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The Bread Constant

Without a constant and stable source of food there can be no location specific (non-itinerary)
civilization. In order to even begin to talk about an economy we have to establish its base, and the
primary source of nutrition is just that. This source had to be commonly available, highly nutritious
and provide satiation. Wheat bread ticked all of those boxes for most of central European
civilization since the dawn of agriculture. For colder climates (i.e. Northern Europe) oats, rye and
barley replaced wheat, because of their ability to withstand lower temperatures.
The price of bread is a constant for the economy; as a dietary staple it becomes a measure of the
cost of living. In many medieval kingdoms bread price remained the same, even if in times of war
or drought the size of a loaf became smaller. It is easier to keep your constant as simple as possible
in matters of price and, since the most commonly used coin is the silver coin, the constant can be set
to be that:
Local market selling price
1 silver piece = 1 8 oz. loaf of white wheat bread (1750 Kcal)
OR
1 silver piece = 1 lb loaf of brown barley bread (1500 Kcal)
Keep in mind that the price of bread as the most basic product also defines the average
wealth of the kingdom. Simply put, a wealthy kingdoms price of bread would be higher
than a poorer one.

Grain surplus as the economy driver


Since prehistoric times humans came together in order to survive. Survival was a matter of nutrition
and safety, both from the weather and from other threats. With the discovery of agriculture humans
no longer had to rely exclusively on hunting and foraging, which allowed for permanent housing;
this in turn gave rise to the first settlements. Each farmer strived to be self-sufficient and produce as
many of the required goods as possible, but nobody could have the knowledge and the time to
produce everything that was needed. This was, in fact, the reason that even when a family was
almost self-sufficient it would keep strong ties with the families around it. In order to nurture these
relationships, each family unit had to be able to feed themselves and produce a surplus of some of
its products; this surplus could then in turn be used to barter with other families for products or
services they could not produce themselves.
As farming grew more efficient, surplus became greater. When surplus was so great that it could
support people who did not produce their own food (and who traded for services they were able to
provide) this gave rise to the first non-agrarian settlements towns. Towns in many cases would
rely, almost exclusively, on the surrounding villages for their source of food, whilst the villages
relied on the nearby towns in order to sell their products on a greater scale than local barter, giving
rise to trade. Trade became the lifeblood of civilizations since it opened the doors for cross-
civilization exchange of products, knowledge and ideas, and also fueled the advancement of local
and regional economy, as well as scientific and cultural progress.
The base of the fantasy world economy
After finishing the introduction to the series, I thought that our first article should have been about
raw materials and their prices. I did that considering that since raw materials are the base of the
production of every economy that would have been a good place to begin our journey.
But this couldnt be furthest from the truth. I have tried to write the article and, in fact, the article is
now half-there sitting in the drafts, but I couldnt finish it. In order to establish how much will
something cost, I had to ask two things:
How much does a laborer requires and needs as a wage? And, Which are the value of equipment
and other sources for the extraction of a raw material? As you can understand, this brought me in a
catch-22 scenario, were to have the one I had to have the other and vice versa.
So this article wont be about raw materials. I do apologize for this, but the article is coming quite
soon, along with a third article that I wrote as an attempt to give the basis for those mentioned
above. This article is about the cost of labor and how we should estimate it.
This article is about the cost of labor and how we should estimate it.

Factors that affect earnings of an employee


In order to understand the cost of labour, we have to establish which are the factors that contribute
into shaping, it. Prices of goods and services, including wages, change over time. A variety of
factors drives these changes. Below we examine which are the factors that affect earnings and
which of them, stay, pretty much unchanged, versus those that create fluctuations.

Nutritional requirements
If there was a single factor, that determined the expected wage of anyone that would have been the
cost of food, and it is indeed, an exceedingly important one.
We know that an average, middle-aged man requires 2,500 kilocalories per day to sustain their
weight. This calculation considers the modern style of life which, in most cases evolves
significantly, less manual labour, and it assumes adequately insulated, warm and dry housing.

