Zecca (Venice)
The Zecca was the mint of Venice in general, on the one hand, and the building near the Doge's Palace on the other. The former existed from the early 9th to the early 12th century and again from around 1170 to 1870. The latter goes back to a design by Jacopo Sansovino and is now part of the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana . It was created between 1536 and 1545.
Origin and range of tasks
Venice had a Zecca by the 9th century at the latest and until 1870, which was initially located in the city's commercial center near the Rialto Bridge , and from the 16th century not far from the Doge's Palace . However, until 1284 only silver coins were minted.
Although these coins were already in circulation at the time of Louis the Pious , by the end of the 9th century the Venetian denarius was only of regional importance. It was not until the silver grandeur of the 12th century that it became more important again , especially after Enrico Dandolo , and with it the Venetian Zecca. From 1284 the gold ducat was added and further coins followed. These were mostly valid either in Venice or in his territory, a policy that only had to be gradually abandoned in the early modern period. Special coins, such as the Tornesello, were minted for the colonial empire .
In addition, the Zecca also acted on the market for bullion gold and silver, if only to control the value ratio between silver and gold according to the changing interests.
A mint, the Zecca (Arabic coin), can be found at the beginning of the 9th century. Johannes Diaconus names one Johannes Tornaricus and describes him as "monetarius", who had fled to King Lothar's court. A “Domenicus Monetarius” appears around 829 to 836. At the time of Lothar I , the custom of naming the minting location on the coin was abandoned, so that only technical investigations can prove the continued existence of Venetian minting.
Rudolf of Burgundy granted Doge Orso II the right to mint in any case in 925, but he only ruled Italy for two years. Berengar I and his son Guido von Ivrea referred to common coinage in 888 and 891, i.e. to an established Zecca.
972, a document from Friuli mentions an annual payment, which should be made either in the form of 5 Milanese denarii or 10 Venetian denarii. This exact specification had become necessary because the denarii of the various mints drifted so strongly apart in value that one could no longer assume Franconian denarius or pound information. At the time of Otto II or Otto III. the name of the emperor was noted on a single surviving coin, while around 1000 only Christ is mentioned as ruler. It is likely that the nickname Monetario of two men, namely a Martino Barbo and a Gregorius, represents a professional title.
Again an emperor's name appears under Konrad II and (probably) Heinrich III. At this time, Saint Mark appears on the coins. The coins that appeared under Henry IV and V , which were also smaller, now appeared much more frequently.
Gold coins came mainly from Byzantium . They were in use in Venice by 1000 at the latest, also for internal transactions. This was the first time that exchange rates appeared for which it is not clear how they were determined.
In 1112 the Doge sold a piece of land on which a mint was maintained. This land was located in the municipality of San Bartolomeo on the Canal della Fava between the churches of San Bartolomeo and San Salvatore. Not far away was the Rialto Bridge , which in 1264 was still called "Pons de la Moneta". It is not clear whether the said mint was the only one, nor whether it was replaced by another in this city area in 1112, or whether all minting of coins was discontinued. Indeed, there is a gap between coins from the time of Henry V, who died in 1125, and those from the time of Doge Vitale Michiel II , who ruled from 1156 to 1172. There are no coins with the names of the successors of Henry V, although this was customary since the Carolingians . Vitale Michiel is the first Dog name to appear on a Venetian coin. After 1140, the Veronese denarius increasingly replaced the Venetian denarius, which no longer appears in private documents. At the same time, gold coins from the eastern Mediterranean dominated long-distance trade, including coins from the Kingdom of Jerusalem , from the Saracen regions and also from Byzantium, whose coins were still the most widespread. There is much to suggest that Venice ceased its own coinage in 1112.
It was not until Vitale Michiel II. Small amounts of silver coins were minted again in Venice, probably before 1172. The later expansion of the company's own coin production - and with it a resurgence of the Zecca - is probably related to the mass arrest that Emperor Manuel II. In March 1171 in Constantinople. From then on, Venice repeatedly waged war against Byzantium for a century and a half, which initially culminated in the conquest of Constantinople as part of the Fourth Crusade in 1204. Sebastiano Ziani , who was elected Doge in 1172, had coins minted with his name, which, unlike those of his predecessor, were no longer based on the Byzantine model, but on the Veronese coin. This made them considerable competition before 1200 and their share of hoard finds rose sharply. This is probably also due to the fact that there were shortages of gold coins from the eastern Mediterranean. Saladin's victory over the Crusaders in 1187 and the difficulties that the Byzantine coin had, and the result of which the Byzantine hyperpyron was devalued , led to the failure of important gold sources. This meant that the Zecca had to mint considerably larger quantities of coins and at the same time, with its activities, had a much wider impact on the eastern Mediterranean by influencing quantities and exchange rates.
