What form did the average lord's wealth take in the Middle Ages? Would it mostly be land? Coin? Non-perishable goods?

by CitizenPremier

As a stretch question, did they have any idea of liquidity?

davepx

Medieval wealth is a tricky issue, as I discussed here. Most of the lord's power and income derived from rights over land and the people who went with it - and land is indeed the very foundation of the system of lordship - but as wealth its ownership and value are deeply problematical to the point that I'd say trying to establish its worth to an individual is pointless, which is unfortunate as it's most of national wealth until well into the 18th century and perhaps three-quarters of the total as late as the 15th.

But even if we can't meaningfully allocate "ownership" except perhaps for the third or so of estates constituting the lord's demesne, it's evident that land was the real underpinning of noble wealth and brought in most lordly income: buildings, equipment, personal property or coin (the last under a twentieth of national wealth when we have our first reliable figures in the 17th century, and doubtless a still lower proportion in earlier less commercial and monetised times) were small potatoes in comparison.

A concept of liquidity? I'd say so, because even if most of your feasting and labour procurement could be done from the land and its toilers, living nobly required cash outlays for commercial services (including building work) or goods from military equipment to desirable fineries. It's notable that by the 12th century lords were leasing out estates to commercial "farmers" for a cash rent, but as soon as produce prices rose with increased silver supply from the 1170s they sought to take them back into their own hands (see for instance PDA Harvey, The English inflation of 1180-1220, Past & Present 61, Nov 1973): cash might have been short in the kingdom, but its acquisition was evidently a concern.