The burghs and market regulation

The extensive records produced by the town councils constitute one of the richest sources available for the history of prices in early modern Scotland. They contain some of the longest price series available, in many cases pre-dating fiars prices by more than a century. Although posing considerable interpretative difficulties, they provide a detailed record of price trends and fluctuations in a period otherwise largely devoid of reliable price data. The grain and grain-product prices, along with wine prices, derived from the town councils form the tables attached to this chapter, which is intended as a guide to their interpretation.

The majority of the prices to be found in burgh records refer to the products of the principal crafts. Wheatbread, ale, tallow and candle prices appear almost annually in some burgh records, but other commodities such as oatbread, ryebread, wine and various kinds of meat appear at least periodically. Even the price of whisky was occasionally set. The burghs also assessed the price of labour, as we shall see in chapter 8. It is, however, important to acknowledge at the outset that most of these prices do not purport to record current market prices, but rather the price at which such goods were to be sold in the future.

The fact that these were ‘statute’ prices – statements regarding the price at which certain goods should be sold – raises immediate problems.