During middle ages, this was true for some but not for the biggest part of the population. For most
peasants, the conditions were harsh, and the work was hard and tiring. It required significant
amounts of energy in order to sustain their body mass. A peasants work was significantly less
energy-demanding than the work that a miner or a lumberjack conducted. The average town-
dwelling craftsman had, in average, the same nutrition requirements we also encounter nowadays.
By reverse engineering from sources 5- 8 we can extrapolate that the average dietary requirements
daily in a fantasy world would look like this:

Labourer type Kilocalories consumed daily


Serf, Adult, Heavy work 4500
Serf, Adult, Light work 3000
Child 2500
Miner, Extremely heavy work 7500
Lumberjack, Very heavy work 6500
Master Mason, Heavy work 5000
Commoner (Vendor, Merchant, Housewife) 2500
Slave, House 2500*
Slave, Field 3500*
Slave, Estate 3000*
Noble, High (King, Duke, Courtier) 7500
Soldier (Guardsman, Footman) 4000
Noble, Manor (Baron, Knight) 6000
Craftsman (Baker, Smith, Carpenter) 3000
Craftsman, Apprentice 3000
Labourer, Medium-weight work 3500
* malnourished

Expected quality of life


Becoming an accomplished master of your art or marryingup change the expectation that you have
about what constitutes a good meal or a good time. Gaining know-how or moving higher into the
social echelon affects your assumed quality of nutritional standards. For example, for a cottar, to
have meat on the table is considered a great luxury, and happened rarely. For the average blacksmith
in a town, meat was quite common if not a daily occurrence. Nobles would expect not one, but
several kinds of meat to be available during a meal, all of them, well presented and garnished with
all sorts of fruit and vegetables; some imported from far away lands.
These expectations would work as a cost multiplier on the calories needed for each type of worker.
For our examples above these modifiers range from 0.65 (Slave, Field) to 5 (Noble, High).

Labourer type Nutritional quality multiplier


Serf, Adult, Heavy work 1
Serf, Adult, Light work 1
Child 1
Miner, Extremely heavy work 2
Lumberjack, Very heavy work 2
Master Mason, Heavy work 3
Commoner (Vendor, Merchant, Housewife) 2
Slave, House 0.9
Slave, Field 0.65
Slave, Estate 0.75
Noble, High (King, Duke, Courtier) 5
Soldier (Guardsman, Footman) 1.5
Noble, Manor (Baron, Knight) 4
Craftsman (Baker, Smith, Carpenter) 2
Craftsman, Apprentice 1.5
Labourer, Medium-weight work 1
Expertise, social status & class
The amount of calories and the type of food that someone would prefer to consume, play an
important factor on the expected wage but they are not the only one. The years of practicing your
art or craft and how renowned you are at it, or simply your noble rank denote your housing,
purchase power, entertainment, education and, amongst others, daily needs.
The simplest way to calculate this would be a multiplier on top of the above that will represent the
additional income requirement of each citizen of our fantasy world kingdom. This multiplier, for
our cases, ranges from 0 (for a slave with no personal possessions) to 45 for a high noble who
would expect to amass a significant amount as savings as well.

Calculations and methodology


Weve have talked a lot about calories and stacked multipliers, but how does this translate into
money? Well, this is where the bread constant (the staple of life) comes into play. In the
introduction of this article series, we have discussed that one 1lb brown loaf of bread, for our
calculations, costs one piece of silver and amounts to 1,700kCal.
Based on this the calories needed (CN) multiplied by the nutrition quality multiplier (NQM) and
divided by calories of our staple (CS) would give us the cost of food per day.
Multiplying this by the Additional income multiplier (AIM) will give us the Expected Wage (EW)
Example: Soldier's cost of food per day
Cost of Food per day:
Calories needed (4000kCal) * Nutrition quality multiplier (1.5) / Staple calories (1700kCal) = 3.51
silver pieces / day
Daily Wage:
Cost of Food per day (3.51) * Additional income requirement (1.5) = 5.26 silver pieces per day

Days of work
The above represent the wage that someone would expect if he was in the employment of someone
else. The yearly profits of each worker are subject to how many days per year they would be
employed, or capable of exercising this profession.
For example, in reality the profits of a knight (Noble, Manor) are dependent on the productivity of
his personal endeavours within his manorial property. Having said that, and knowing that a
knights fee equals 40 days of service per year. We can assume that a King, initially, should
provide a knight with land that can produce for him at least, the expected wage, times forty (in this
case 210.53 * 40 = 8,421 silver pieces). This meant, that in times of war, the profits could rise
tenfold within a year.
In order to calculate the profits of someone working for themselves, we should consider taxation,
fees and other overheads. These in average come to about a thirty-five percent (35%) increase in the
listed values. We will elaborate on this in a later article.
Labor demand and other modifiers
Prices can be modified depend on the socioeconomic and political situation of the kingdom. Events
like an embargo, a war, the discovery of a rich deposit of silver, or droughts, can bring some of the
wages down, and some of them, as we already discussed up.

