Pay Grades in a Medieval Household 1390-93

When the earl of Derby went overseas in 1390-93 his accounts recognized the following pay grades for his following:

Knights. (militi) Important clerics like his chaplain and the archdeacon of Hereford who served as his treasurer for war were also paid at this rate.

Squires. (scutiferi) His two heralds, the master cook and the clerk of the kitchen were also paid at this rate.

Superior valets or yeomen. (valletti),  Minstrels were also paid at this rate.

Other valets or yeomen.

Grooms (gromes)

Pages (pagetti) There were few of these.

There were three pay scales. The first, infra curiam, reflected the fact that the servant serving with the household enjoyed food, board and other perks in addition to cash wages. The second, extra curiam,  recognized that a servant away from the household had additional expenses for food and lodging.  The third, for men on active campaign, recognized the additional risk by paying the extra curiam wages for men serving with the household

The wages were, per day, infra/extra
Knights: 12 d./24 d.
Squires: 7 1/2 d.-6d/12 d.
Yeomen: 4-3 d./6 d.
Grooms 2 d./4 d.
Pages 1 1/2 d./2 d.

The earl of Derby was heir to a rich duchy. A lesser household would not have servants of knightly status, and typically paid servants of equivalent description less.

Kyngeston, Richard, and Lucy Toulmin Smith. 1894. Expeditions to Prussia and the Holy Land made by Henry earl of Derby (afterwards King Henry IV.) in the years 1390-1 and 1392-3. Being the accounts kept by his treasurer during two years. [Westminster]: Printed for the Camden society. 

The Organization of a Gentry Household: Alice de Bryene

Alice de Bryene was the widow of a knight banneret, with an income that, including in-kind consumption of food produced by her manors, was about 400 pounds a year. From the early 15th century to her death her home was the manor of Acton in East Anglia, where she had several other manors. She also had another group of manors, about as numerous, in the West Country.

General Officers

The Lady: Alice herself was active in the administration of the household. She seems to have made many of the purchases for her wardrobe account herself: cloth, clothing, furs, spices, wax, wine and salt, as well as her servants’ wages. She seems to have kept accounts, “the papers of the lady” of this spending. In a larger household this would be the duty of a clerk of the wardrobe, clerk of the household, or treasurer. In Alice’s household, there were a limited number of wardrobe outlays to account for: wages quarterly, liveries twice a year, and purchases of spices, wax and wine a few times a year. She also directed her receivers to make these and other purchases and payments on her behalf out of cash they had collected for her.

She also gave alms and oblations, either personally or by directing her receivers, steward or bailiffs to make payments in money or frequently in kind.

Receiver. Responsible for the collection of revenues from outside her home manor, as well as making payments as directed above.

Steward. Accountable for the purchase, production and consumption of victuals and other consumable goods. For example, although Alice’s record accounted for the initial purchase of the wax, the steward recorded the wax “of the lady’s providing” as an expense, as well as wicks, the fees of the candlemaker, and the consumption of the candles. Tallow candles were both purchased made up and made from purchased tallow, which did not involve the wardrobe. While Alice purchased cloth for liveries, the steward accounted for linen for aprons. He also accounted for the production of bread and ale from grain, and their consumption within the household. He was often a clergyman.

Bailiff of the manor: responsible for the agricultural production of the home manor, including the upkeep of farm equipment.

At least two men served as auditors and to supervise her manorial courts, although this was probably not a full time job. She also employed several rent collectors.

Those of her other manors which she did not rent to tenants would have had their own bailiff and steward, and she had another receiver responsible for her West Country estates.

While Fastolf’s steward and receiver were ranked as gentlemen, his bailiff was ranked as a yeoman.

Yeomen and Clerics of Offices

Large households were divided into many departments. Alice’s household must have been simpler. Based on her accounts, the organization of the slightly smaller servant body of the priory to be founded under John Fastolf’s will, and Fastolf’s own larger household, the departments consisted of:

Chapel, under a chaplain of gentle rank. Alice had an unusually large number of chaplains: as many as four at one point, plus at least two chapel clerks. The men described as chaplains may have served other functions as well: two of her stewards were clerics. A single clerk ranked as a groom to assist the chaplain would have been more typical for a household of this size.

Chamber, under a chamberlain of yeoman rank, assisted by a servant ranked as a groom. Alice had a chamberlain and cameraria or chambermaid named Agnes whose duties included feeding the manor poultry. Henry of Derby’s chamberlain’s duties included accounting for gifts, and regardis which were bonuses and gratuities.

Kitchen, under a cook of yeoman rank assisted by a groom. This would be two departments in a larger household.

Bakehouse and Brewhouse, under a yeoman baker assisted by a groom.

Buttery and Pantry, under a yeoman butler, unassisted.

Stables, with a single groom.

