What could a penny buy you in Elizabethan Times??

Question

i know that a penny could buy you a play to watch at the theatre while standing but that's about it

what else can it buy?

how many clothes could you buy with a penny?

what foods could you buy with a penny?

AND WHAT WAS THE INCOME PER WEEK OF AN AVERAGE PERSON??

also, what services could you buy with a penny?

IN ELIZABETHAN TIMES?? back when SHAKESPEARE was alive??

thanks for answering!!

Answer 1

In Shakespearean times, an average artisan (skilled worker) earned a shilling (12 pence) a day.

http://www.answers.com/topic/english-ren...

In the early 17th Century, a farm labourer earned 8-10 pence a day, a bit less than a soldier. A milk maid earned 4 pence a day.

http://www.suite101.com/lesson.cfm/17395...

Between 1580 and 1629, a building labourer in southern England earned 8 pence a day. In 1594, a loaf of bread cost half a penny.

http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/resource...

For prices in Elizabethan times, including clothing, see this price list here. It says a loaf of bread cost 2 pence, a chicken 1 penny, a goose 4 pence and a pound of best beef 3 pence.

http://www.guildofstmichael.org/guild/mo...

In 1625, one penny would buy you:

A quart (two pints) of the best ale!

Two quarts of single ale

A feather bed for one night

Three 8oz loaves of bread

A third of a lean chicken, or  a quarter of a plump one

Etc. See the price list here:

http://www.portsdown.demon.co.uk/mark.ht...

Answer 2

Here are some answers for you.

From a soldier's shopping list, one penny (1d) would buy you 24 oz wheat bread or 2/3 gallon of beer. http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Libra...

Here are some wages:

http://www.elizabethan.org/compendium/51...

http://www.guildofstmichael.org/guild/mo...

More information:

http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizab... (there's an error under "Wages" - I think the last nobleman should be "peasant".)

From Liza Picard's "Elizabethan London":

"...the normal 'shopping basket of consumer goods' of an Elizabethan was so completely different from ours.  Their lives were simpler - no mortgage, no commuter's season ticket, no car, no washing machine, no hi-fi, no foreign holidays, no insurance... Perhaps the wage of a skilled tradesman such as a carpenter - 1s 2d a day - is helpful to bear in mind.  The rich were very rich, and there was not much to invest in - no stocks and shares in our sense, no banks, no yachts.  They could put their money into trading ventures to foreign lands, or spend it on clothes, jewels, feasts and, within the constraints of London, houses.

A penny would always buy a loaf, but the weight of the loaf varied.  It would buy admission to a circular playhouse as a 'groundling', or to the plays at Merchant Taylors' Hall, or hire a two-oar wherry to cross the river."

3d - a small pipe of tobacco at a playhouse

6d - a quart of claret, a medical handbook or a bag of nuts

1s - a pair of shoes for a poor man, or pay for a carpenter's mate for a day

2s - pay two sawyers for a day, or buy a shirt for a poor man

3s - 1lb of pepper

8s - a pair of fashionable summer boots

12s 3d - a 10-lb sugar loaf

26s 8d - an untrimmed beaver hat, or two dozen damask napkins

£20 - the value of one of the Earl of Leicester's cloaks

£9,535 - the Queen's annual expenditure on her wardrobe

Hope this helps.