Historic Cost Calculator from The National Archives
Ever wanted to know how much a sum of money was worth in the past?
The National Archives in the U.K. has this handy currency calculator on their website,
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/
So if you want to know how much £1 would have bought you in 1270 it reveals that it is the equivalent of £729.83 (2017 value).
But more than that you can see that your £1 would have bought you a horse, or two cows, or 7 stones of wool. If you wanted 6 quarters of wheet, then your £1 would buy you that amount. And if you were to find a skilled tradesman to employ in 1270 then for £1 he would give you 100 days of work. This shows that value of a sum of money can be very different depending on what it was used for as I doubt a skilled tradesman would work for 100 days for just shy of £730!