Body Servants

Alice had a maid of gentle rank, and in some years two. Fastolf’s wife and sister were both served by gentlewomen. His daughter had a maid ranked as a yeoman and his receiver had his own yeoman.

Officers of the Earl of Derby's Household 1391-3

Those who accompanied him on the journeys arc indicated by the asterisk; Levnthorpe went to Calais in 1390

Thomas Herdwyk, clerk, auditor of accounts of Derby's officers and servants [He was also auditor to John of Gaunt's officers.]
Thomas de Wombewell, auditor and "supervisor terrarum domini in Anglia".
Simon Bache, clerk, treasurer of the household (sometimes called Symkyn Bache).
Robert Hatfield, esquire, controller of the household.
John Levnthorpe (Lewn- or Leunthorpe), receiver-general.
*Peter Bucton, knight, steward.
William Loveney, clerk of the great wardrobe.
*John Dyndon, valet of the wardrobe.
*Hugh de Waterton, knight, chamberlain.
*Richard de Kyngeston (or Kyngston), archdeacon of Hereford, treasurer for war.
*Robert de Waterton, esquire, master of the horse or marshal (marescallus)
*Hugh Herle, chaplain and confessor.
*(John) Derby le herald.
*William Pomfreit, clerk, chief clerk of the kitchen.
*John Payne, esquire, botiller.
*John Bounton, armourer.
*William Hauer, clerk of the lord.
Sir John, almoner.

Kyngeston, Richard, and Lucy Toulmin Smith. 1894. Expeditions to Prussia and the Holy Land made by Henry earl of Derby (afterwards King Henry IV.) in the years 1390-1 and 1392-3. Being the accounts kept by his treasurer during two years. [Westminster]: Printed for the Camden society.

This is a fascinating picture of a noble household away from home, although, of course, an unusually wealthy one: Henry was heir to the richest duchy in England and The Man Who Would Be King.

We can see the division of responsibility in accounting. The steward kept his own account of spending on victuals and other consumables, and the chamberlain tracked gifts and gratuities. The treasurer for war tracked everything else and put the big picture together.

Henry spent little out of his own hand. Sometimes he gave alms and oblations personally, but he frequently delegated that to others, particularly his chaplain. He once bought a horse personally, probably to insure he got one to his liking. He also spent money on gaming. He drew on his steward when he wanted cash for gaming, but also promiscuously on his other officers, including the clerk of the kitchen at one point.

Medieval Musicians on Retainer: 1412

In 1412, Henry, lord Beaumont agreed to two indentures. The first granted land rented at 40 shillings a year to a trumpeter, on the condition that during his lifetime "at all times he shall be bound to serve in his office me and my heirs"

The other retains a minstrel "for life in peace and war" for a similar 40 shillings a year.

Household Economy of a Banneret and a Squire

The Black Book of Edward IV describing the domestic houshold economy of the squire who can spend fifty pounds a year, may be compared with Hugh Latimer's often-quoted account of his father's yeoman household. Of his £50 the squire spends in victuals £24 6s; on repairs and furniture £5; on horses, hay and carriages £4; on clothes, alms and oblations £4 more. He has a clerk or chaplain, two valletti or yeomen, two grooms, 'garciones,' and two boys, whether pages or mere servants; and the wages of these amount to £9; he gives livery of dress to the amount of £2 10s., and the small remainder is spent on hounds and the charges of hay-time and harvest.*

The annual wages amount to £2 a year each for the cleric and two yeomen, £1 each for the two grooms, and 10s each for the two boys.

The notional budget for a banneret in the Black Book is:

Victuals, including the stable: £121 13s 4d
Renewing the wardrobe, alms and oblations: £25
Necessary repairs of the house and expenses while away from it: £16
Gifts, rewards (regardis) and horseflesh (escambia equorum): £10
Wages of the household £12
Liveries: £6 6s 8d

The banneret's servants annual wages are:

Seneschal: £2 13s 4d
Pro iiii mulieribus per vadiis, per annum: 6s 8d: The value is so low I suspect scribal or typographic error, especially since the women are listed before the cleric.
Cleric: £2
Yeomen: Duorum valletorum, two of the vallets for £4, or £2 each.
et unius valleti: and one vallet at £1 6s 8d:
Grooms: 6 at £1 2s 6d each.

Squires are not listed on the banneret's payroll, but in the Black Book a count hires them for 60% more than yeomen.

Note that these budgets cover only ordinary annual consumption. They assume estates unencumbered by debt payments, and they make no allowance for saving to provide for extraordinary expenses, such as weddings, dowries, funerals or major building projects.


