If it is possible to depict the cost in current US dollars, how costly would it be to maintain the army which Edward the Black Prince used (about 6,000 men) to defeat the French at Poitiers (1356) for a month.
Also, how costly would it be for the French to maintain the force they used at Poitiers (about 11,000 men) for a month?
Another part of the question: how big was England's total fighting force around 1356? How much would it cost them to maintain that army for a month? Same question for the French around 1356.
A caveat before I start: the figures I produce are going to be only very rough estimates. Not only do I have to factor in inflation from the 14th century to the 21st and then convert British pounds into USD, but I have to convert medieval French currency into medieval English currency before this, and as a result there are a lot of areas where errors can enter into the calculations. These are going to be ballpark figures at best.
So, what are the numbers of the armies? Unfortunately, we don't have the administrative records to fully reconstruct either side and have to rely on numbers provided by chroniclers. We do know that the Black Prince brought approximately 2600 men to Bordeaux in 1355 in anticipation for that raid, which breaks down into ~1000 men-at-arms, ~1000 mounted archers, ~400 foot archers and ~170 Welshmen. It's likely that most of these men survived the 1355 campaign, and some additional archers from Gascony may have joined them as several reliable chronicles give the English 2000 archers during the battle. Additionally, 2000 Gascon men-at-arms and 1000 javelin men ("bidauts") joined him for the campaign. Some sources suggest 3000 men-at-arms joined, giving a total of 4000 for the English, but most chronicles only list 2000, so this is the number I'm choosing to work with.
The number of the French is harder to pin down. A number of chroniclers, such as Geoffrey le Baker, Sir Thomas Grey and the Anonimalle Chronicle, list the French as having 8000 men-at-arms, while the Chandos Herald lists what was likely around 11 000 men-at-arms (10 400 mean, plus a reserve with 23 banners) and the Chronique Normande has 12 000 men-at-arms. Similarly, while Baker and the Anonimalle Chronicle give the French 3000 crossbowmen and other infantry, the Chandos Herald has 4000. Clifford J. Rogers prefers the Chandos Herald's numbers on the basis that the Herald states that he used official lists to count the number of men-at-arms, and it may well be that there were 2000 crossbowmen, 1000 pavisiers and 1000 bidauts in the French army as some sources for Crecy have bidauts going forward with the Genoese. However, scout reports prior to Crecy mention 12 000 French men-at-arms, 8000 of which were knights or squires, which may suggest that there were 4000 armed valets. This would reconcile the numbers reasonable well, with some sources referring to all the armed men on horses and others record just the men-at-arms. As such, I'm choosing the give the French 8000 knights and squires, 4000 armed valets, 2000 crossbowmen, 1000 pavisiers and 1000 bidauts.
What of wages? I've made two tables of wages, one for the English and one for the French. The French rates are based on a 1351 ordinnance from Jean II, as I haven't been able to find examples specifically drawn from contracts in the books I have access to, while the English are drawn from actual contracts. In both cases, the rate for the bidauts is only an estimate, based on pay for foot archers in the case of the English and older levels of pay compared to newer levels of pay in the case of the French. Additionally, I'm going to be assuming that the Gascon soldiers were paid in English money, although they were actually paid both in English and French money, as this simplifies things considerably.
English Wages
| Type | Pay (d/day) |
|---|---|
| Banneret | 48 |
| Knight | 24 |
| Man-at-arms | 12 |
| Mounted archer | 6 |
| Bidaut | 3 |
French Wages
| Type | Pay (s.t./day) |
|---|---|
| Banneret | 40 |
| Knight | 20 |
| Squire (man-at-arms) | 10 |
| Armed Valet | 5 |
| Crossbowman | 3 |
| Pavisier | 2.5 |
| Bidaut | 1.5 |
For reference, in terms of pure silver one pound sterling was 259.74g and one pound tournois theoretically had 56g of silver. In commercial terms however, when measured against the florin and ducat as international standards, one pound stirling equaled £8 6s. 8d. tournois in 1350, and the tournois pound fluctuated during the 1350s, likely as a result of the rampant debasement and economic crises occurred in France. For the sake of my sanity, I'm going to use the 1350 value, because in 1356 the pound stirling could be equal to £4 6s. 8d. tournai, or it could be equal to £11 tournai, and there's really no good way to estimate the value otherwise. This is, in any case, in the ballpark for conversion rates between English and French currencies in 1305 and 1306, which did fluctuate significantly, so is a useful comparison.
