The History of Currency, 1252 to 1896 Part 26

For long the only coin actually minted was this denaro (_parvus_, _parvulus_, _piccolo_ or _minuto_), a silver coin. The first of these thus issued appertain entirely to the system of the Empire of Charlemagne. They bear the name of Louis the Pious (814-40), and approximate in weight to his pieces. The dismemberment of Charlemagne's Empire is followed by a gap in the Venetian coinage, and the series only recommences in the eleventh century. These latter still appertain to the system of the revived Roman (Germanic) Empire, and bear the names of Henry II. (1002-24), Conrad II. (1027-39), and Henry IV. (1056-1106).

From this latter date onwards the imperial monies cease at Venice, and the series of Ducal monies--the monies of the republic of Venice--begin with the Doges.h.i.+p of Vitale II. (1156-72). From the same period there is noticeable that deterioration in weight which marks all the systems of mediaeval Europe. The denari of Doge Sebastiano Ziani (1172-8) and of the two succeeding Doges are scarcely one-quarter the weight of the Charlemagne denarius.

This depreciation led, in the year 1200, to the issue of a piece of higher denomination, namely, the _grosso_--still a silver coin, but valued at 26 piccioli or denari; and for about seventy years the grosso displaced the picciolo. About 1270, however, the coining of the picciolo recommenced under Doge Lorenzo Tiepolo, but at a slightly reduced value, 28 piccioli being rated to the grosso, instead of 26 as in the year 1200. Up to the great recoinage of 1476 the grosso remains the main coin of reference. Its gradual but incessant depreciation can be traced in the table of silver coins given on p. 318.

Under the eleventh doge, Giovanni Dandolo (1280-89), the coining of gold began in Venice. In 1284, the date of the first issue, the gold ducat or sequin (zecchino) of Venice was valued at 18 grossi, giving a ratio of gold to silver of 10.6. The subsequent changes of the ratio have already been stated (see text, _supra_, p. 40). From 1282, 67 ducats were coined from the Venetian mark. This number was increased in 1491 to 67-1/2, and in 1570 to 68-1/4. The course of the sequin throughout is given in the table on p. 316. It was the monetary trouble which they produced that led to the great recoinage accomplished under Doge Nicolo Tron (1471-73) and his successors, Nicolo Marcello (1473-74) and Pietro Mocenigo (1474-76).

From the date of this recoinage onwards the silver grosso was abolished _as a coin_, and a new silver coin, the lira, valued at 20 soldi, was inst.i.tuted. This is the first appearance of a real and effective lira as a coin. Hitherto the name had only been that of a weight. By the decree of 1472, 36 of these lira were to be coined out of the mark of silver.

On account of the name of the doge this coin was known as the _Lira Tron_ for centuries. In its turn it underwent a ceaseless depreciation (see table on p. 318).

In the middle of the sixteenth century there was so much silver in the Venetian Mint waiting to be coined for the merchants that the State, finding it could only issue 35,000 pieces a month, which, in small pieces of 442 soldi, would take a year to exhaust the stock, determined for the ease and encouragement of the merchants to issue a large silver piece, the _ducato d'argento_, 7-1/4 to the mark of silver by tale, and rated at 124 soldi.

Under Doge Nicolo da Ponte (1578-85) this piece becomes the _scudo d'argento_, which begins in 1578 with an equivalence of 7 lira.

In 1578 the scudo was rated at 7 lira 0 soldi.

" 1608 " " 8 " 8 "

" 1621 " " 8 " 10 "

" 1630 " " 9 " 0 "

" 1635 " " 9 " 6 "

" 1665 " " 9 " 12 "

" 1702 " " 10 " 0 "

" 1703 " " 10 " 10 "

" 1704 " " 11 " 0 "

" 1705 " " 11 " 4 "

" 1706 " " 11 " 8 "

" 1708 " " 11 " 10 "

" 1709 " " 11 " 12 "

" 1718 " " 11 " 14 "

" 1739 " " 12 " 8 "

On this basis the monetary system of Venice continued till the seizing of the Mint by the Democrats in 1797.

For several years, during which they held possession, they issued a coin called _Tollero_, of the nominal value of 10 Venetian lire, i.e. 5.16 Italian lire, but really only equal to 4.99 of the latter.

In 1802 the Italian Republic was erected by Buonaparte. The monetary law of the Republic, dated 30th April 1804, provided for the coining of a national money on a unit or basis of the silver lira, of the weight established by the law of 27th October 1803, namely, 4 deniers, and of .9 standard.

The unit gold coin to be 1/125 of the new established livre in weight (= 8 deniers), and of .9 standard, to equal 31 lire.

In 1805 Napoleon declared himself King of Italy, but the change was not followed by any radical revolution of the coinage system.