*Stubbs, William. 1874. The constitutional history of England, in its origin and development. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

The Household of Alice de Bryene

The widow lived on her manor at Acton in Suffolk from around 1400 to her death in 1435. Her detailed household accounts for 1412-13 survive. At one point her liveried affinity consisted of

2 maids
6 squires and chaplains
(Treated as one group for summer livery, and given 8s each for clothes)

A chamberlain
9 of yeoman rank
(8 yards cloth at just under a shilling a yard)

6 ranked as grooms
(liveries worth 5s)

These numbers probably include both the servants in direct attendance at Acton and those that served her as bailiffs and other officers at her other manors. Besides bailiffs at the other manors, she employed other receivers in addition to her general receiver, as well as rent collectors. Her accounts do not mention stewards for her outer manors, but this seems to have been normal practice in her lifetime. Her immediate household sitting down to dinner minus guests but including Alice herself seems to have been about 15 souls.

Her employees included a steward, a receiver, a butler whose duties included snaring rabbits, a baker and several bailiffs at her manors.

The small priory established under John Fastolf's will suggests how an immediate household of this size might be organized. There were to be twelve servants. Besides the chapel there were five departments. The chamber, kitchen and brewhouse each had one yeoman servant and a groom. The pantry and buttery were under a single yeoman and the stable had a groom. Two boys assisted at services, and there was a gentleman and attendant as well.

The larger household of John Fastolf at Caister included his steward and John Kertelyng, his clerk and general attorney and receiver (clericus, supervisor domini) among the generosi with his chaplain and two women who were apparently gentle servants.

His yeoman rank servants included his daughter's maid (ancilla), a household clerk, his butler, cook, baker, gardener, bailiff, his fisher and swankeeper (piscator et custos cygnorum), Kertelyng's servant and another female servant.

His sevants ranked as grooms included a chamber groom, two grooms of the kitchen, a clerk and one woman.

Alice de Bryene had an annual income of about £400. In 1419 she spent just over £35 on liveries, summer and winter. Household wages were £44, and food for the household £163. Miscellaneous household items such as candles, kitchen utensils and household repairs another £8.

Not all of the food was consumed by the liveried servants. Besides Alice herself, guests often ate at her table, and boon workers were fed by the household at harvest time. Even so, it's striking how much of the servant's compensation was in kind.

Interestingly, she seems to have kept her own wardrobe accounts: her steward refers to records of the amount of her payment of servant wages in "the papers of the lady".

Harrison on Bread

Of bread made of wheat we have sundry sorts daily brought to the table, whereof the first and most excellent is the manchet, which we commonly call white bread, in Latin primarius panis, whereof Budeus also speaketh, in his first book De asse; and our good workmen deliver commonly such proportion that of the flour of one bushel with another they make forty cast of manchet, of which every loaf weigheth eight ounces into the oven, and six ounces out, as I have been informed. The second is the cheat or wheaten bread, so named because the colour thereof resembleth the grey or yellowish wheat, being clean and well dressed, and out of this is the coarsest of the bran (usually called gurgeons or pollard) taken. The ravelled is a kind of cheat bread also, but it retaineth more of the gross, and less of the pure substance of the wheat; and this, being more slightly wrought up, is used in the halls of the nobility and gentry only, whereas the other either is or should be baked in cities and good towns of an appointed size (according to such price as the corn doth bear), and by a statute provided by King John in that behalf. The ravelled cheat therefore is generally so made that out of one bushel of meal, after two and twenty pounds of bran be sifted and taken from it (whereunto they add the gurgeons that rise from the manchet), they make thirty cast, every loaf weighing eighteen ounces into the oven, and sixteen ounces out; and, beside this, they so handle the matter that to every bushel of meal they add only two and twenty, or three and twenty, pound of water, washing also (in some houses) their corn before it go to the mill, whereby their manchet bread is more excellent in colour, and pleasing to the eye, than otherwise it would be. The next sort is named brown bread, of the colour of which we have two sorts one baked up as it cometh from the mill, so that neither the bran nor the flour are any whit diminished; this, Celsus called autopirus panis, lib. 2, and putteth it in the second place of nourishment. The other hath little or no flour left therein at all, howbeit he calleth it Panem Cibarium, and it is not only the worst and weakest of all the other sorts, but also appointed in old time for servants, slaves, and the inferior kind of people to feed upon. Hereunto likewise, because it is dry and brickle in the working (for it will hardly be made up handsomely into loaves), some add a portion of rye meal in our time, whereby the rough dryness or dry roughness thereof is somewhat qualified, and then it is named miscelin, that is, bread made of mingled corn, albeit that divers do sow or mingle wheat and rye of set purpose at the mill, or before it come there, and sell the same at the markets under the aforesaid name.

