A day labourer could then earn, with his keep, nine, and without keep, sixteen groschen[15] a week.

What this would buy may be judged from the following prices current in Saxony during the second half of the fifteenth century.

A pair of good working-shoes cost three groschen; a whole sheep, four groschen; a good fat hen, half a groschen; twenty-five cod-fish, four groschen; a wagon-load of firewood, together with carriage, five groschen; an ell of the best homespun cloth, five groschen; a scheffel (about a bushel) of rye, six or seven groschen.

The Duke of Saxony wore grey hats which cost him four groschen.

In Northern Rhineland about the same time a day labourer could, in addition to his keep, earn in a week a quarter of rye, ten pounds of pork, six large cans of milk, and two bundles of firewood, and in the course of five weeks be able to buy six ells of linen, a pair of shoes, and a bag for his tools.