Money and Banking in Medieval and Renaissance Venice: Volume I: Coins and Moneys of Account

Originally published in 1985. Frederic C. Lane and Reinhold C. Mueller, in the first volume of Money and Banking in Medieval and Renaissance Venice , discuss Venice's economic achievement in terms of the complex system the city's inhabitants developed to manage moneys of account and coins. Money merchants of Venice developed a system whereby a premium attached to moneys of account acted as a stabilizing force and allowed merchants to engage in long-term trade. This system, according to the authors, helped establish Venice as a dominant city-state in international trade and exchange. This book outlines the development and success of this system through 1508. At the time it was first published, this book made a significant contribution to the history of money and economics by underscoring the large role that Venice played in the economic history of the West and the ascendance of capitalism as a structuring force of society. Frontmatter (page N/A) List of Illustrations (page ix) List of Tables (page xi) Preface (page xiii) List of Abbreviations (page xix) PART I THE BACKGROUND 1. What Money Is and Was (page 3) 2. Seigniorage and International Flows of Silver and Gold (page 16) 3. Recoinage: Revaluations and Devaluations (page 24) 4. Bimetallism and Multiple Monetary Standards (page 36) 5. Metallic Values and Exchange Values (page 44) 6. The Rise of Bankers (page 65) 7. Venice's Place in Monetary History (page 90) PART II VENICE'S MONEYS, BULLION MARKET, AND MINT 8. The First Coins and Moneys of Account (page 105) 9. The Bullion Trade and Market Organization (page 134) 10. The Mint's Products, Purchases, and Prices (page 161) 11. Communal Revenue (page 186) 12. Within the Mint (page 204) PART III THE GENESIS AND PERSISTENCE OF BIMETALISM 13. Competing Moneys and Venice's First Bimetallic Standard (page 257) 14. The Rise of Gold (page 286) 15. The Restructuring of Venice's Monetary System (page 314) 16. The Multiplication of Moneys of Account (page 333) 17. The Fall of Gold (page 364) 18. Devaluations of the Silver Money (page 380) 19. Foreign Exchange during the Fall of Gold (page 416) 20. The Mobility and Utility of Europe's Moneys of Account (page 466) 21. Motivations in Venetian Monetary Policy (page 485) Appendix A. Mint Charges (page 493) Appendix B. Volume and Rate of Production (page 531) Appendix C. Silver and Copper Prices (page 550) Appendix D. Domestic Exchange (page 564) Appendix E. Silver: Special Problems (page 618) Appendix F. The "Quindexena" (page 623) Appendix G. Documents (page 626) Bibliography (page 637) Index (page 671)