Weather conditions like adverse winters, or shower-less summers can also have a profound effect on
the cost of labor. Work conducted during winter in the open, like logging, might drive the days of
employment down, which in turn would raise demand for wood and thus the cost of labor. Times of
drought would mean that the stores of grain wont be restored and that there wont be enough food
to feed the animals; raising the price of flour and thus, making the size of the average loaf smaller.
In most cases, other than those which might cause kingdom-wide starvation, the required wage
cannot be modified lower than the cost of food per day. At the same way, the additional income
modifier should not exceed twice its standard value.

Results
I have created a first draft of the list of wages. This list will be expanded as we delve deeper into
this series.

Legend
Name: The name of the profession. Light to Very Heavy refers to how arduous the work is expected
to be.
Calories needed: The calories needed to keep a human being in the same weight, and in average
health
Nutrition quality modifier: The quality of food required, anything underneath 1 is considered left-
overs and below the average quality food. 1 denotes bread and pottage diet (villagers basic diet)
while anything above 1.5 assumes that some meat is common place.
Cost of food per day (in silver pieces): The cost of food based on the fact that 1lb of brown bread
costs one silver piece and provides the consumer with 1700kcal.
Additional income modifier: Expected basics and luxuries like entertainment, education,
equipment, housing etc.
Expected wage/day (in silver pieces): the cost of food multiplied by the additional income
modifier
Days of employment per year: Days that which work can take place within the 365 days of a year.
Based on 65 to 70 days of enforced holidays (Sundays and festivals), constituted agreements
(Knights fee), work on field, weather conditions, etc
Yearly profit from employment: expected wage multiplied by days of employment
Daily profits: Yearly profit divided by 365 days (people eat and spend regardless of days of work)
Daily surplus: Difference between cost of food and daily benefits, denoting the actual living
conditions and the requirement for additional employment or business ownership or the actual daily
spending limit.

Farming year in medieval times or, farmers


odyssey during the Middle ages
by Dimitris Romeo Havlidis | Mar 15, 2015 | Agriculture, Articles | 0 comments

A reason to pray for good weather


For the serf and freemen, there was no rest at any point during the medieval farming year. The
farmers struggle to survive was never-ending, and tasks continued even under the blanket of winter
snow. The life of each farmer was tied to the weather and seasons, and his tasks would change or
adapt according to it. There was no such thing as good weather the ideal conditions changed
according to what was required to advance the crops and facilitate that months tasks, and farmers
might be as likely to pray for rain or wind as for sun. When the weather did not oblige, the family of
a serf could starve.

The farming year in medieval times


Month Work to be done
January Repairing structures and Planting early crops
February Ploughing the fields, Fertilising
March Sowing seeds, Weeding and some more Ploughing
April Pruning, Weeding and Scaring off the birds
May Weeding, Scaring off the birds
June Harvesting crops, Shearing the sheep
July Ploughing, resources Gathering and stockpiling
August Harvesting, Tying and Threshing
September Harvesting, Tying, Winnowing, Fruit picking and Milling
October Sowing, Milling, Weaving and Rope making
November Butchering, Salting, Smoking, and Weaving
December Collecting, Digging, Skinning, Hunting and Tool Making
Some tasks were necessary on a small-scale throughout the year, but are only mentioned above
during their peak times in medieval farming year.

Butchering
Butchering animals during late winter was a necessary both to provide food for the family, and to
reduce the number of livestock requiring winter sustenance. During November and December, the
barley and hay put aside to feed the animals during winter time would begin to run low. In order to
ensure the survival of breeding stock and very young animals, the villager had to slaughter a
significant part of its flock, leaving only those that he couldnt afford to lose.

Farmers spent most of their time with their animals in their


house and, it is documented, that in many instances they formed bonds that resembled the modern
pet-owner relationship. Killing the animals, contrary to popular opinion, was done with great
respect and quite humanely. The farmer would use the back of his axe to first render the animal
unconscious, before cutting its throat and hanging it from the ceiling in order to drain the blood out.
Bleeding the animal helps to the process of skinning and, later on, provided drier meat for
preservation by salting or smoking. No part of the animal was left unused.

