The price of arms and armour in the Viking age

[Jeppe]

I will stick my neck out here, and try to address the idea that items such as swords and mail was expensive an thus only for the very rich or high ranking in society. It is something that has bothered me since I read a “price list” from Charlemagne in Lex Ripuaria.
I have come as far as I can on my own, and so I will be interested to hear your thoughts on the points below.

First the price of arms and armour:
Lex Ripuaria from mid 8th century list the price of armour as the following:

Helmet: 6 solidi
mail: 12 solidi
sword + scabbard: 7 solidi
sword: 3 solidi
leg armour: 6 solidi
spear + shield: 2 solidi
cavalry horse: 12 solidi

A normal horse is valued at 3 Solidi and a cow between 1 and 3 Solidi.

source: Carolingian Cavalryman AD 768-987, By David Nicolle, Osprey Publishing, 2005

Charlemagne also prohibited trading these items with the Scandinavians, indicating they could afford to buy them, and in numbers that would be military significant.

The Carolingian Solidus is worth 1/20 of a pound of silver. The Denari is 1/240 of a pound of silver.
The pound used is 0.453 Kg. My fairly standard Viking silver necklace (museum copy) weighs 23g equal 1 Solidus.

Translating to grams of silver the price list is:

Helmet: 136g silver
mail: 272g silver
sword + scabbard: 159g silver
sword: 68g silver
leg armour: 136g silver
spear + shield: 45g silver
cavalry horse: 272g silver


Second, the availability of silver:
The Scandinavians extracted more than 100 tonnes of Silver from the British Isles during the period 980-1018 (source, Museum of Stockholm). In 1018 Canute paid out his fleet (exept 40 ships) with 31.000 Kg silver. The invasion fleet has been estimated to be 10.000 men on 200 ships, so this payment is for 160 ships, giving 4Kg per soldier if divided equally.

The Dane-Geld was also collected from eastern provinces so more silver would have been circulating.

Third, other sources of income:
At the same time there is evidence (in particular from Denmark) of large farms producing Cows and pigs to feed the towns, and also horse breading. North of Aarhus (Viking era Aros) a farm was recently excavated, and the bone material clearly indicate large scale food production for the town, especially when compared to what has been found in Aarhus. Around 1000 AD Aros is a town with 500 to 700 inhabitants and a naval base.

[Chris Gilman]

Based on the above figures with current silver prices the costs for these items wold be:
Helmet: 136g silver- $113.84
mail: 272g silver - $227.68
sword + scabbard: 159g silver- $133.09
sword: 68g silver- $56.92
leg armour: 136g silver- $113.84
spear + shield: 45g silver- $37.67
cavalry horse: 272g silver-$227.68

[Ironic]

I will stick my neck out here, and try to address the idea that items such as swords and mail was expensive an thus only for the very rich or high ranking in society. It is something that has bothered me since I read a “price list” from Charlemagne in Lex Ripuaria.

My first thought was... is it possible that the swords listed weren't that good of quality, thus being cheaper in comparison?

[Dan Howard]

No. It just means that it is meaningless to use today's silver prices as a comparison. In reality it would require the resources of an entire community to supply one man with the above equipment and to keep it maintained.

[Derian le Breton]

Using modern silver prices makes no sense.

Beware the math! Debasement was a frequent fact of life on the continent. The nominal value and the actual value of a coin were rarely in line. The actual value was the important bit, especially when it came to large purchases.

The value of precious metals was neither constant nor uniform, either.

-Derian.

[Eachann]

You might have better frame of reference if you translated those to the prices of food staples (bread, butter, etc.) at that time. Then you could say something like you could buy a sword or eat for x days.

[Dan Howard]

From what I can gather, Lex Ripuaria is 7th century, not 8th. It was written before Charlemagne's monetary reforms. The golden solidi is still used, which equals 36 silver denarii. There are also two versions of the Lex Ripuaria, one says that a cow is 1 solidi and a horse is 7. The other says that a cow is 3 solidi and a horse is 12. Both say that an ox is worth 2 solidi.

Edit: just found this.
http://www.keesn.nl/price/en2_sources.htm

Dr Kees has done our work for us - collecting all the relevant sources in one place and translating them into English. Henstra (1999) is cited, who reckons that a denarius is 1.3 grams of silver.

[Dan Howard]

Here is a late 8th century source (after the monetary reforms) outlining the price of food from the Capitulary of Frankfort (794AD)
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/7 ... nkfort.asp

Our most pious lord king has decreed, with the assent of the holy synod, that no man, clerk or lay, may sell his corn more dearly, in time of abundance or scarcity of the harvest, than the public muid brings according to recent decree. For a muid of oats one denarius, for a muid of barley two denarii, for a muid of rye three denarii, for a muid of wheat four denarii. But if he wishes to sell it as bread, he ought to give twelve wheaten loaves, each weighing two pounds, for one denarius; fifteen of rye of equal weight for one denarius; twenty barley loaves of the same weight, or twenty-five oat cakes of the same weight, for one denarius. As for the public grain of the lord king, if it be sold, two muids of oats shall be sold for a denarius, one of barley for a denarius, one of rye for two denarii, one of wheat for three denarii. And let him who holds a benefice from us see to it that, when he has given what is due to God, no serf belonging to that benefice die of hunger, and what is left after the necessities of the serfs have been attended to shall be sold according to the rates mentioned above.

I'm not sure what a muid is, but if twelve wheaten loaves, each weighing 2 lbs, is worth one denarius then you can buy 144 loaves of bread for one solidii.

[chef de chambre]

You might have better frame of reference if you translated those to the prices of food staples (bread, butter, etc.) at that time. Then you could say something like you could buy a sword or eat for x days.

Bad comparison. People could eat a day for a penny, and a peasant could never dream of owning a byrnie. Values are often listed in numbers of cows or horses. ETA - these are NOT monetary societies, not a lot of coin was in circulation as a means of purchasing things.

Another problem is the relative costs of things in different societies at the same time- it is likely to be far easier and less expensive for a Frank in Charles reign to purchase a mail short or a sword, then someone in a Fiord in Sweden, or a town next to a bog in Denmark. It may be a steep increase in value outside of a Frankish held town.

[olaf haraldson]

This is why I never shop for armour, rather I take it from the body of a dead Saxon.

[olaf haraldson]

This is why I never shop for armour, rather I take it from the body of a dead Saxon.

[Biau-douz de la Mere]

This is why I never shop for armour, rather I take it from the body of a dead Saxon.

why don't you come down to Bordermarch Autumn Melees and take the armor off of this Saxon?

[boris_]

How much was the ulfberht?

[MJBlazek]

This is why I never shop for armour, rather I take it from the body of a dead Saxon.

why don't you come down to Bordermarch Autumn Melees and take the armor off of this Saxon?

Olaf, I'm pretty sure he just hit on you.

[Biau-douz de la Mere]

why, i didnt read it that way on initial entry...DOH! (palm to face)

& LOL!

[Steve S.]

You might have better frame of reference if you translated those to the prices of food staples (bread, butter, etc.) at that time. Then you could say something like you could buy a sword or eat for x days.

It's the Dark Ages Big Mac Index!

http://www.economist.com/content/big-mac-index

Steve

[Dan Howard]

I'd prefer to compare it to the cost of a day's labour.

[MJBlazek]

why, i didnt read it that way on initial entry...DOH! (palm to face)

& LOL!