[MR] BBC: Norfolk Farmer at Bosworth

[Garth Groff]

M'Lady Kateryn,

At the moment, I am not in a good position to dispute your assertion. I 
have read the text or exerpts of various English assizes of arms (IIRC, 
in Hardy's LONGBOW and other works), but cannot cite them here while I'm 
at work.

However, the Scottish Parliament under James IV passed the following law 
in 1491 (item 1491/4/17; see http://www.rps.ac.uk/ ), which sets the 
minimum arms to be owned by various classes. It is quite similar to what 
I remember reading from England. Absent any better references at hand, I 
think this gives us a general idea of what would be expected of an 
English yeoman worth 5 pounds in the late 15th century:


"Item, it is decreed and ordained  . . .  that each gentleman who has 
£10 worth of land or more is adequately furnished and armed with a 
basinet, sallet metal hat, 
gorget<http://www.rps.ac.uk/search.php?action=fc&fn=jamesiv_trans&id=id2894&query=bow&type=trans&variants=+bow+%7C+bow.%7C+bow%2C%7C+bow%3B%7C+bow%3A%7C+Bow+%7C+Bow.%7C+Bow%2C%7C+Bow%3B%7C+Bow%3A&google=bow%7CBow#n19> 
or pisane,whole leg harness, sword, spear and dagger; and gentlemen who 
have a small amount of land or [are] unlanded shall be armed as far as 
possible according to the view and discretion of the sheriffs, bailies 
and such persons as our sovereign lord will depute and commission for 
this; and honest yeomen with sufficient power who choose to be men of 
arms shall be sufficiently furnished according to the discretion of the 
said sheriffs or commissioners; and all other yeomen of the realm 
between sixteen and sixty [years of age] shall have sufficient bows and 
sheaves, sword, buckler, knife, spear or good axe instead of the bow  . 
. . And further, that football, golf or other similar unprofitable 
sports are not to be played anywhere in the realm, but for the common 
good and defence of the realm the practice of shooting bows and archery 
butts are therefore ordained in each parish . . . . "


Mungo here again. You will note that there is no requirement for armor 
or helm for the lowest class of men mentioned here. In Robert the 
Bruce's similar law of 1316, the lowest class of man has the value of 
one cow. Circa 1541, the lowest class was valued at 10 pounds or less 
(these laws can also be found on this site). And before anyone else 
mentions it, the Scottish pound was indeed worth somewhat less than the 
English pound at this time, but not that far out of line for this 
discussion.

I threw in the last part of the law because I couldn't resist that 
delightful prohibitions against "football, golf or other similar 
unprofitable sports". The Scots were/are notorious sports fans, and 
apparently this part of the  law was widely ignored.

Kind regards,


Lord Mungo Napier, A Scot Who Prefers His Bow to Football, Golf and 
Other "Unprofitable" Sports


On 8/31/2011 9:05 AM, Marybeth Lavrakas wrote:
> 10 pounds is a lot of money! To give an idea, gentlemen with 40 pounds a year in annual income were technically required to become knights...I used to know off the top of my head the annual average wages for various levels of people in early Tudor England, but grad school is now too far in my past and I'd have to look it up.  Anyone in the tavern know?
>
> Kateryn Rous