In the 13th century it was in any case in the sestiere of San Marco. This sestiere looked much more like a fortress at the time, and the Zecca may have been moved there as early as 1112 or before 1172. From around 1200 to 1285 the grosso was the most important coin, from 1285 onwards the gold ducats, which were the most important coin until around 1330, were also made. From 1330 to 1379 this was the Soldino, after which reforms that extended until 1423 led to a stabilization of the coin system. This was particularly at risk during the wars against Milan, as it brought counterfeit coins with a low proportion of precious metals to the money market.
Those responsible for the Zecca are mentioned for the first time on March 19, 1224 in the Liber plegiorum .
Control of the exchange rate between gold and silver
The problems the Zecca faced and how far their influence reached is shown by the following process, which received its first impulse from West Africa: The “ Empire of Mali with its extensive gold exports [brought] first the North African and then the European economy into certain difficulties. The famous pilgrimage of Mansa Musas ..., during which he carried perhaps ten tons of gold with him from 1324-25, depressed the Cairo gold price for more than 12 years. It was only with the death of Sulayman (Mansa Musa's brother and successor) and the subsequent collapse of the empire that the complicated trans-Saharan (gold) trade network collapsed. The gold caravans were almost completely demolished in the 1970s. This fact caused noticeable to dramatic shocks on all European coins. ... Under these circumstances it was not easy to support the gold ducat, which had become the most important requirement for trade with Syria and Egypt. In 1331–32 the gold price had already fallen from 1: 14.2 to 1: 13.1, in 1346/49 even to 1: 10.5 compared to the silver price, and finally in 1350 it reached the lowest level of 1: 9.4. Silver became more expensive, gold cheaper and cheaper. ... If the constant outflow of silver into the Levant had led to an increasingly apparent deficiency in this metal, a massive West African influx of gold set the value relations on the market and - mediated - at the mints in motion again. Accordingly, the Rogadia tried to increase the supply of the precious metal, which was inadequately received, through customs exemptions. "
The Zecca took a different approach when the silver price came under pressure. In 1354 she “stopped minting the grosso in order to keep its value at the achieved level through an artificially created shortage of supply, which she largely succeeded in until 1379 .... During this time the gold-silver ratio stabilized between 1: 9.9 and 1: 10.5, ie the silver recovered in price. But even after the Chioggia War between Genoa and Venice (1378-81) the ratio did not exceed 1: 12.5 again, fluctuated between 10.7 and 11.6 from 1401 to 1500 and around 1509 it was 1:10, 7th The decisive factor was that Venice made its Middle Eastern spice purchases, which it practically expanded into a monopoly, almost exclusively with gold ducats. Venice became the biggest "gold leak" in Europe. "
organs
The most powerful council bodies supervised the central institution for the Venice financial center. Initially, the Council of Forty , the Quarantia , oversaw the Zecca. The Massari all'Argento e all'Oro carefully recorded the amount of precious metal in the Zecca since 1269 and reported. In the same building, the two Camerlenghi de Comùn , the actual treasurers of the republic, had been sitting at least since 1236 by tradition of their resolutions . Their number was increased to three in 1527. The funds of all institutions that collected taxes and duties or other funds demanded by the state flowed through their hands. From 1627 onwards, the difficult work was done by the Revisori e Regolatori delle Entrate pubbliche in Zecca, with a view of the Zecca in a particularly complicated area . They were first set up as a special commission in 1584 and dealt with all public revenues from 1592.
In 1416 the Senate ( Consiglio dei Pregadi) took over the supervision of coinage. In 1472 the increasingly powerful Council of Ten , founded in 1310, took over the supervision of coins. With its reform in 1582, the Senate led the Zecca.
In the 16th century, institutions responsible for different areas took over the supervision. In 1522 a Provveditor in Zecca was elected by the Council of Ten, which a few years later took over the actual management of the Zecca. He oversaw the minting of gold coins, managed the purchase and sale of the precious metal and secured the prescribed proportion of the intended precious metal on the basis of the coin base . From 1542 he also had to be heard if, for example, coins were needed abroad or the fleet needed money. In 1562 he got a colleague to be able to cope with the numerous tasks, from 1572 three Provveditori were elected every year in Zecca .
In 1543 the Depositary was added to oversee the deposits stored in the Zecca building; so he ran the actual cash register for the money stored here. Only with his consent and that of the Provveditore in Zecca were higher institutions, such as courts of law, allowed to withdraw funds from the deposits from the cash register from 1562 onwards. From 1584 onwards, private deposits had to be managed separately from public ones. For a few years the depositary was even responsible for trading in precious metals instead of the otherwise responsible massari , but he had to hand over this responsibility to the Provveditori . From 1615 onwards, control over income and expenditure was taken over by its own Conservatore del Deposito , which also had to fend off the desires of other organs.
