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Topic:	price of castles

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T O P I C R E V I E W
robynm I need to know the price of castles (american dollars) in the middle ages
Levan Hmm, there wasn't such thing as American Dollars in the middle ages!
I'm not being sarcastic here - just highlighting a problem. In many instances you're needing to make a comparison to currencies that do not exist today (for example, in recent weeks much of Europe dropped it's historical currencies in favour of the Euro). Many ancient world currencies never existed in parallel to the US dollar.
An even bigger issue in making a comparison is the huge gulf between the value of dollars in the US today and the value systems in the middle ages.
Even in recent years, if you were to ask your grandfather how much he used to get paid each year in his first job, it'd probably be less than your weekly pocket money - just think what the difference would be if comparing to the middle ages!
Hazarding a direct comparison is therefore a little tenuous, as many aspects of castle building were performed by a variety of forced labour, unpaid labour, people providing services in kind, by gift, and also by paid craftsmen.
Do you want to count cost in terms of relative value of person/hours? This is hard because land owners and workers were valued in considerably different terms.
That said, I believe that some castles have records showing the costs of providing various services, such as food and linen costs, and in some cases the cost of repairs and extensions. Records for the cost of upkeep are more common because in many instances castles were held by Stewards who were required to give account of their tenure. I believe that records are available for Linlithgow, although I don't have them to hand.
Another major consideration is that very few castles were built in entirety from start to finish. Most castles evolved over a period of up to, and even over 200 years.

Levan
Gordon Another huge variation is in the size and style of castles, are you trying to establish prices for a large or a small castle, a local lairds house, or a king's castle with facilities for accomodating large numbers of guests. The only way around your problem is to find a specific castle for which costs are available as Levan suggests, but then as he has adequatelyexplained, conversion provides it's own problems.
Peter Try;
The Welsh Castles of Edward 1
Arnold Taylor. was Ł5. 95: ISBN 0 907628 710
Although this small book (129-pages) was first published in 1968 (revised 1986), Taylor prints the costs of many of the building works.
But, as already pointed out, the costs cover many years. Though there is a general indication of total amounts spent.
One for the calculator I'm afraid.
southseeker http://www.castles-for-sale.com/sale/
Look here at this site ,it will tell you of castles you can buy and the cost. I also found a great castle to buy when I looked for islands for sale http://www.vladi-private-islands.de/sales_islands/sites/01_jacobin_2.html
this site is fun, one can really buy this island and castle for a pretty good price ;-) ... Good luck
south

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T O P I C R E V I E W
robynm	I need to know the price of castles (american dollars) in the middle ages
Levan	Hmm, there wasn't such thing as American Dollars in the middle ages! I'm not being sarcastic here - just highlighting a problem. In many instances you're needing to make a comparison to currencies that do not exist today (for example, in recent weeks much of Europe dropped it's historical currencies in favour of the Euro). Many ancient world currencies never existed in parallel to the US dollar. An even bigger issue in making a comparison is the huge gulf between the value of dollars in the US today and the value systems in the middle ages. Even in recent years, if you were to ask your grandfather how much he used to get paid each year in his first job, it'd probably be less than your weekly pocket money - just think what the difference would be if comparing to the middle ages! Hazarding a direct comparison is therefore a little tenuous, as many aspects of castle building were performed by a variety of forced labour, unpaid labour, people providing services in kind, by gift, and also by paid craftsmen. Do you want to count cost in terms of relative value of person/hours? This is hard because land owners and workers were valued in considerably different terms. That said, I believe that some castles have records showing the costs of providing various services, such as food and linen costs, and in some cases the cost of repairs and extensions. Records for the cost of upkeep are more common because in many instances castles were held by Stewards who were required to give account of their tenure. I believe that records are available for Linlithgow, although I don't have them to hand. Another major consideration is that very few castles were built in entirety from start to finish. Most castles evolved over a period of up to, and even over 200 years. Levan
Gordon	Another huge variation is in the size and style of castles, are you trying to establish prices for a large or a small castle, a local lairds house, or a king's castle with facilities for accomodating large numbers of guests. The only way around your problem is to find a specific castle for which costs are available as Levan suggests, but then as he has adequatelyexplained, conversion provides it's own problems.
Peter	Try; The Welsh Castles of Edward 1 Arnold Taylor. was Ł5. 95: ISBN 0 907628 710 Although this small book (129-pages) was first published in 1968 (revised 1986), Taylor prints the costs of many of the building works. But, as already pointed out, the costs cover many years. Though there is a general indication of total amounts spent. One for the calculator I'm afraid.
southseeker	http://www.castles-for-sale.com/sale/ Look here at this site ,it will tell you of castles you can buy and the cost. I also found a great castle to buy when I looked for islands for sale http://www.vladi-private-islands.de/sales_islands/sites/01_jacobin_2.html this site is fun, one can really buy this island and castle for a pretty good price ;-) ... Good luck south