The customary value of taxes due when trading selected merchandise in medieval Atouguia.

This was established by King Afonso II in a written document from 04 March 1206 [21]. Weight of goods was set in ‘horse loads’ and in ‘donkey loads’ (one ‘horse load’ was worth two ‘donkey loads’). The words maravedi, soldo and dinheiro designate old currency units (listed here in decreasing order of their relative value). It is a distressing thought nowadays to realise that one horse load of “fat whale” could be worth much more than human life.