{"content":[{"text":"recorded in the Muster Roll were likely to have died. Examination of the thirty-nine wills \n produced fifteen which could be ascribed confidently to persons entered in the Muster Roll. \n and one for the widow of an entrant. Whilst there are no inventories for these wills sums of \n money are mentioned as bequests and it has been assumed that the estates of the testators \n were sufficient to pay these bequests. In addition most wills mention goods such as malt, \n barley and wheat, usually by the quarter (336 lbs to 504 lbs), sheep, by the score, and \n furniture. In many cases the residue was left to a wife and was, presumably, sufficient to \n satisfy her thirds or dower. The information from the wills is summarized in Table 1. \n In eight cases the monetary bequests were larger than the declared sum in the Muster Roll, in \n three cases they were roughly equal and in four cases they were less. However, when the \n values of bequests in kind and the wives' dowers are also taken into consideration it is likely \n that all the wills represent estates larger than the declared sum in the Muster Roll. Hoskins \n has noted the same sort of discrepancy. He mentions Sir Stephen Jenyns, merchant tailor of \n London, who was assessed in 1522 for £3,500. However. \"when he died in 1524 his \n benefactions alone totalled £2.693 and presumably he made substantial provision for his \n family\". Also \"John Rudstone, alderman of the City ... was assessed at 2.000 marks (£1,333 \n 6s 8d) in 1522, but his inventory only nine years later shows a clear total of well over £7.000 \n in personal estate\" (11). Hoskins attributes the discrepancy to successful concealment of \n wealth but I would argue that the Muster Roll figures could be annual income. There were no \n incomes of this magnitude for Wantage but £80 per annum for Robert Aldworth, tanner (see \n Table), does not seem unreasonable; McGrandle suggests that in 1450 a town priest might \n earn £100 per annum, a doctor and surgeon £50 per annum and a country parson £10-£15 per \n annum, whilst a merchant in Elizabeth's reign might be worth £100-£500 per annum (12). \n Other evidence for incomes in Wantage is scanty but would seem to support the Muster Roll \n figures. In 1522 Sir Thomas Odams, the chantry priest at Wantage, was assessed for goods of \n £7. Wills of 1507 (9), 1512 (13) and 1525 (14) mention the sum of £6 13s 4d as the annual \n payment for a chantry priest, whilst in wills of 1512 (also reference 13), 1518 (15) and 1526 \n (16) £6 per annum was mentioned. External evidence for the income of a yeoman was given \n in a sermon made by Hugh Latimer before Edward VI in about 1550. He spoke of his \n childhood with his father \"who was a yeoman ... (and) had a farm of £3 or £4 a year at the \n uttermost\" (17). Thomas Kepe of Grove (see Table), who styled himself 'Yeoman' in his will, \n was assessed in the Roll for £3. \n Information on the wages of skilled local craftsmen does not start until 1565, with the first \n book of the Wantage Churchwardens' Accounts, and inflation had probably doubled wages in \n the interim, but the mason, the plumber and the slater each charged between 10d and 1s per \n day, whilst their less skilled assistants cost about 8d (18). Continuous employment would be \n unlikely, with bad weather, holidays and lack of demand reducing their incomes, but a \n minimum of 120 days employment in the year would have given them £5 to £6 per annum, \n which would suggest an annual income of about £3 per annum for a skilled worker in 1522 \n (19). The Churchwardens' Accounts would also suggest that a carpenter might have earned \n between £1 5s and £2 5s per annum in 1522 and Harry Curtes, who appears in the Table \n above, was assessed for £2. (See endnote) Although the Berkshire Muster Roll mentions very \n few trades the Babergh Roll is more informative and in that Roll a mason was assessed for £1, \n two plumbers for £4 each and nine of the ten tilers averaged £3 8s each (20). \n Again, many of the \"servants\" in the Wantage section were assessed for £1 and in 1512 \n William Gydynges, the vicar of Wantage, specified that two of his servants were each to \n receive 10s for their half-year's wages, as well as other bequests (13). Widows who remained \n unmarried usually received between one third and one half of their husbands' estates, but in","bbox":{"left":0.151275,"top":0.082414,"width":0.6976629999999999,"height":0.8179390000000001}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}