CHAP. XII.

COMMODITIES.

337

Europe, a family of such distinction as to needseven horses could be supported at little morethan one hundred pounds of our money for ayear.

When the order of the Knights Templars wasabolished in England in 1310, and their vastwealth seized by the crown, the allowance madeto the members of that community appears tohave been very disproportionate to the rankthey had held, and the profusion in which theyhad lived. The grand master was assigned apension of six shillings a day, and each of theknights one shilling, of our money.

Although wine was a commodity of foreigngrowth, yet its consumption must have beenlarge among the more opulent' classes of thecommunity, and the price of it at various periodsmust be an indication of the value of money.

According to the Chronicon, the price of theRochelle wine in the reign of King John , in theyear 1210, was Si. per ton, the ton being then,as now, nearly two pipes. Anjou "wine wasSi. 12s. and the best French wine 41. per ton.In Rymer’s Foedera (vol. i. p. 36) we find, in1236, the retail price of wine to be sixpence pergallon. In 1313 in Stow’s Survey is an ac-count from the cofferer or treasurer of the Earlof Leicester, who seems to have been themost expensive person of his age: his annualconsumption of wine is stated to be three

vol. 1 .

z