Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by sportslife 1153 days ago
You're asking why they didn't round to the nearest £722.74, which apparently was more than a month's wages.

See: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/in...

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/#curr...

2 comments

Worse than that:

> the swan mark would have to be purchased at the price of six shillings - swans not included. This was about the same amount as a year’s wages for a household servant.

One pound would be over three years wages for a household servant.

You caught me skimming the article!

The National Archives gives one pound in 1480 as the 33 days' wages for a skilled tradesman's labour, so I can see why they'd want to join a guild.

To be fair, a household servant got room and board too.
> You're asking why they didn't round to the nearest £722.74

No, the question is dumber than that. The proposed "rounded" fine is well over double the original fine; rounding to the nearest four pounds would result in a fine of zero.

I rounded the first fine and then pasted here the second fine.