Original spelling:

Of bread made of wheat we haue sundrie sorts, dailie brought to the table, whereof the first and most excellent is the mainchet, which we commonlie call white bread, in Latine Primarius panis, wherof Budeus also speaketh, in his first booke De asse, and our good primarim paworkemen deliuer commonlie such proportion, that of the flower of one bushell with another they make fortie cast of manchet, of which euerie lofe weigheth eight ounces into the ouen and six ounces out, as I haue bene informed. The second is the cheat or wheaton bread, cheat bread, so named bicause the colour therof resembleth the graie or yellowish wheat, being cleane and well dressed, and out of this is the coursest of the bran (vsuallie called gurgeons or pollard) taken. The raueled is a kind of cheat bread also, but it reteineth more of the grosse, and lesse of the pure substance of the wheat: and this being more sleightlie wrought vp, is vsed in the halles of the nobilitie, and gentrie onelie, whereas the other either is or should be baked in cities & good townes of an appointed size (according to such price as the corne dooth beare) and by a statute prouided by king Iohn in that behalfe. The raueled cheat therfore is generallie so made that out of one bushell of meale, after two and twentie pounds of bran be sifted and taken from it (vvherevnto they ad the gurgeons that rise from the manchet) they make thirtie cast, euerie lofe weighing eighteene ounces into the ouen and sixteene ounces out: and beside this they so handle the matter that to euerie bushell of meale they ad onelie two and twentie or three and twentie pound of water, washing also in some houses Browne bread, there corne before it go to the mill, whereby their manchet bread is more excellent in colour and pleasing to the eie, than otherwise it would be. The next sort is named browne bread of the colour, of which we haue two sorts, one baked vp as it cometh from the mill, so that neither the bran nor the floure are anie whit diminished, this Celsus called Autopirus panis, lib. 2. and putteth it in the second place of nourishment. The other hath little or no floure left therein at all, howbeit he calleth it Panem Cibarium, and it is not onlie the woorst and weakest of all the other sorts, but also appointed in old time for seruants, slaues, and the inferiour kind of people to feed vpon. Ilerevnto likewise, bicause it is drie and brickie in the working (for it will hardlie be made vp handsomelie into loaues) some adde a portion of rie meale in our time, whereby the rough drinesse or drie roughnes therof is somwhat qualified, & then it is named miscelin, that is, bread made of mingled corne albeit that diuerse doo sow or mingle wheat & rie of set purpose at the mill, or before it come there, and sell the same at the markets vnder the aforesaid name.

William Harrison's Description of England in Holinshed's Chronicles

Making Bread: an Error in The Great Household

The Assize of Bread, a complicated system of regulated English bread prices, begun by Henry III in the 13th c., lasted into the 19th, by which time the drawbacks of the system were becoming increasingly apparent.

In 1812-13, Parliament looked into the issue, calling a series of bakers and millers as witnesses. Their inquiry tells us a lot about breadmaking at the time, when the technology was much closer to medieval than the industrialized processes of today.

According to the witnesses:

A bushel of wheat weighed about 58 lbs. but could be a bit more or less depending on the dryness of the year.

A bushel of wheat yielded about 35-47 lbs of flour suitable for making bread, depending on the fineness desired, with about a pound and a half lost in the grinding. A bushel yielded 35-37 lbs of fine white flour, 38-43 lbs of flour suitable for less fine standard wheaten bread, or 43-47 lbs of flour for household bread. The process also produced 16-10 lbs of bran for animal feed, with the finest flour leaving the most bran. The remainder, if any, was coarser flour called thirds or middlings. Unmixed, this could be used for sizing, fed to hogs, or used to make very inferior bread. Mixed with better flour, it was used to make ship's biscuits and bread for the poor.

A 280 pound sack of flour yielded 347 lbs of bread after baking into quatern loaves, or 1.24 pounds of bread per pound of flour. A baker added water, yeast and salt, and not all of the water was lost in baking. Smaller loaves produced less bread per pound of flour because they lost more weight in baking.

Woolgar's The Great Household in Late medieval England calculates that at the not uncommon medieval household rate of 35 loaves a bushel, a bushel would provide .98 lbs of flour per loaf and .79 lbs after baking.

The amount of flour produced per bushel seems low: would the entire household consume loaves that were premium products by early 19th c. standards? And the ratio of flour weight to baked weight seems to be backwards. If early 19th c. bakers could get more than a pound of bread from a pound of flour, why should we think that their ancestors did much worse?

Room and Board: Living with your Parent in 1383

Edith Rickert’s Chaucer’s World (pp 56-57) includes an indenture between Lady Alyne Lestrange, lady of Knokyn, and Lord Lestrange, Sir John, her son. Lord Lestrange is to have room and board for himself, his wife Lady Maude, and their personal servants: a squire, a lady (demoiselle), two yeomen (vadlets), a nurse and a page (garcon). In return he is to pay his mother 50 pounds a year.

When John, his spouse, or any of his servants are away, the payment is reduced by the following amounts per day:

Sir John or Lady Maude: 7d each
Esquire or demoiselle: 4d each
Yeomen or nurse: 3d each
Groom (garson): 1d

Presumably this approximates the marginal expense of feeding them each day, as well as fuel, candles, and probably fodder for their horses.

