Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/288

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236 THE ALIEN PRIORIES IN THE ISLE OF WIGHT. stock wwhich is now kept on an English farm was kept five or six hundred years ago. Oxen and cows, horses, pigs, sheep, and poultry, wore reared on these Isle of Wight farms in the days of Edward I. just as they are now. The first thing that strikes us in examining the returns is the small number of horses that were kept on these farms. Excluding the riding an<l pack horses, we find only ten used for agricultural labour. Of these, six were '"affri" or "stotts," i.e., coarsely shaped small horses, able to subsist on the poorest fare, and do the commonest drudgery, still common in country districts. The average price of "affri" in 1269, as given in Professor Rogers's elaborate and painstaking work, quoted above, was 6s. 9d. One at St. Neots, in 1275, is set down at the unprecedented price of 19s. 9½d. A common price was 10.?. The three "affii" belonging to St. Helens are valued a little below this — at 5.s. each ; while the three at Appuldurcombe are not priced at more than 20s. each — sorry drudges we may conclude they were. The cart-horses, "equi," at Appuldurcombe and St. Cross stand at 20s. The prior of Carisbrooke was a grander gentleman than any of his Island brethren, and boasted of a riding-horse, "palfridus," of his own, valued at Al. 13s., and a pack-horse, "equus summarius," for his luggage, valued at 1l. He also had a white horse, worth 10s. The proctor of the Abbey of Lire, who made his home in the same priory, was similarly equipped, his horses being valued at 2l, 6s. 8d. and 13s 8d. respectively.^[1]

Only three bulls appear in these returns; at Carisbrooke, Apulduicombe, and St. Cross, and, as usual, they are cheap; the first valued at 10s, the other two at 5s. This nearly agrees with Professor Rogers's average for this year, viz., 6s. 9d. Cows appear in a tolerably large number 52. Of these twenty-six are noted as unsound, "debiles,' and therefore pnced lower, viz., 4s. ahead; the others are valued at 6s. at Carisbrooke, where the stock generally was evidently of a superior kind and better kept, and 5s. elsewhere. This is

↑ To illustrate these prices, I may mention that Farl Clare, in 1284, purchased n black horse for 34. 138. d., and a palfrey for 5l 6s. 8d. When a riding horse was needed in 1303, for the use of the warden of Merton College, one was bought by the College at Aylesbury for 6l.; while, in 1363, when a hack was required by the Provost of Queen's, to carry him to Avignon on the business of his College, one was purchased for him for 2l, 10s. The horses bought for the use of Edward II, in the first year of his reign, range in price from 6l. 6s. 8d. to 2l.

[1] To illustrate these prices, I may mention that Farl Clare, in 1284, purchased n black horse for 34. 138. d., and a palfrey for 5l 6s. 8d. When a riding horse was needed in 1303, for the use of the warden of Merton College, one was bought by the College at Aylesbury for 6l.; while, in 1363, when a hack was required by the Provost of Queen's, to carry him to Avignon on the business of his College, one was purchased for him for 2l, 10s. The horses bought for the use of Edward II, in the first year of his reign, range in price from 6l. 6s. 8d. to 2l.

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