Premising that the purchasing power of a penny in the fifteenth century
was about twelve times as much as it is now, we are able to form some
idea of the economic position of the different classes which were the
subjects of this legislation. The bailiff, it appears, might have a
salary of 26_s._ 8_d._; the common servant in husbandry cost 16_s._
8_d._ and 4_s._ for clothes; and the artisan received per day 5_d._ in
the summer and 6_d._ in the winter. This brings us to the hours of
labour, which depended on the season, and were also regulated by
statute. These were from 5 a.m. till between 7 and 8 p.m. from the
middle of March to the middle of September, half an hour being allowed
for breakfast, and an hour and a half for dinner and a siesta--an
indulgence countenanced from May to August. During the winter, the rule
was that work was to be carried on whilst there was daylight.
Mention has been made of holidays. These, though inevitable, were
evidently regarded as seasons of danger, since the favourite recreations
of labourers, if left to their own devices, were poaching and politics.
Against these twin evils the King's counsellors took precautions in an
act (13 Rich. II., st. I., c. 13), of which the preamble ran:
"Forasmuch as divers artificers, labourers, servants, and grooms,
keep greyhounds and other dogs, and on the holy days, when
Christian people be at church hearing Divine service, they go
a-hunting in parks, warrens, and coningries of lords and others to
the very great destruction of the same, and sometimes under such
colour they make their assemblies, conferences, and conspiracies
for to rise and disobey their allegiance, &c.
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