Pegolotti, oncia e Tarì

[Matteo91]

Un amico tedesco mi chiede aiuto su quanto riportato da Pegolotti nella tabella allegata:

La domanda a cui cerca una risposta è la seguente: come ha fatto il "marco" di Cologna a raggiungere la Sicilia?

C'è qualcuno che possa aiutarmi? Purtroppo non conosco i frequentatori della sezione... @numa numa?

Vi riporto il messaggio integrale, da cui può comprendersi meglio il senso della sua domanda.

Grazie.

Matteo

__________

Hello Matteo,

I am studying the question about the table below, taken from Pegolotti:

He has a chapter about Sicily, where he describes the mark for gold and the mark for silver.

The mark for silver had 33 tari and that was equal to Ancona, but also to London and Cologne plus Glarentza.

That is to say a mark like 233,5 g.

How did the mark of Cologne reach Sicily? One idea could be through the Normans, when they conquered Sicily from the Emirat.

The other principal possibility is a 12 ounce pound/rotolo which was in use in Syria with about 350 g.

Are you aware of any literature about this issue of mass units before Anjou/Aragon?

[numa numa]

Scrivo qui la mia risposta direttamente in inglese

 

hello, that the Cologne mark was or may have been known in Sicily as well it should not represent too much of a puzzle. Commerce, business activities, travels were a constant even in relatively early Middle Ages all across Europe and all the more so in a land filled with so many different cultures/powers/economies such as Sicily was.

 

for a thorough comprehension of the different currencies/monies utilized and exchanged in the Middle Ages one of the best references is the so-called Pegolotti list which is definitely worth reading to have a broader understanding of the coinage  circulation in mid-late middle ages.

Here a dissertation on the Riccardiana manuscript also dubbed as Pratica della Mercatura that can be a source of good information:

https://cdn.ymaws.com/sites/www.medievalacademy.org/resource/resmgr/maa_books_online/evans_0024_bkmrkdpdf.pdf

also extremely the Grierson’s study of the Pegolotti manuscript that provides another invaluable source of info on medieval coin circulation

The Coin List of Pegolotti. Autore, Philip Grierson. Editore, Istituto editoriale cisalpine, 1955. 

[Matteo91]

Grazie molte @numa numa, riferisco la tua risposta.

 

[Matteo91]

@numa numa Riporto i ringraziamenti, nonché un'ulteriore approfondimento, che peraltro mi pare molto interessante.

The earliest find for the mark of Cologne outside of Cologne itself (where it was 1045) is in a text from Sahagun (which has been one of the most important cloisters in the kingdom of Leon) at 1100.

From there it influenced the later marks/pounds of Castile and Portugal. Why this mark is 230 g instead of 233,5 g was one of the question which lead me into researching the background.

Sahagun is near to the pilgrims path to Santiago, one possible explanation for the movement of the mark of Cologne.

The different value of about 230 g can already been found also in Pegolotti’s remarks about Seville. Insofar I think actually that it has always had that mass over there. Spanish and Portuguese Numismatics do not argue against that.

That is for Castile and Portugal! Aragon and Catalunya are different.

But what now is the origin of the mark of Cologne which has a strange-looking 10:7 ratio against the Roman pound?

That is why I started looking to Sicily as one of the areas with a transition of Christian-Islamic-Christian. There are scholars, which see the (or one) background of that mark also in Islamic areas, either directly or indirectly (through economy).

Just as one example: The Almohads in Al-Andalus firmly believed that the normal dinar was incorrect (the 4,25g) and that 4,6 g is correct (84 grain instead of 72). 4,6 x 50 = 230 g.

In Sicily the transition could have been a direct too, but my impression is that the original gold-tari of the Emirate was safely > 1 g while the tari (trapessi) Pegolotti is reckoning with is like 0,9 g.

Which is the earliest mentioning of the mark of Cologne or its derived silver ounce on Sicily? And when did it disappear, as the later system did not contain it anymore from all sources I am aware of.

I have a lot of literature standing behind me and saved on my computer. The book of Griersson I have to find somewhere.

Sorry for all the questions. I hope it is of interest.

All the best and thanks so far.

[numa numa]

Il 4/3/2022 alle 19:10, Matteo91 dice:

In Sicily the transition could have been a direct too, but my impression is that the original gold-tari of the Emirate was safely > 1 g while the tari (trapessi) Pegolotti is reckoning with is like 0,9 g.

In Sicily the ‘tari’ or ‘rob^ai = 1/4 of a dinar , was first issued by Aglabids Emirs with a weight slightly over 1 gr.

 

The Islamic tari, minted starting from circa 913 onwards, contained 1.05 grams of gold, lesser when compared to the dinar that contained 4.25g of gold, and was preferred largely by North African Muslims more than those who were situated in Sicily. Because the tari was relatively smaller, it became more popular than the dinar as it was easier and lighter to transport, and was less conspicuous than the larger, and subsequently heavier coins. The gold that was used in the creation of ruba'i came from Northern Africa, especially in Tunis, where it was exchanged for precious grain. With the arrival of the Normans by the 12th century, taris starred to be imitated by them with differences in legends, characters and also sources of gold and ultimately the purity of the gold.