Etude comparative des mesures à vin dans les Etats bourguignons au XVe siècle

Abstract

"A comparative study of wine measures in the Burgundian States in the XVth century". The daily accounts of the Dukes of Burgundy allow to draw a comparative study of wine measures in the XVth century, since the barrels of wine bought in the different cities of the burgundian States were appraised first in the local gauge and then in the french gauge (the Paris gauge) wich was the referece measure. The large capacity units ("muid" or "aime") are in a simple ratio to the Paris "muid", being worth either one or one and a half French "muid". The number of "setiers" in a "muid" or "aime" can also be defined. The measures, once thus compared, are geographically grouped. Yet the attempts toward a metric conversion of these measures by the use of the tables of the end of the XVIIIth century do not allow to confirm exactly the equivalences admitted by the XVth century gaugers. Certain measures must then have varied between the XVth century and the XVIIIth century.