xii Note onStyle
The money in thirteenth-century records generally indicates money of
account, rather than actual coins. In theory the ‘‘denominations’’ were as
follows: £libra(lira;in English, ‘‘pound’’); s.solidus(soldo;in English,
‘‘shilling’’); d.denarius(denaro;in English, ‘‘penny’’). £ 1 20 s. 240 d. A
typical money of account was the ‘‘imperial lira’’ (£ imp.libra imperialis).
Cities had their own hypothetical currencies: £ bon.libra bononinorum,the
lira of Bologna; £ fer.the lira of Ferrara; £ flor.the lira of Florence;
£ flor. parv.the smaller lira of Florence; £ mil.the lira of Milan; £
mut.the lira of Modena; £ parm.the lira of Parma; £ pis.the lira
of Pisa; £ placen.the lira of Piacenza; £ rav.the lira of Ravenna; £
reg.the lira of Reggio; £ ven. gros.the larger lira of Venice; £ ven.
parv.the smaller lira of Venice. Three of these lire were usually equal to
one imperial lira. North Italian records sometimes merely indicate lire, with-
out any reference to specific type. In fact, the coins struck by most cities were
nearly always the traditional silver pence (denari). The north Italian cities
began to mint larger denari, calledgrossi,in the early 1200 s. These contained
about two grams of fine silver—four to twenty-six times the amount in the
olderpiccoli.Thesepiccoliandgrossiare reflected in the larger and smaller
denominations of the moneys of account listed above. This means that the
money of account, the ‘‘lira’’ of each city, was of different value, and the
differences varied as cities debased their coin. Changing ‘‘exchange rates’’
for the different Italian coinages after the mid- 1200 s are tabulated in Peter
Spufford’sHandbook of Medieval Exchange(London: Boydell & Brewer, 1986 ),
which is an excellent resource for those needing further information. As to
buying power, a modest house in the city of Bologna was worth about £ 200
bon. in the 1290 s, after a century of moderate inflation. The typical stipend
for Mass in thirteenth-century Bolognese statutes was 6 d. bon., and it was
supposed to provide the priest with one day’s material needs.