A HISTORY OF RUTLAND learned that a general rate of wages for the whole of England was impractic- able owing to the different conditions existing in the various parts of the country. Justices of the peace were charged with the task of fixing wages in the different counties. Two assessments belonging to Rutland have been preserved, one being for 1563^* and the other for 1610.^" The following table will show the differences and similarities between certain kinds of wages in 1350, 1563, and 1610 : — Wages per Day from Easter to Michaelmas According to the Statute Rutland Asses sments of Ltsbourers 1350 1563 1610 A haymaker ...... id. 2d. ^d. A woman haymaker .
2d. 2d. A mower . Sd. Sd. Sd. A reaper . 2d. & 2d. 4^. id. A woman reaper — Zd. 3d. A master carpenter 3d- 8d. Sd. 'Another ' carpenter . 2d. Sd. Sd. A master freemason 4^. Sd. 8d. A rough mason . Zd. Sd. Sd. More money is given when the labourer finds his own food, and this food money in some cases is higher in 1610 than it is in 1563. For example, the master carpenter in 1563 gets iid. if he supplies his own provisions, but in 1610 he gets i^d. ; the rough mason in 1563 has gd. without food, but in 1 610 he has 10^. In the two Rutland assessments the yearly wages given to servants, with the exact services expected from each, are also noted. The following are a few examples of these : — 1563 1610 40J. 52J. and Ss. for livery 40J. 50J. liverv 6s. 33s. 4d. 40s. livery 51. A bailiff in husbandry having charge of two plough-lands at the least .......... A chief sen'ant in husbandry of the best sort, which can eire, mow, thrash, make a rick, thatch and hedge the same, and can kill and dress a hog, sheep, and calf. A common servant in husbandry which can mow, sow, thrash, and load a cart, and cannot expertly make a rick, hedge, and thatch the same, and cannot kill and dress a hog, sheep and calf ......... A mean servant in husbandry which can drive the plough, pitch the cart and thrash, and cannot expertly sow, mow, nor make a rick, nor thatch the same ..... 24J. 2gs. livery 5^ For over a century after the Black Death we find that the price of arable land in Rutland had a tendencv to fall, while the price of meadow remained as high as before. Thus in Ryhall, in 1425, 400 acres of demesne arable land were worth per year only 2^/. per acre, while the meadow was still valued at 2s.^^ The fall in value of the arable land was of course largely due to the difficulty and expense of cultivation, while meadow-land was unaffected by this. Pasture-land also became of more importance, owing
- Rogers, Hist, of Agric. and Prices, iv, 120-3. *" Arct. xi, 200-7.
" Inq. p.m. 4 Hen. VI, file 24 (36). 220