If Sir John wants to increase his retinue, he pays a similar but somewhat higher amount per day for each additional retainer:

For each knight (bachiler): 8d.
Each squire: 6d
Each yeoman: 3d
Each groom: 2d

Lady Alyne would need to provide additional lodgings for an expanded retinue, which would justify higher per day charges than the abatement for time away from home of the existing retinue.

The difference between the boarding expense for the different ranks is striking.

Update: error corrected in allowance for what Rickert translates as page. But I found the original French, in which the individual is a garson, better translated as groom.

Ceste endenture faite parentre ma tres reuerente Dame Alyne Lestrange, dame de Knokyn, dune part, et le Seigneur Lestrange monsieur Johan son filz dautre part, Tesmoigne que le dit monsieur Johan demeurera en Lostel ma dite tres reverente dame a bouche de courte : Cest assauoir lui mesmes, dame Maude Lestraunge sa compaigne, vn esquier, vn damoisele, deux vadlets, vn norice, et vn garson, de la date de fesaunte de ceste endenture, tanque a fyn dun an proschein ensuamte plenerment et comply : Rendant et payant a ma dite tres reuerente dame pour lour demoere par le temps susdit cynkaunt liueres de bone moneye en son manoir de Mudle a quatre termes del an, par oweles porcions: Cest assauoir a la quinzeyne de la purificacion notre dame proschein a venir xij li. xs. et en le feste de seynt Dunstan adonque proschein apres xij li. xs. et en le feste del Assumpcion notre dame adonque proschein ensuante xij li. xs. et en le feste de toux seynts adonque proschein ensuante xij li. xs. Et si auandit Seigneur monsieur Johan, dame Maude sa compaigne, ou ascuns socues sustynauntez soient hors de dit hostel: pour le temps tanque a lour auenue: oit rebatu de la dite summe: pour lui mesmes le iour vij^., pour dame Maude sa compaigne en mesme la manere, pour Lesquier le iour ni]d., et la Damoisele attant ; pour vn vadlet le iour iij^. La Norice en mesme la forme, et pour le garson le iouz id.: Et en cas que Lostel ma dite tres reuerente dame Lestraunge soit charge des suenantz au andits Seigneur son fitz, dame Maude sa compaigne ou a ascun des soenes susdits : autrement que nest compris en ceste endenture ; que le dit monsieur Johan soit charge de paier pour lour demoere a fyn de chescun quart desuis lymite: cest a dire pour un bachiler le iour viij. vn Esquier le iour v]d. Vn vadlet le iour iij^., et un garson le iour i]d. que les seruenantz seront accomptez par le Seneschal del Hostel ma dite tres reuerente dame que pour le temps serra et un autre demant oue auont dit Seigneur quele il plerra assigner. Et autre ces le dit Seigneur monsieur Johan veute et graunte par y cestes que si le dit payement soit a derare a ascun dez termes susditz en partie ou en toute ensemblement oue la summe de les suenantz. Chescun acompte solanc lour degree come desuis est dite a fyn de chescun quarte susdite qe ma dite tres reuerente dame ne soit charge pluis outre de la demoere: Et par tiele summe adonque aderere que ma dite tres reuerente dame retigne en ses meyns del manoir de Midlynton en le Counte D'Oxne-ford de les denieres dues an dit Seigneur monsieur Johan annuelement appaier par ma dite tres reuerente dame pour la moyte de dit Manoir a la vraye value issuit aderere: En tesmoignance de quele chose a cestes endentures les parties susditz entrechangeablement ount mys lour sealx : Escrite a Mudle en le feste de Seynte Katerine : Lan du regne le Roi Richard seconde puis le conqueste septisme.

The 14th Century Social Pyramid

The following illustrates the levels of late 14th c. English society from plowman to duke. It generally follows the ranks used in the 1379 Poll Tax, supplemented at the lower levels by the Sumptuary Laws of 1363. The first estate is in italic, the second in bold. Laborers were not the bottom of medieval society: below them were those who were unable to work because of age, illness or injury, reduced to a precarious existence dependent on charity.

Most of the ranks are followed by relevant sections of the sumptuary law of 1363. This was apparently never seriously enforced and may have been repealed the following year, but does give an idea of what was considered thrifty and restrained costume for each level of society. In reality, most people who could afford to indulged in some of the luxuries this law reserved to the level above them.

The ranks are illustrated by portraits from the Canterbury Tales, from the prologue unless otherwise noted. In many cases I have had to make educated guesses as to the wealth of the people described. Just how wealthy was the merchant or the prioress?

In some cases I have been guided by Russell’s Book of Nurture, a 15th century work on etiquette and manners. At dinner he would sit a prior with a knight, and so I have placed the prioress at that level. The monk is “to been an abbot able” but currently manages a cell, or subsidiary house, so I have placed him one level lower. The Wife of Bath is, or considers herself to be, the most substantial woman in her urban parish, and I have ranked her as a “sufficient merchant”

Chaucer doesn’t say what town the guildsmen, “shaply for to been an alderman”, are from. London aldermen were quite wealthy, with an implicit property qualification that was codified in the 15th c. as £1000 in goods or in money loaned out. This would suggest an income of over £100 a year. However, London aldermen were almost always from richer and more prestigious trades than Chaucer’s pilgrims. I suspect that they are either from a smaller town than London, or Chaucer is suggesting that they have an exaggerated sense of their own importance, or both.

