Assize of Bread and Ale
The Assize of Bread and Ale (
The law was amended by the Bread Acts of 1822 and 1836, which stipulated that loaves should be sold by the pound, or multiple thereof, and finally repealed by the
Background
Bread regulation was the most significant and long-lasting commercial law in medieval England. The first bread assize law dates back to the 13th century, but its origins are even older. This law can be traced back to proclamations from the reigns of
These assizes adjusted the weight of bread according to the price of wheat. The price of bread was always the same, even though the price of grain fluctuated. Instead, when the price of grain increased, the weight of bread was reduced accordingly. For every increase in the price of wheat, the weight of a loaf fell.[5] The Assize of Bread and Ale set the price of ale and the weight for a farthing loaf of bread.[6] The act reduced competition and was purportedly given at the request of the bakers of Coventry, embracing several ordinances of Henry III's predecessors.[7]
Economic context
The expensive equipment associated with brewing and baking, particularly the oven, created a commercial market for the goods. This resulted in a perceived need for regulations controlling quality and pricing, and checking weights, to avoid fraudulent activity by food providers.
Declarations
Some versions of the statute include an explanatory third paragraph which begins:
Bread
The assize presented an established scale, then of ancient standing, between the prices of wheat and of bread, providing that when the quarter (~240 L / 6.9 US bushel if the gallon is taken to be the
The assize of bread was in force until the beginning of the 19th century, and was only then abolished in London.[9]
Ale
In a similar manner, the assize regulated the price of the gallon of ale, by the price of wheat, barley, and oats, stating that,
when a quarter of wheat was sold for three shillings, or three shillings and four-pence, and a quarter of barley for twenty pence or twenty-four pence, and a quarter of oats for fifteen pence, brewers in cities could afford to sell two gallons of ale for a penny, and out of cities three gallons for a penny; and when in a town (in burgo) three gallons are sold for a penny, out of a town they may and ought to sell four.[10]
Over time, this uniform scale of price created opportunities for
See also
- Other English Weights and Measures Acts
- Baker's dozen- origin of the term
- Vantage loaf
- Worshipful Company of Bakers
Notes
- ^ Gibbins 1897, pp. 245–246.
- ^ Cartwright 2001, p. 152.
- ^ Bennett 2004, pp. 233–236.
- ^ Hornsey 2004, pp. 292–296.
- ^ a b Davis 2004, p. 464.
- ^ Wood 2002, pp. 97–98.
- ^ a b Davies, Charles (1871) The Metric System, Considered with Reference to its Introduction into the United States. A. S. Barnes and Company
- ^ Ruffhead, Owen, ed. (1763), The Statutes at Large, vol. I: From Magna Charta to the End of the Reign of King Henry the Sixth. To which is prefixed, A Table of the Titles of all the Publick and Private Statutes during that Time, London: Mark Basket for the Crown, pp. 22. (in English) & (in Latin)
- ^ Gibbins 1897, p. 229.
- ^ a b Long, George, ed. (1833) "Ale", in: The Penny Cyclopædia. 30 vols. London: Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge; {which vol.?} p. 285.
Bibliography
- "The Assizes of Bread, Beer, & Lucrum Pistoris". Internet Medieval Sourcebook. Fordham University. 1999. Retrieved 9 April 2017. [not accessible at Dec 2023]
- Bennett, Judith M. (2004). Women in the Medieval English Countryside. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195045611.
- Cartwright, Peter (2001). Consumer Protection and the Criminal Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 152. ISBN 0-521-59080-9.
- Davis, James (2004). "Baking for the common good: a reassessment of the assize of bread in Medieval England". The Economic History Review. 57 (3): 464–502. S2CID 154643188.
- Gibbins, Henry de Beltgens (1897). The Industrial History of England. London: Methuen & Co.
- Hornsey, Ian (2004). A History of Beer and Brewing. London: Royal Society of Chemistry. ISBN 0-85404-630-5.
- Ross, Alan S. C. (1956). "The Assize of Bread". The Economic History Review. 9 (2): 332–342. JSTOR 2591750.
- Wood, Diana (2002). Medieval Economic Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-45893-5.