The value of money

This century has seen an enormous rise in prices that has impoverished the agricultural and working class. The daily ration of bread for a manual laborer on an estate was 1.7 kilos a day (which provided 89% of the calories in a peasant diet). In 1500, a skilled artisan made about 4 sou per day, which would buy 15 kg of bread - about 8 days’ worth. That same artisan in 1594 made 10-15 sou per day (less in winter), and could buy about 9 kg of bread - about 4 days’ worth. An unskilled urban worker made 5-7 sou per day (about two day's bread), and an unskilled female made 3-4 sou per day (a day's bread). Agricultural day laborers were even worse off, a man earning 7-8 sou per day and a "woman of all work" only 3 sou, no matter what the skill. Women’s wages suffered especially sharply. In 1500 she made at least half of what a man did, and in our time some women laborers got no more than a single sou for a day’s work. Keep in mind that day laborers, especially agricultural ones, only worked when the weather was good, and often had no work for one- to two-thirds of the year.

Contracted laborers on an estate made less cash in return for a percentage of the crop. In 1500 that percentage was usually a tenth – by the end of the century is was about 1/15th. A servant in the house of a rural estate earned around 100 sous a year, a woman around 60 (some things never change). Such a laborer lived with the family, and got food, shelter, and usually a pair of shoes and a shirt or apron along with the wages.

It is hard to get the price of a "loaf of bread", given that the weight of such a thing might vary, but the daily ration of 1.7 kg (3.75 lb) of bread would cost about 2s 6d. In 1500, the common person ate pure wheat bread ("white"). By our time, that bread is much "blacker" -- about one-third rye, even near the Mediterranean.

A bushel of salt could cost between 3 and 18 sous, depending on taxes (salt smuggling was major activity). A bottle of wine could cost between 1 and 3 sous (wine was not actually sold in bottles; you brought your own to the wineseller who drew it off from the cask for you).

Montaigne in his travel journel (c.1580) quotes a good Swiss inn as charging 4 livres a night for a gentleman in the off-season. He mentions that a horse there cost a reasonable 40-50 écus