Edith Rickert and other writers have noticed that Chaucer’s merchant corresponds in many details to Gilbert Maghfeld, a London merchant who handled goods worth £1,150 in 1390, and loaned money to Chaucer and many others. That would put him in the upper ranks of London merchants. Records from the Court of orphanage, 1350-1497, suggest a median estate of £200-£400, so even a more typical merchant would expect an income like a substantial squire.

A mark was worth 2/3 of a pound sterling.

1) Laborers. Many peasants had only a little land, or none, and depended on paid labor for others to survive. The income from such work could be very sporadic. In household service pages had a similar position at the bottom of the household hierarchy of pay, benefits and status. Also: Monks, etc, from houses worth less than 40 pounds and other clerks without advancement.
Income: £1 10s.-<£3

Carters, ploughmen, drivers of the plough, oxherds, cowherds, shepherds, deyars (dairymen) and swineherds, and all other keepers of beasts, threshers of corn, and all manner of people of the estate of a groom attending to husbandry, and all other people that had not forty shillings of goods, "shall not take nor wear no manner of cloth, but blanket and russet (wool) of twelve pence; and shall wear the girdles of linen according to their estate; and that they come to eat and drink in the manner as pertaineth to them, and not excessively."

Clerk
Ful thredbare was his overeste courtepy;
For he hadde geten hym yet no benefice,


2) Husbandmen. A holding of 30-15 acres of arable land, a yardland or half yardland, was generally reckoned enough to support a peasant farmer and his family. A groom in household service would live about as well, perhaps receiving somewhat finer clothes than the husbandman in livery as a matter of display. Also: Poorest landed lesser merchants or artificers. Pleaders. Monks and canons from lesser houses.Income: £3-<£5

….grooms, as well servants of lords as they of mysteries and artificers, shall .... have clothes for their vesture or hosing whereof the whole cloth shall not exceed two marks (26s. 8d.), and that they wear no cloth of higher price, of their buying nor otherwise, nor nothing of gold, nor of silver embroidered, aimeled (enameled), nor of silk, nor nothing pertaining to the said things; and their wives, daughters, and children of the same condition in their clothing and apparel, and they shall wear no veil, nor kerchief, passing twelve pence a veil.


3) Yeoman. A yeoman farmer would hold substantially more land than the minimum required to support a family: perhaps 100 acres or more. A skilled craftsman like an ordinary master carpenter would live about as well. The middle rank of household servants, between the grooms and the squires, were ranked as yeomen or valets. While this was a common term for servants of this rank, it doesn’t seem to have been regularly used to describe the free farmers from whom those servants were recruited until the 15th century. Also: middling to poor innkeepers, married pardoners or summoners, farmers of manor or parsonage, wholesalers dealing in stock and other lesser trade, and landed lesser merchants or artificers. All other benificed curates, and parish and annual chaplains. Monks and canons from middling houses.Income: £5-<£10

People of handicraft and yeomen are not to wear cloth of more than forty shillings the whole of it, 'by way of buying nor otherwise,' nor may they wear precious stones, 'nor cloth of silk nor of silver, nor girdle, knife harnessed, ring, garter, nor owche, ribband, chains, nor no such other things of gold nor of silver nor any embroidered work or silk. The wives and children of such persons to be liable to same restrictions, it being also expressly forbidden them to wear a kerchief of silk, or of anything but' yarn made within the realm, nor no manner of fur, nor of budge, but only lamb, coney, cat, and fox.

Yeoman
And he was clad in cote and hood of grene.
A sheef of pecok arwes, bright and kene,
Under his belt he bar ful thriftily,
(wel koude he dresse his takel yemanly:
His arwes drouped noght with fetheres lowe)
And in his hand he baar a myghty bowe.
A not heed hadde he, with a broun visage.
Of wodecraft wel koude he al the usage.
Upon his arm he baar a gay bracer,
And by his syde a swerd and a bokeler,
And on that oother syde a gay daggere
Harneised wel and sharp as point of spere;
A cristopher on his brest of silver sheene.
An horn he bar, the bawdryk was of grene;
A forster was he, soothly, as I gesse.

