From 1280 to 1290, there
was runaway inflation. In some places, both grain and livestock
prices almost doubled between 1305 and 1310. Wheat prices peaked
at 15s.5d. a quarter in the famine year of 1316. In 1338, prices
dropped and remained low for twenty years. The poor were hurt by
high prices and the lords of the manors were hurt by low prices.
As before, inadequate care and ignorance of nutrition caused many
infant deaths. Accidents and disease were so prevalent that death
was always near and life insecure. Many women died in childbirth.
In the 1300s, there were extremes of fashion in men's and women's
clothing including tight garments, pendant sleeves down to the
ground, coats so short they didn't reach the hips or so long they
reached the heels, hoods so small they couldn't cover the head,
and shoes with long curved peaks like claws at the toes. Both men
and women wore belts low on the hips. The skirt of a lady's tunic
was fuller and the bodice more closely fitted than before. Her
hair was usually elaborately done up, e.g. with long curls or
curled braids on either side of the face. A jeweled circlet was
often worn around her head. Ladies wore on their arms or belts,
cloth handbags, which usually contained toiletries, such as combs
made of ivory, horn, bone, or wood, and perhaps a little book of
devotions. A man wore a knife and a bag on his belt. Some women
painted their faces and/or colored their hair.
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