Collecting & Gathering


Gathering resources like wood, twigs, straw, dung and, of course, tasty eggs, was an important part
of a villagers life throughout the medieval farming year. Wood was used as fuel for the fire
to warm the house during winter. Twigs, animal dung, and straw were used as building materials for
repairs on the house and all their tools, and straw was also used as bedding. Finally, animal dung
was used to both fertilise the vegetable garden, though usually there wasnt enough to be used in the
fields.
Composting was also a part of the collecting and gathering process. Animal dung, and other
biological matter which could not be eaten by the villagers or their animals, was collected in piles
which were turned occasionally in order to rot evenly. Rotted matter (manure) then was used to
fertilise the crops. It is worth noting that fresh manure applied directly to growing plants will kill
them, a the ammonia content is too high; the rotting process breaks this down into usable nitrates
for plants.

Digging
Who doesnt love a bit of digging? In the instance of the medieval serf, grabbing a shovel and
digging away was more a requirement than a favourite pastime. Digging trenches ensured that flood
water will not water-log fields, which greatly improved the chances of a good crop. In areas where
rainfall was low, irrigation ditches were dug in order to bring the water of nearby rivers closer to the
crops. In some locations, digging was also used to cover human excrement in order to dispose of it
in a sanitary way (normally it was just thrown in the same stream that villagers were also drinking
water from mmmm, delicious).

Fertilising
Contrary to popular opinion, most of the fields were not fertilised using manure. Fertilising a whole
field meant that you had enough animals to produce a significant amount of manure, which was
rarely the case. Another technique used was marling. For marling, farmers spread clay containing
lime carbonate onto their soil. Clay was not available everywhere, but where it was, enriching the
soil with it provided a great boost on the fertility of the field.
Manure was used mostly to fertilise the patches the farmers had around their house, which provided
the family with fresh fruit and vegetables throughout most of the farming year.

Fruit picking
Fruit picking, like strawberries, raspberries, cherries, apples, lemons and apricots, was done mostly
during late autumn and it was one of those jobs that the young members of the family could do
without supervision and enjoyed the most. Fruits and nuts could easily be preserved by creating
marmalade or by drying them out, which made them an excellent supplement to the diet of the
villager during the winter.
Harvesting
The time of harvest was a time of hard work and celebration. During harvest, twice a year, during
August and September, the whole of the family would take to the fields to gather the grains and
legumes that were seeded. It was important that the crop was harvested as quickly as possible to
prevent rain and cold damage. The villagers would work from the break of day to dawn every day,
in some cases even on Sundays. It was common that, if a family was struggling, the rest of the
villagers would help them out after they were done with their own fields without any pay thats
how important it was to have a good harvest. Though originally the sickle was the harvesting tool of
choice, it was quickly replaced following the introduction of the more time-efficient scythe.
When all this was done, it was time to celebrate. Even better was the fact that Harvest Home was
one of those rare celebrations which the Lord of the Manor would have funded in its entirety.

Milling
Did you know? The first record of a windmill in England is a mill in Yorkshire, dating from 1185.
Milling is the process of grinding down grains of wheat and barley in order to produce flour. Flour
was not white and powdery as we know it today. It was brown and coarse like wholegrain, but
included more particles of husks.

If the Lord of the manor owned a mill, all the milling of the village would have happened there and
would have been taxed with a portion of the flour milled. If there was no mill available, the
villagers would have used a hand-operated mill (quern) which was comprised of two stones one
above the other and a handle to grind the top stone over the bottom one. The top stone had a hole
in the middle, where the grain was poured slowly. As the stone moved in a circular motion, the
grain would slowly break down into flour; this process could have taken hours. It is calculated that,
in order to have enough flour for one loaf of bread, an adult had to spend around four hours milling
flour.

Planting
If the fields were used for grain, barley and legumes, the gardens, also known as tofts, of the
villagers house were used to grow vegetables and fruit. Planting took place during late winter and
early spring and, for some vegetables like lettuce, continued throughout summer and autumn. The
vegetables planted provided the family with their daily pottage (stew).
Another part of the planting process was the harvest of seeds from plants that were gone to seed
intentionally left in the ground since the last year in order to provide seed for the next year.

Ploughing
From all the tasks of the medieval farming year, ploughing was, without argument, the most
arduous of them all. Ploughing was the process of preparing the fields by breaking, aerating and
turning over the top soil, revealing the more fertile undersoil for planting. In order to achieve this
the farmer would use (preferably) a heavy plough dragged by oxen or, in the worst case, a shovel
and hours of unending, back-breaking labour. Ploughs were heavy, intricate and expensive, and
oxen needed a large amount of food; in many cases, villages would own communal ploughs and
oxen and take turns in using them during ploughing seasons in February and July.

