Do You Know: Who decreed the of a yard? (colour litho)

Who decreed the of a yard? Henry I, in the 12th century, decreed the distance from the point of his nose to the end of his thumb as the lawful yard. Under the Norman Kings measurements were of considerable importance, particularly for cloth, in which there was a large trade. Edward II decreed that three barley corns taken from the centre of the ear and placed end on end, equalled an inch. In the 16th century the lawful Rod was "the length of the left feet of sixteen men lined up as they left Church on Sunday morning". The first known measurement was a cubit - the length of a forearm from the point of the elbow to end of middle finger, about 20 in. Illustration for one of a set of 50 "Do You Know?" cigarette cards issued by Carreras in 1939.