The Assize of Bread and Ale Regulates English Ale Prices

Around 1266, the English Assize of Bread and Ale established a framework for regulating two essential grain-based foods. Its ale provisions tied the permitted selling price to the local cost of barley, wheat, or oats. When grain prices rose or fell, local officials were expected to adjust the price of ale while allowing brewers and sellers a customary margin. The assize was enforced through manorial and urban courts, where officials known as ale-tasters inspected measures, investigated prices, and presented violations. Those who sold ale above the permitted price or used deficient measures could be fined, while repeated offenses could bring more severe public penalties. The measure did not prescribe a complete brewing process, but it made the production and sale of ale a regular subject of local economic regulation throughout medieval England.