Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir,
Three bags full.
One for the master,
One for the dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane.
This familiar nursery rhyme has its origins in the 13th century, but at that time (and until well into the 17th century) it had a different final couplet, which was:
And none for the little boy
Who cries in the lane.
(The original version of the previous line would have been “Two for the dame”)
The reason for the change was that the original meaning of the rhyme had been lost in mists of the time and it was no longer the bitter song of protest that it once was.
The economy of England was hugely dependent on sheep for hundreds of years. This is apparent from the Domesday Book survey of 1086, in which flocks of upwards of 2,000 sheep are recorded. By the mid 13th century flocks of 8,000 sheep were not uncommon.
However, although wool production was well suited to the English climate, and production could take place on land that could not be used for growing crops, English people did not develop the necessary skills for processing wool into cloth. Instead, that work was done best by workers in Belgium and France.
That meant that a highly profitable export trade existed for English wool, which was widely recognised as being of very high quality.
King Edward I saw an opportunity to add to the royal coffers by taxing the wool trade, which at the time was making some people in England extremely rich. Much of the wealth was going to the monasteries, many of which owned vast tracts of land on which the sheep grazed. Incidentally, the fact that the monasteries were making huge profits would eventually lead to their downfall when King Henry VIII grew increasingly envious of their riches.
Edward therefore introduced (in 1275) a royal tax of six shillings and eight pence on every sack of wool that was exported, this being about one-third of its value. This left two-thirds of the value for the seller of the wool – which was still a substantial profit on the very low production costs that consisted largely of the near-starvation wages paid to an army of shepherds.
So there we have it – take three bags of wool and one belongs to the master (i.e. the king), two to the dame (mother Church), and none to the shepherd boy who has done most of the work.
Twas ever thus!
Edward’s taxes financed the Hundred Years War (fought by shepherds turned soldiers who no doubt earned more as skilled bowmen if they were prepared to take the risk – assuming that they had any choice in the matter, which was unlikely - and to this day the official seat of the Speaker of the House of Lords is a sack of wool – to remind those in power of wherein lies the source of that power and wealth.
© John Welford