From 1806 the decimal system was introduced into Italy, and on the reduction of the numerous independent monetary systems the Venetian lira was computed at .5116 of the Italian, i.e. 51.16 centesimi.

As a matter of fact, however, the Venetian lira did not totally thereupon disappear from use.

By decree of December 21, 1807, the ducat (zecchino) of 67-47/41 Venetian grs. was rated at 12.03 lire Italiane.

Under the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, which succeeded, the main Italian monies were a.s.similated to those of Austria. The money of account was, at Milan, the Austrian lira (= 100 centesimi = 20 Austrian soldi at 5 centesimi each).

There remains to be described the second and less important basis of the Venetian system, that of the lira di grossi. It was throughout--i.e.

from the thirteenth century, when it originated, to the close of the sixteenth, when it disappeared--an ideal system, i.e. of account only.

A supposit.i.tious lira di grossi was taken and divided into 40 soldi, each soldo was subdivided into 12 denari, and each one of these denari was equivalent to the grosso, the actual coin existing in the system--already described.

The lira di grossi therefore maintained at first the same relativity to the lira di piccioli that the actual grosso did to the actual picciolo, namely, 26:1. This relation, however changed subsequently with the depreciation of the actual grosso (the lira).

In 1278 the ratio of the two was 28:1 " 1282 " " 32:1 " 1343 " " 48:1 " 1472, onwards to the discontinuance of the system 62:1

A curious feature about this system was that in its turn it subdivides.

In 1343 a double (hypothetical) grosso was adopted; one of 48 piccioli, the other of 32, both of them subdivided into thirty-two parts as, again, an ideal system.

In 1472, therefore, the Venetian silver system consisted of--

1. _Lira di piccioli_, an actual coin represented by the Troni, and containing 128 grs. of silver, .9472 fine.

2. The ideal _lira di grossi_, then equivalent to 10 ducats, divided into 20 ideal soldi, each equivalent to 1/2-ducat, each soldo again subdivided in 12 grossi, the gros...o...b..ing now no longer the actual coin of that name but ideal, like the above multiples; and each grosso in its turn subdivided into 32 parts, to which the name of _piccioli_ was given, though as ideal as its multiple the grosso. For distinction's sake probably, these ideal grossi and piccioli occur in history as _grossi a oro_ and _piccioli a oro_.

TABLE OF THE GOLD DUCAT OR SEQUIN OF VENICE.

(According to Nicolo Papadopoli, _Sul Valore Delia Moneta Veneziana_, p.

33.)

+------+----------------------+----------------------+---------------------+ | | | Declared or Deduced | Value in Modern | | Date.| Coin. | Value in Venetian | Italian Lire of the | | | | Lira of History. | Venetian Lira | | | | | of History. | +------+----------------------+----------------------+---------------------+ | | | Lire. Soldi. | Lire. Centesimi. | | 1284 | Ducat = 18 grossi of | | | | | 32 piccioli | | | | | each | 2 8 | 5 012 | | 1324 | " = 24 grossi. | 3 2 | 3 883 | | 1350 | " = 96 soldi. | 4 16 | 2 506 | | 1399 | " = 93 " | 4 13 | 2 587 | | 1417 | " = 100 " | 5 0 | 2 406 | | 1429 | ... | 4 4 | 2 313 | | 1443 | ... | 5 14 | 2 110 | | 1472 | ... | 6 4 | 1 940 | | 1517 | ... | 6 10 | 1 850 | | 1520 | ... | 6 16 | 1 769 | | 1529 | ... | 7 10 | 1 604 | | 1562 | ... | 8 0 | 1 504 | | 1573 | ... | 8 12 | 1 398 | | 1594 | ... | 10 0 | 1 203 | | 1608 | ... | 10 15 | 1 119 | | 1638 | ... | 15 0 | 0 802 | | 1643 | ... | 16 0 | 0 752 | | 1687 | ... | 17 0 | 0 707 | | 1739 | ... | 22 0 | 0 546 | +------+----------------------+----------------------+---------------------+

TABLE OF THE GOLD DUCAT OR SEQUIN OF VENICE.

(According To Vincenzo Padovan, _La Nummografia Venziana Doc.u.mentato_, pp. 135, 365.)

