sester

1

An Anglo-Saxon unit of capacity, 10th – 16th century, probably derived from the Latin sextarius. In the earliest records (11th century) it is a measure of honey. R. D. Connor (1987) says it varied by commodity, and while originally about a pint, grew by the 13th century to be, for wine, 4 gallons. By 1421 it is mentioned as a measure for ale; by 1521 at 14 gallons of ale to the sester.

A record from the 13th century speaks of “twenty sestiers of corn yearly.” In the 18th century Bishop Fleetwood wrote that a sester “was what we now call a quarter, or a seam, containing 8 bushels,” which is echoed in the Second Report (1820), where the commissioners say that “before the Conquest, [the sester] was a horse load,”¹ though it is unclear what evidence is available to support this equivalence. Certainly, however, there was a grain measure called a sester.

The sester in Scotland was originally a larger measure of capacity. In an act of approximately 1150 it is defined as containing 3 gallons of wine; in another of 1450 it is said to contain 12 gallons “of the ald met,” and to be the same as the “ald boll,” that is, a measure of grain. Perhaps we are dealing, not just with regional variation, but with two distinct units having the same name.

1. Second Report of the Commissioners... (1820), page 32.

2

In Strasbourg, France, a unit of capacity, 23.985 liters.