25. The Eel Exchange Rate
The use of eels as currency raises a question: just how much were eels worth? In 1273, King Edward I issued price controls for the sale of certain foods in London, and a stick of 25 eels was listed as 2 pence, or the equivalent of $8.25 in 2017 US dollars. Edward’s price controls were issued almost two centuries after the Domesday Book, but inflation was nowhere near as great in those days as it is day.
Thus, if we assume that 2 pence had roughly the same purchasing value in both the days of the Domesday Book and those of Edward I, Giles brother of Ansculf would have gotten about $8250 in rent for his Bottisham watermill and $16,500 for the one in Bottisham.