This paper explores the prevalence of in-kind wages in medieval labour markets and the underlying reasons for their use. Using a new dataset of agricultural labourers in medieval England, we demonstrate that, until the late fourteenth century, wages were recorded anonymously and most remuneration was done through in-kind payment. From the 1370s, however, labour remuneration shifted increasingly to cash and workers began to be named individually in the accounts which recorded their wages. We argue that these changes reveal a fundamental shift in labour relations in late medieval England, providing new empirical insights into the ‘golden age of labour’ that followed the Black Death.

中文翻译：

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（实物）中世纪的工资和劳资关系：这（全部）与金钱无关


本文探讨了实物工资在中世纪劳动力市场的普遍性及其使用的根本原因。使用中世纪英格兰农业工人的新数据集，我们证明，直到 14 世纪后期，工资都是匿名记录的，大多数报酬是通过实物支付完成的。然而，从 1370 年代开始，劳动报酬越来越多地转向现金，工人开始在记录工资的账户中被单独命名。我们认为，这些变化揭示了中世纪晚期英格兰劳动关系的根本转变，为黑死病之后的“劳动黄金时代”提供了新的实证见解。