Footnotes

1. Average wages

   In the city, skilled journeymen (men who have completed their apprenticeships) could earn up to a shilling a day (more usually half that), with food and drink included. Actors in Henslowe's company were paid a shilling a day, but it is unlikely that they received food. Apprentices got food, drink and lodging.

   Farm workers got no more than half these wages; women in particular were paid less, and often supplemented their earnings by spinning thread.

   Thatchers and hedgers would have received about sixpence a day, threshers and reapers half that. Others, especially permanent servants, were paid by the year, with board and food included--often no more than six shillings a year, or sixpence a week.

2. The cost of the theatre

   The Lords' room	1 shilling (i. e. 12 pence)
   The Gentlemen's rooms	6 pence
   The galleries	2 pence
   The pit (for the "groundlings")	1 penny

   The cheapest seats in the private theatres were usually 6 pence; thus effectively excluding all but relatively wealthy patrons.

   Philip Henslowe paid 3-5 pounds for a play (60-100 shillings); on a good day his gross gate for a performance of a new play would be over three pounds: on 28 November, 1595, he took in 4 pounds, 6 shillings for the first performance of "Harey the V"--The Famous Victories of Henry V, the precursor to Shakespeare's more famous play on the same king.

3. Falstaff's bar tab

   Prince Hal finds a bill in Falstaff's pocket:

   Item, a capon ..........2s. 2d.
   Item, sauce ............. 4d.
   Item, sack, two gallons ..........5s. 8d.
   Item, anchovies and sack after supper.....2s. 6d.
   Item, bread .............. ob.
   
   

   sack

   Sherry, usually sweet, and often drunk with sugar added. (One of Falstaff's nicknames is Sir John Sack-and-sugar).

   ob

   "Obolus" (Latin): a halfpenny.

   Hal comments on Falstaff's unbalanced diet:

   O monstrous! But one halfpennyworth of bread to this intolerable deal of sack!
   (Henry IV, Part One, 2.4.535-44)

4. A baker's expenses

   A week's expenses for a baker:

   	shillings	pence
   House rent at 30 pounds per year	11	6
   Diet of man and wife	10	0
   Diet of three children	7	0
   Diet of 4 journeymen at 2 shillings and 6 pence	10	0
   Diet of 2 maids at 10 pence	1	8
   Clothing of man, wife and apprentices	7	8
   Wages of 4 journeymen at 2 shillings and 6 pence	10	0
   Wages of 2 maids at 10 pence	1	8
   Yeast, wood, coal, sacks, salt, boulters, garner rent, baskets, water	29	3
   Parson, Poor rate, Scavenger, Watch	1	0
   Total	6 pounds, 10 shillings 1 pence

   Note the different amounts for food (family and others) and wages for journeymen, apprentices, and women.

   boulters

   Sieves.

   garner

   A container for holding large quantities of flour etc.

   poor rate

   A tax on all businesses, the money to be spent on providing support for the poor and homeless.

   scavenger

   As the name implies, someone employed to clean up (any scraps could be kept to augment the wage).

   watch

   The equivalent of security guards.

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