Carpenter’s Wife: Miller’s tale
A ceynt she werede, barred al of silk,
A barmclooth eek as whit as morne milk
Upon hir lendes, ful of many a goore.
Whit was hir smok, and broyden al bifoore
And eek bihynde, on hir coler aboute,
Of col-blak silk, withinne and eek withoute.
The tapes of hir white voluper
Were of the same suyte of hir coler;
Hir filet brood of silk, and set ful hye.
And sikerly she hadde a likerous ye;

And by hir girdel heeng a purs of lether,
Tasseled with silk, and perled with latoun.
In al this world, to seken up and doun,
There nys no man so wys that koude thence
So gay a popelote or swich a wenche.
A brooch she baar upon hir lowe coler,
As brood as is the boos of a bokeler.
Hir shoes were laced on hir legges hye.

Parish Clerk: Miller’s tale
Ful streight and evene lay his joly shode.
His rode was reed, his eyen greye as goos.
With poules wyndow corven on his shoos,
In hoses rede he wente fetisly.
Yclad he was ful smal and properly
Al in a kirtel of a lyght waget;
Ful faire and thikke been the poyntes set.
And therupon he hadde a gay surplys
As whit as is the blosme upon the rys.

Miller: Reeve’s Tale
Ay by his belt he baar a long panade,
And of a swerd ful trenchant was the blade
A joly poppere baar he is in his pouche;
Ther was no man, for peril, dorste hym touche.
A sheffeld thwitel baar he in his hose.

His Wife
The person of the toun hir fader was.
With hire he yaf ful many a panne of bras,
For that symkyn sholde in his blood allye.
She was yfostred in a nonnerye;
For symkyn wolde no wyf, as he sayde
But she were wel ynorissed and a mayde,
To saven his estaat of yomanrye.
And she was proud, and peert as is a pye.
A ful fair sighte was it upon hem two;
On halydayes biforn hire wolde he go
With his typet bounden aboute his heed,
And she cam after in a gyte of reed;
And symkyn hadde hosen of the same.
Ther dorste no wight clepen hire but dame;
Was noon so hardy that wente by the weye
That with hire dorste rage or ones pleye,
But if he wolde be slayn of symkyn
With panade, or with knyf, or boidekyn.



4) Landless Squire’s estate. Landless Squire in Service or Arms. A damoisele or damsel was the female equivalent of a squire in household service, a woman of gentle birth and status, but not necessarily young or unmarried. Poorer franklins or sergeants of the country. Richest innkeepers and married pardoners or summoners. 2nd rank of farmers of manor or parsonage, wholesalers dealing in stock and other lesser trade, lesser landed merchants or artificers. Clerics as below with appropriate income, monks and canons from the wealthiest houses.
Income: £10-<£20

Esquires, and all gentlemen under the estate of a knight, and not having land or rent of the value of £100 a year, were to wear suits costing no more than 4 1/2 marks (£3). They were not to wear any 'cloth of gold, nor silk, nor silver, nor no manner of clothing embroidered, ring, broche, nor owche of gold;' they were to use 'nothing of stone, nor no manner of fur.’ The wives and daughters of these gentlemen were under similar restraint, an injunction being added against their having 'any turning-up or purfle.'

Merchants, citizens, and burgesses, artificers, people of handicraft, as well within the City of London as elsewhere, having goods and chattels to the value of £500, they, their wives and children might dress as esquires, etc., and their belongings, who had 'land to rent to the value of £100 by the year'

Squire
Embrouded was he, as it were a meede
Al ful of fresshe floures, whyte and reede.
Syngynge he was, or floytynge, al the day;
He was as fressh as is the month of may.
Short was his gowne, with sleves longe and wyde




5) Squire of lesser estate, or widow of one. Other sufficient merchant, or widow of one. Apprentices of law and attorneys of lesser estate, Middling or poor mayors of small towns. Richer franklins or sergeants of the country. Richest farmers of manor or parsonage, wholesalers dealing in stock and other lesser trade, lesser landed merchants or artificers. Cleric as below with appropriate income.
Income: £20-£66 13s. 3d

Franklin
At sessiouns ther was he lord and sire;
Ful ofte tyme he was knyght of the shire.
An anlaas and a gipser al of silk
Heeng at his girdel, whit as morne milk.

Monk
A monk ther was, a fair for the maistrie,
An outridere, that lovede venerie,
A manly man, to been an abbot able.
Ful many a deyntee hors hadde he in stable,
And whan he rood, men myghte his brydel here
Gynglen in a whistlynge wynd als cleere
And eek as loude as dooth the chapel belle.

Therfore he was a prikasour aright:
Grehoundes he hadde as swift as fowel in flight;
Of prikyng and of huntyng for the hare
Was al his lust, for no cost wolde he spare.
I seigh his sleves purfiled at the hond
With grys, and that the fyneste of a lond;
And, for to festne his hood under his chyn,
He hadde of gold ywroght a ful curious pyn;
A love-knotte in the gretter ende ther was.
His heed was balled, that shoon as any glas,
And eek his face, as he hadde been enoynt.
He was a lord ful fat and in good poynt;
His eyen stepe, and rollynge in his heed,
That stemed as a forneys of a leed;
His bootes souple, his hors in greet estaat.
Now certeinly he was a fair prelaat;

Wife of Bath
Of clooth makyng she hadde swich an haunt,
She passed hem of Ypres and of Gaunt.
In al the parisshe wif ne was ther noon
That to the offrynge bifore hire sholde goon;
And if ther dide, certeyn so wrooth was she
That she was out of alle charitee.
Hir coverchiefs ful fyne weren of ground.
I dorste swere they weyeden ten pound
That on a Sonday weren upon hir heed.
Hir hosen weren of fyn scarlet reed,
Ful streite yteyd, and shoes ful moyste and newe.
Boold was hir face, and fair, and reed of hewe...

