NK - Free Time

Nathan W. Jones njones at ix.netcom.com
Fri Aug 6 12:05:27 PDT 1999


Diarmaid wrote (in part):
> There *were* standard measurements (usually based on the old Roman 
>measures), but these were often governed by local practice (in England, 
>the Crown determined the standards, while in France
>and Germany and Italy every region determined their own.  That's why an 
>English inch is one thing, and a Paris inch is something else.

And of course this also applied to money.  Much like money is traded
today based on value set by some vague standard, gold and silver coins
were traded based on weights of the metal.  If you were given the choice
between being paid in French francs, Venetian ducats or Florentine florin,
always take the francs (that is if you lifed c1400.)  Francs tended to 
weigh about 3.885 grams compared to the ducat's 3.536 or the florin's 
3.559 (Bruckner, p.36).

Gio.


Bruckner, Gene.  Ed.  _Two_Memoirs_Of_Renaissance_Florence_.  Harper and
Row, New York.  1967.  p.36
Gio
Northkeep
Ansteorra



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