Pruning
Pruning was the process of preparing the trees to fruit; cutting away old growth promoted new
vigour, and was also a chance to remove diseased branches. Pruning also included propping up and
supporting branches which were extending further from the trunk, and which would otherwise put
strain on the tree and reduce its yield. All this was done to ensure that trees produced the maximum
amount of fruit or nuts. It was a task normally carried out by women and children, who were taught
at an early age. Young trees would be pruned in April/May, whilst established trees are pruned in the
winter when dormant.
Repairing
Medieval houses were homemade, and frequent repairs were necessary to repair damage from high
winds, humidity, extreme weather and even the passage of time. Re-thatching, replacing wattle and
daub, or providing additional support for preexisting structures, were all necessary jobs. Repairs
were frequently postponed until the winter, simply because there were fewer chores than in the rest
of the medieval farming year, and inclement weather house maintenance less unpleasant than
outdoor work.

Rope making
Rope-making was possible only when there were the appropriate materials flax or hemp grown
locally. The process including separating the fibres of the plant, and weaving them together. Ropes
would also sometimes be waxed for additional strength. This would also happen during the cold
winter, when the whole family would stay inside to help.

Salting and Smoking


Salting and smoking took place after the of slaughtering animals or fishing. Smoking was not just
for meat products, but also for alliums such as onions and garlic. Smoking was more common in
serfs households than salting, due to the very high price of salt. In areas far from the sea, salt would
have come from the peddler or rarely, from mineral salt mines. Serf houses were chimney-less and
thus meat would smoke simply by hanging it from the rafters near the roof.

Scaring the birds


Why use an inanimate scarecrow if you have children with bells, gongs and rattles? Preventing the
birds from eating the newly sown seed was vital to increase the yield. Noise makers of various types
would have been used for this task, or even simply shouting and clapping.

Shearing and Spinning

A 15th century image of a woman combing wool look at the large, iron teeth on those combs!
Villagers clothes were largely made of wool (probably un-dyed), since it was cheap and readily
available. Wool was shorn from the sheep using shears, and this was often a task for the women.
The quality and quantity of wool depended on the health of the sheep, which was directly related to
the amount of food they were supplied with. Wool would then have to be washed to remove some of
the greasy lanolin and muck. It was combed using vicious-looking iron-toothed combs. Wool would
then be spun and woven, or otherwise felted to give fabric for clothing.

Skinning
No part of the animal was wasted, and after butchering the animals, the skin would be carefully
removed. It would either be sold to a skinner, or if the villager had the knowledge and equipment
himself, he could treat it. Animal skins require curing to make fur and pelts; skins could otherwise
be tanned to produce leather.

Sowing
Seed sowing took place after the ploughing, and was done by hand. A harrow (or rake, for small
areas) would then be used to cover up the seeds with aerated soil.
Tool making and Maintenance
During the winter time, tools would have been thoroughly cleaned to prevent rust. Any broken tools
would have been repaired, and extra nails would have been added to fix tool-heads onto hafts. In
addition, new tools would be created as required these requirements might change as children
matured to working age.

Tying
This refers to tying the bushels of wheat and hay together. It was part of the harvest process and
would have been done primarily by women. Tying made transportation and storage easier.

Weaving
Basket weaving ensured that there would be proper storage for food, and also create receptacles to
carry things in. It was a time-consuming process and, again, mostly carried out by women.
Materials used included willow and rushes or reeds. Weaving techniques were also necessary to
create wattle-and-daub structures, fences, and supports for climbing plants.
Wool weaving was another way to create fabric for clothing, in addition to felting and, in the late
medieval era, knitting. Before the invention of the spinning wheel in the 15th century, knitting
would have been done with a simple drop spindle.

Weeding
Throughout the year before ploughing, during the growing season, and just before harvest
weeding was a necessary task. other plants completed for the same nutrients, light and space as the
crop, and had to be removed. This would have been done by hand, and by the whole family; it was a
tedious and back-breaking task.

Winnowing and Threshing


Threshing was the process used to separate the delicious grain from the husks and chaff of the plant
(the stalks, seed casings etc.). Cut grain-heads would be hit with a flail to knock the grain out. The
whole mix of grain and chaff would then be put load-by-load onto a winnowing basket and flung
into the air. The heavier grain portion would fall downwards (either into the basket or onto the
floor) whilst the lighter chaff and husks would be blown a few feet away by the wind. These were
not wasted, but used as animal fodder.

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