+-----------------+--------------++-----------------+-------------+ | | Value of || | Value of | | Date. | Ducat in || Date. | Ducat in | |-----------------+--------------++-----------------+-------------+ | |Lire. Soldi. || |Lire. Soldi.| |1284 | 3 0 ||1594 (October 12)| 10 0 | |1287 | 3 2 ||1601 | 10 12 | |1310 | 3 4 ||1605 | 10 14 | |1320 | 3 6 ||1608 | 10 15 | |1360 | 3 10 ||1633 | 14 0 | |1370 | 3 12 || | 14 10 | |1377 | 3 13 ||1638, November 20| 15 0 | |1378 | 3 14 ||1643 | 16 0 | |1379 | 3 16 ||1687 | 17 0 | |1380 | 3 18 ||1697 | 17 10 | |1382 | 4 0 ||1698 | 17 15 | |1384 | 4 4 ||1699 | 18 0 | |1399, October 7 | 4 13 ||1701 | 18 10 | |1401 | 4 18 || | 18 15 | |1417, November 11| 5 0 ||1702 | 19 0 | |1421 | 5 3 || | 19 5 | |1429, July 29 | 5 4 || | 19 10 | |1433 | 5 10 || | 20 0 | |1443, January 23 | 5 14 ||1704 | 20 5 | |1472, March 29 | 6 4 ||1707 | 20 8 | |1517, October 16 | 6 10 ||1708 | 20 10 | |1518 | 6 14 || | 20 15 | |1520 | 6 16 ||1711 | 21 5 | |1524 | 7 4 || | 21 10 | |1529 | 7 10 ||1713 | 21 15 | |1533 | 7 18 ||1716 | 21 18 | |1562 | 8 0 ||Thenceforward to | | |1573 | 8 12 ||the fall of the | | | | 8 16 ||Republic | 22 0 | |1584 | 9 0 || | | | | 9 12 || | | +-----------------+--------------++-----------------+-------------+

TABLE OF THE SILVER COINAGE OF VENICE.

(From Papadopoli, _ubi supra_, with additions.)

+----+-------------------------+------------+-----------+------+--------------+ | | | Value in | | | Value of the | | | | Lire of | Weight of | |Venetian Lira | |Year| Coin. | Venice |the Lira in|Stand-|in Lira of the| | | |declared or | Venetian | ard. |Modern Italian| | | |calculated. | Grains. | |Decimal System| |----+-------------------------+------------+-----------+------+--------------| | | |Lire. Soldi.| | | | |1200|Grosso inst.i.tuted by | | | | | | | Enrico Dandolo; weight | | | | | | | in Venetian grains, | | | | | | | 42.1; value=26 piccioli;| | | | | | | 9-6/16 grossi to a lira | 0 108 | 388.61 | .9652| 4.313 | | | | | | | | |1270|Grosso = 28 piccioli; | | | | | | | 8-16/28 grossi to a lira| 0 116 | 360.85 | ... | 4.005 | | | | | | | | |1282|Grosso = 32 piccioli; | | | | | | | 7-1/2 grossi to a lira | 0 13 | 315.75 | ... | 3.504 | | | | | | | | |1350|Grosso = 48 piccioli; | | | | | | | 5 grossi to a lira | 0 2 | 210.5 | ... | 2.336 | | | | | | | | |1379|Weight of the grosso | | | | | | | reduced to 38.4 Venetian| | | | | | | grains; 5 of these | | | | | | | grossi to a lira | ... | 192.0 | ... | 2.130 | | | | | | | | |1399|Weight of grosso reduced | | | | | | | to 35.17 Venetian grains| ... | 175.85 | ... | 1.951 | | | | | | | | |1429|New regulation; the | | | | | | | mark of silver to yield | | | | | | | 31 lire of money | 1 0 | 148.64 | ... | 1.649 | | | | | | | | |1472|Lira (Tron), 36 to mark | ... | 128.0 | ... | 1.395 | | | | | | | | |1527|Lira (Mocenigo) | 1 4 | 105.0 | .9479| 1.144 | | | | | | | | |1561|Inst.i.tution of the silver| | | | | | | ducat; weight=635.5586 | | | | | | | Venetian grains; | | | | | | | 7-1/4 to a mark | 6 4 | 102.51 | ... | 1.117 | | | | | | | | |1578|Inst.i.tution of the scudo | 7 0 | 87.86 | ... | 0.957 | | | | | | | | |1608|Scudo raised to | 8 8 | 73.21 | ... | 0.798 | | | | | | | | |1630| " " | 9 0 | 68.33 | ... | 0.746 | | | | | | | | |1665| " " | 9 12 | 63.96 | ... | 0.697 | | | | | | | | |1704| " " | 11 0 | 55.81 | ... | 0.608 | | | | | | | | |1718| " " | 11 14 | 52.47 | ... | 0.573 | | | | | | | | |1739| " " | 12 8 | 49.35 | ... | 0.537 | | | | | | | | |1797|Tollero of the Democrats;| | | | | | | weight = 550 | | | | | | | Venetian grains | 10 0 | 55.0 | ... | 0.522 | +----+-------------------------+------------+-----------+------+--------------+

APPENDIX III

THE MONETARY SYSTEM OF SPAIN

The monetary system of Christian Spain dates from the Gothic invasions, and differs from that of Germany, Italy, and France in being derived in the first place from the Roman system without the intermediation of that of Charlemagne.

Under the Goths the monetary basis was the Roman libra, subdivided thus--