Standards of Living in an Age of Transition

Modelling a peasant budget shows that a tenant with 30–36 acres would be secure in times of low prices while still living comfortably, allowing for adding to the holding or investing in capital equipment. Those with 15–20 acres could do well in some years but needed to restrict consumption in bad years. Diet largely remained the same into the sixteenth century, with more beef, wheaten bread, and ale; in the sixteenth century, an increasing number of spices and luxury foods became cheaper and more readily available. Likewise durable consumer goods including table linen, pewter, brass, featherbeds, and more became common items in parish homes. Altogether this was an evolution more than a consumer revolution. However, the disparity of wealth grew greater, showing two Durhams: one wealthy and prospering, one poor. Comparison of wealth recorded in probate inventories puts Durham ahead of other counties including Kent until the mid-seventeenth century.