As populations expanded in Medieval England, key changes occurred in the uses of cattle and sheep to produce food and materials, according to a study published September 2, 2026 in the open access journal PLOS One by Matilda Holmes of the University of Leicester, UK, David Orton of the University of York, UK, and colleagues.
Medieval England experienced major changes in population sizes and trade networks, requiring changes in the ways that animals were used for meat, milk and arable production. Historically, the timing of these changes has been poorly understood. In this study, Holmes and colleagues investigate the changing animal economy using a large dataset provided by the Feeding Anglo-Saxon England project, including information from 460 sites across England from CE 400-1400.
Early on during this time range, cattle were far more abundant than sheep, but sheep began to increase during the 7th Century, originating with monastic farms with an emphasis on wool production. By the end of the time range, the importance of wool in the economy was firmly established. Between the 10th and 12th Centuries, older male cattle were progressively more important to the economy and, when combined with increasing deformations to their lower limb bones, is consistent with use as draught animals; this practice wanes afterward, likely due to the increased demand for meat as evidenced by earlier culling of cattle, and to the growing role of draught horses.
These data confirm previously reported trends and clarify the timing of certain events, such as the earlier rise of sheep farming and the fluctuating use of draught cattle. The authors note that many areas of uncertainty remain to be examined by future study, including assessments of the significant variation between archaeological sites and standardizing of methods for determining the sex of ancient domesticated animals.
The authors add: "The use of an aoristic method allowed us to look at the changing use of cattle and sheep over a continuous chronology, rather than relying on artificial periods such as 'Saxon' or 'high medieval'. This way we could see more clearly the shift in emphasis towards sheep husbandry in the seventh century and the peak in draught cattle use for arable production in the tenth to twelfth centuries, followed by a change in market forces requiring more meat and milk as the population grew in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries."
"This was a great project to work on; it followed on from the groundbreaking research produced of the Feeding Medieval England project by using the data from that project to develop a new method of analysis with David Orton. This method will allow a better understanding of changes in the animal economy over time, and there is no reason why the method cannot be expanded to include other types of archaeological data."
"The increase in older cattle in the tenth to twelfth centuries was unexpected and implies a real change in the working practices of farmers in that period. It would have relied upon closer working relationships between people and cattle, and it is likely that they were valued members of the workforce. As far as sheep are concerned, the new monastic communities of the late seventh century appear to have instigated the increase in wool production that underpinned the English economy well into the sixteenth century."
Author interview: https://plos.io/4gvrwSm
In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS One: https://plos.io/4yiSowj
Citation: Holmes M, Orton D, Hamerow H, Thomas R (2026) Meat, milk, wool and grain: The animal economy of medieval England (CE 400 to 1400). PLoS One 21(9): e0355965. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0355965
Author countries: UK
Funding: The data set and preliminary analysis were undertaken during the FeedSax project (HH ERC Horizon 2020). However, the more detailed analysis and interpretation were undertaken after the project had finished, so the ERC will not be funding this submission. Instead I will be aided by the University of Leicester where I have Fellow status. The funders had no role in study design, analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
