
- Maid – 5s – 10s per day
- Manservant – 1 Mark per quarter
- Stable boy – 10s per quarter
People in rural areas earned even less:
- Country parson – 20s per annum
- Ploughman – 1s per week
- Fieldworker – 2d – 3d per week
- Shepherd – 6d per week
Servant’s Fines
- Missing prayer: 2d
- Cursing: 1d per oath
- Not making one’s bed: 1d
- Cook finishing dinner late: 6d
- Missing a button on the Livery: 1d per button
Housing
- Lodging in an Inn: 2d per week (with Laundry)
- A modest farm with an ancient lease: £4 – £5 per year
- A modest farm with a new lease: £50 – £100 per year
Odds and Ends
- Tobacco: 12s 64s per pound
- A small, undecorated book: 8d
- A large, ornamented book: 10s or more
- A doctor’s visit: 1 Mark
- post horse from Dover to London: 3s
Elizabethan era money seldom had paper notes. Most of the transactions were made in coins. Coins were minted in gold and silver during the Renaissance.
240 pennies was equal to a pound or 20 shillings was equal to a pound. The penny was the basic unit of money.
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