Upon an amblere esily she sat,
Ywympled wel, and on hir heed an hat
As brood as is a bokeler or a targe,
A foot-mantel aboute hir hipes large,
And on hir feet a paire of spores sharpe.
In felaweshipe wel koude she laughe and carpe.



6) Knight bachelor, squire that ought to be knight (40 pounds or more from lands), widow of these, Commander of Hospitalers, Middling apprentice of law or attorney, rich mayor of small town, municipal officer of large town, great merchant, or cleric as below with appropriate income.
Income: £66 13s. 4d.-< £200

…esquires having two hundred marks a year and upwards in land or rent might ' take and wear clothes of the price of five marks (£3 6s. 8d.), the whole cloth, and cloth of silk and of silver, ribband, girdle, and other apparel reasonably garnished of silver. Their wives and children might also wear ' fur turned up of miniver, without ermine or letuse but they might not wear any precious stones, except upon their heads.

Knights who had land or rent within the value of £200 by the year might wear six-mark cloth, but 'of none higher price. They might not wear cloth of gold, nor cloak, mantle, or gown that was furred with miniver nor sleeves of ermine, nor anything that was set with precious stones, excepting the head-dress; they were not to use any 'turning up of ermines, nor of letuses, nor clieres.'

Merchants, etc, who had goods and chattels to the value of £1000 might dress as esquires and gentlemen who had rent in land to the extent of £200 a year.

All clerks whose degree in college or church, and the clerks of the king whose position required the use of fur, might do according to the constitution of their society. All other clerks having 200 marks a year out of land might do as knights having the same rent; and clerks having less than this amount from rent were to be subject to the same restriction as esquires with £100 a year of rent. It was also provided that 'all knights and clerks who by this ordinance may wear fur in winter, shall wear lawn in summer.'

Knight
His hors were goode, but he was nat gay.
Of fustian he wered a gypon
Al bismotered with his habergeon,
For he was late ycome from his viage,
And wente for to doon his pilgrymage.

Merchant
A marchant was ther with a forked berd,
In mottelee, and hye on horse he sat;
Upon his heed a flaundryssh bever hat,
His bootes clasped faire and fetisly.
His resons he spak ful solempnely,
Sownynge alwey th' encrees of his wynnyng.

Guildsmen: Dyer, Haberdasher, Weaver, Tapestry Maker, Carpenter.
Ful fressh and newe hir geere apiked was;
Hir knyves were chaped noght with bras
But al with silver; wroght ful clene and weel
Hire girdles and hir pouches everydeel.
Wel semed ech of hem a fair burgeys
To sitten in a yeldehalle on a deys.
Everich, for the wisdom that he kan,
Was shaply for to been an alderman.
For catel hadde they ynogh and rente,
And eek hir wyves wolde it wel assente;
And elles certeyn were they to blame.
It is ful fair to been ycleped madame,
And goon to vigilies al bifore,
And have a mantel roialliche ybore.

Prioress
Ful fetys was hir cloke, as I was war
Of smal coral aboute hire arm she bar
A peire of bedes, gauded al with grene,
And theron heng a brooch of gold ful sheene,
On which ther was first write a crowned a,
And after amor vincit omnia.



6) Baron, banneret, widowed baroness or banneress, knight able to spend as baron, Prior of Hospitalers in England, Alderman of London, mayor of great town, sergeant or great apprentice of the law, married advocate, notary or procurator, abbot without mitre, prior, prioress, dean, archdeacon, provost, precentor, chancellor, treasurer, or parson with benifice or office worth appropriate income.
Income: £200 £.-<£340 .

All knights and ladies having land or rent exceeding the value of 400 marks by the year, and not more than £1000 a year, might wear what they liked, except ermine and letuse, and apparel adorned with pearls and precious stones, though they might wear jewels in their head-dresses.

Man of Law
He rood but hoomly in a medlee cote.
Girt with a ceint of silk, with barres smale;
Of his array telle I no lenger tale.


7) Earl, widowed countess, mayor of London, Justice of either of the two Benches and former justices, the chief Baron of the Exchequer, bishop, mitred abbot or prior, abbots or priors who are peers or priors of cathedral churches.
Income: over 340£

8) Dukes and Archbishops
Income: thousands of pounds.