Now that we have the rates of pay and total numbers of the armies, we need to work out the proportions of bannerets, knights and men-at-arms/squires. In France, we have pretty good evidence over general trends, especially in large forces. Overall, between 1351 and 1368, the breakdown was 0.9% bannerets, 12% knights and 87.1% men-at-arms, although in specific instances, the number of bannerets could be as high as 1.4% and the knights as high as 15%. As the army at Poitiers was quite a large army, and large armies tend towards higher proportions of men-at-arms, I'll assume that 1% of the heavy cavalry were bannerets, 12% were knights and 87% were men-at-arms.
We have less evidence for England, surprisingly, but what we see from 1368 onwards - combined with a few scattered break downs provided in indentures - suggest a slightly higher proportion of knights in English service than French in 1356. For this reason, I'm choosing to use a figure of 1.4% bannerets, 15% knights and 83.6% men-at-arms.
From here, we can calculate approximately daily wages for the armies, and then the monthly wages:
English Army
| Type | Number | Daily Wage (d) |
|---|---|---|
| Bannerets | 42 | 2016 |
| Knights | 450 | 10 800 |
| Men-at-arms | 2508 | 30 096 |
| Mounted Archer | 2000 | 12 000 |
| Bidaut | 1000 | 3000 |
| Total (£ daily) | £240 6s. | |
| Total (£ monthly) | £7239 |
French Army
| Type | Number | Daily Wage (s.t) |
|---|---|---|
| Bannerets | 80 | 3200 |
| Knights | 960 | 19 200 |
| Men-at-arms | 6940 | 69 400 |
| Armed Valet | 4000 | 20 000 |
| Crossbowmen | 2000 | 6000 |
| Pavisiers | 1000 | 2500 |
| Bidaut | 1000 | 1500 |
| Total (s.t. daily) | 121 800 | |
| Total (l.t. monthly) | £182 700 |
Converting the French figure using the relative values of the currencies compared to the florin, the French wages come to £21 932 15s. 5d. Stirling. The total is approximately three times the wages of the English army, which is in the right ballpark for the composition, so I think the figure is a fairly reasonable one.
Now, to convert from medieval currency to modern currency. Using the calculator here, the simple RPI figure, the English monthly wage comes out as £4 929 000 in 2017, and the French monthly wage comes out as £14 930 000 in 2017. In USD, this is $6 340 000 for the English and $19 200 000. For comparison, 6000 soldiers paid at the modern English minimum wage (£7.83 in 2017 for those over 25), assuming an 8 hour work day and pay for every day of the week, would cost £11 275 200 (14 500 000 USD).
Let's look at another type of conversion: the labour value of the commodity basket. Using this method of conversion, the English wages would be £58 430 000 (75 200 000 USD) and the French wages would be £177 000 000 (228 000 000 USD). This is probably a better measure, as the daily wage for a thatcher's mate in the 1350s (2d) comes out at £64.57, which is very close to modern minimum wage (again, assuming 8 hours work).
So there you have it! The English army at Poitiers cost $75 200 000 in wages per month, and the French army had $228 000 000. This is, as I said at the start of the post, only an approximate estimate, but I think it should give you some context for what armies in this period cost to run. I'll also add that there were up-front costs paid in addition to wages called "regards", which were essentially sign up bonuses, so the overall cost would be higher than the first glance would suggest. High ranking nobles were also paid a much higher wage (the Black Prince earning more than £8000 for the 1355 campaign), albeit one that was arbitrarily negotiated, and tended to be paid as a lump sum rather than as a daily rate, which is why they've been omitted here.
References