Note 70 — STATE OF SOCIETY. 1216–1399.

There is an account preserved in the exchequer of the exports and imports in the year 1354. The total value of the exports was £212,338. They consisted of 31,651 sacks of wool, at £6 a sack; 65 wool-fells, hides, to the value of £89; 4774 pieces of cloth; 8061 pieces of worsted stuff. The imports mentioned consist of a little fine cloth and wax; 1830 tuns of wine; and linens, mercery, and grocery to the value of £23,000. To show the severity of the wool tax, it is to be observed that on the above-named exports the duty was £81,846, or more than 40 per cent. Robert of Avesbury gives a somewhat different account. He put the exports at 100,000 sacks of wool. He is thought to have died about 1356.