In 1551, a separate Provveditori sopra Ori e Monete was created for one of the most complex tasks, the control of the gold and silver prices and the related coin and precious metal policy . In 1582 their number was increased from two to three, and by 1700 to five. They could take action against fraudsters and smugglers, stop the flow of unsuitable gold and make proposals for setting the exchange rate between gold and silver in the Senate (without being entitled to vote). In 1629 they were also given responsibilities at the Banco Giro . From 1687 they were supported by the Inquisitori aggiunti , which was primarily responsible for the value relationship between the coins circulating in the interior of the Venetian territory and the external coins. In addition, there were always ad hoc commissions that were responsible for punishing counterfeiting of coins and other currency offenses, which could range up to severe corporal punishment. From 1652 onwards the price of silver was also controlled by the Provveditore agli Ori e Argenti .
Deposits
The Zecca was not a simple mint, but at the same time took on the task of administering deposits, like some other institutions, such as the Camera del frumento , which was responsible for buying grain, especially wheat, or the Camera del Sal , which carried out similar tasks Salt took over. Huge sums of money, for example from foreign potentates, could be deposited. During the 25-year siege of Candia from 1646 to 1669, and during the Morea War between 1684 and 1717, which devoured enormous resources, the government exceptionally allowed the purchase of nobility titles. These entitle them to long-distance trade and to take on political offices, and they opened up the possibility of marrying into the old aristocratic families in the long term. During the siege of Candia , families were able to buy into the nobility for 100,000 ducats , 40,000 of which each had to be deposited in the form of deposits at the Zecca.
The current building
The first reference to a Zecca building at its current location comes from 1277. After a fire in 1532, the building had to be rebuilt.
The current Zecca Palace was built between 1536 and 1545. It was to become the seat of the mint of the Republic of Venice . The almost square building surrounds an inner courtyard, under whose 40 arcades the actual embossing process took place. The exterior facade was made of Istrian marble. For reasons of fire protection no wood was used, only stone.
The builder was Jacopo Sansovino , the entrance is the work of Vincenzo Scamozzi , but the portal, which was created between 1554 and 1556, is also attributed to Sansovino. Sansovino became Proto in 1529 , d. H. chief builder at San Marco, and he began redesigning St. Mark's Square that same year . This included work on the old procuraties , the loggetta of the bell tower (until 1542) and the Biblioteca Marciana , as well as the new construction of the Zecca.
Even after the end of the republic in 1797, coins were minted in the building until 1870. The building was restored in 1860 and 1865.
literature
- Alan M. Stahl : Zecca. The Mint of Venice in the Middle Ages , Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, London 2000.
- Alan M. Stahl: The Venetian Mint after the Black Death: Three Texts (1353) , in: Katherine L. Jansen, Joanna Drell, Frances Andrew (Eds.): Medieval Italy: Texts in Translation , University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010, Pp. 87-89.
- Alan M. Stahl: The Venetian Mint in the Age of the Black Death , in: Curtis Perry (Ed.): Material Culture and Cultural Materialisms in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance , Arizona Studies in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance 5 (2001 ) 41-57. ( academia.edu )
- Vincenzo Lazari: Scrittura di Jacopo Sansovino e parti del Consiglio de 'Dieci riguardanti la rifabbrica della Zecca di Venezia ora per la prima volta pubblicate , Venice 1850.
Web links
- Hans-Jürgen Hübner: Venice, the financial center in the late Middle Ages , 2011 , last visited on October 24, 2018
Remarks
- ^ Louise Buenger Robbert : Reorganization of the Venetian Coinage by Doge Enrico Dandolo , in: Speculum 49.1 (1974) 48-60.
- ^ Alan M. Stahl : Zecca. The Mint of Venice in the Middle Ages , Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, London 2000, p. 4 f.
- ↑ Stahl, p. 8.
- ↑ Both quotations from: Hans-Jürgen Hübner: Venice, financial center in the late Middle Ages
- ^ Alvise da Mosto: L'archivio di stato di Venezia. Indice generale, storico, descrittivo ed annalitico , vol. 1, Rome 1937, p. 149.
- ^ Alvise da Mosto: L'archivio di stato di Venezia. Indice generale, storico, descrittivo ed annalitico , vol. 1, Rome 1937, p. 70.
- ↑ Stefano Filippi: La facciata della Zecca a Venezia. Progetti e manutenzioni nell'Ottocento , in: Le pietre nell'architettura. Struttura e superfici , ed. by Guido Biscontin and Daniela Mietto, Padua: Libreria Progetto Ed. 1991, pp. 91-100.
- ^ Encyclopedia Britannica
- ↑ Eugene J. Johnson: Portal of Empire and Wealth: Jacopo Sansovino's Entrance to the Venetian Mint , in: The Art Bulletin 86 (2004) 430–458.
Coordinates: 45 ° 25 ′ 59.8 ″ N , 12 ° 20 ′ 20.7 ″ E