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"Pretium Iustum Est!"
Manage episode 339208664 series 3388518
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THE POUNDS, SHILLINGS, AND SIXPENCE OF THE PAST, DRAGGED KICKING AND SCREAMING INTO THE PRESENT.
Welcome to a Bar Stool Historian time travel road trip, as we visit the bucolic fictional village of Crittling Stubbs-On-Skirdenback about 600 years ago. What transpired was a full-fledged live game show where contestants guess the price of everyday medieval objects in modern-day dollars: Pretium Iustum Est! (Google-translate that title here!)
How we got here is really due to Ed having a little too much time on his hands: a couple months ago, Ed discovered a list of medieval prices compiled by a then-grad student (now professor) named Kenneth Hodges had pieced together by consulting medieval literature. These prices ranged from the cost of a ceramic cooking pot to the Transept of Gloucester Abbey in 1370, and everything else in-between. Ed then decided to take these wildly varying prices and dates and plug them into website that compares the value of English money from the past to present day using both the Consumer Price Index and the Value of Labor. He then converted that to 2013 dollars. The result is a pretty nifty spreadsheet that you can download here.
Finally, the answer to whether or not you can afford to hire a Welsh infantryman for the day!
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