reference for equipment and cows

From: bethexton_at_...
Date: Fri, 07 Sep 2001 16:17:28 -0000

While looking for some information about shield structures in Ian Heath's "Armies of the Dark Ages, 600 – 1066" (published by the wargames research group) I came across the following, unfortunately without reference to the original source.

"Some idea of the cost of such full equipment as is illustrated here can be got from the following assessment of 9th century arms in cows: the helmet was worth 6 cows; the brunia {corselet of metal scales or possibly chainmail} 12 cows; sword and scabbard 7 cows; greaves 6 cows; spear and shield 2 cows; and the horse 12 cows. The total of 45 cows (which, admittedly, can be reduced to 15 by assessing in terms of the dearest cows) should then be compared to the bovine population of some of the richer individual royal estates, which had at the most only about 50 cows (excluding oxen, heifers, and bullocks)."

(by the way, I recommend this book to anyone interested in fantasy games in general, it surveys a broad range of cultures and gives a good feel for typical organization, tactics, and equipment, as well as casting a moderately skeptical eye on how often reality lived up to the intentions. I'm not sure how easy to find it is, however, I bought my copy around 15 years ago.)

While the costs are obviously not the same as in Hero Wards glorantha, this seems to me to be a handy reference for the relative value of some of these items, and I like the bit about "dearest cows"!

--Bryan