Fantina is from one
of the parochial saints of Venice, S. Fantino, and the male name was
borne by sundry Venetians, among others by a son of Henry Dandolo's.
Moreta is perhaps a variation of Maroca, which seems to have been a
family name among the Polos. We find also the male name of Bellela,
written Bellello, Bellero, Belletto.
[14] The Decima went to the Bishop of Castello (eventually converted
into Patriarch of Venice) to divide between himself, the Clergy, the
Church, and the Poor. It became a source of much bad feeling, which
came to a head after the plague of 1348, when some families had to pay
the tenth three times within a very short space. The existing Bishop
agreed to a composition, but his successor Paolo Foscari (1367)
claimed that on the death of every citizen an exact inventory should
be made, and a full tithe levied. The Signory fought hard with the
Bishop, but he fled to the Papal Court and refused all concession.
After his death in 1376 a composition was made for 5500 ducats yearly.
(Romanin, II. 406; III. 161, 165.)
[15] There is a difficulty about estimating the value of these sums from
the variety of Venice pounds or lire. Thus the Lira dei piccoli
was reckoned 3 to the ducat or zecchin, the Lira ai grossi 2 to the
ducat, but the Lira dei grossi or Lira d'imprestidi was equal to
10 ducats, or (allowing for higher value of silver then) about 3l.
15s.; a little more than the equivalent of the then Pound sterling.
This last money is specified in some of the bequests, as in the 20
soldi (or 1 lira) to St. Lorenzo, and in the annuity of 8 lire to
Polo's wife; but it seems doubtful what money is meant when libra
only or libra denariorum venetorum is used. And this doubt is not
new. Gallicciolli relates that in 1232 Giacomo Menotto left to the
Church of S. Cassiano as an annuity libras denariorum venetorum
quatuor. Till 1427 the church received the income as of lire dei
piccoli, but on bringing a suit on the subject it was adjudged that
lire ai grossi were to be understood. (Delle Mem. Venet. Ant. II.
18.) This story, however, cuts both ways, and does not decide our
doubt.
[16] The form of the name Ysabeta aptly illustrates the transition that
seems so strange from Elizabeth into the Isabel that the Spaniards
made of it.
[17] I.e. the extent of what was properly called the Dogado, all along the
Lagoons from Grado on the extreme east to Capo d'Argine (Cavarzere at
the mouth of the Adige) on the extreme west.
[18] The word rendered Guilds is "Scholarum." The crafts at Venice
were united in corporations called Fraglie or Scholae, each of
which had its statutes, its head called the Gastald, and its place
of meeting under the patronage of some saint. These acted as societies
of mutual aid, gave dowries to poor girls, caused masses to be
celebrated for deceased members, joined in public religious
processions, etc., nor could any craft be exercised except by members
of such a guild. (Romanin, I. 390.)
[19] A few years after Ser Marco's death (1328) we find the Great Council
granting to this Peter the rights of a natural Venetian, as having
been a long time at Venice, and well-conducted. (See App. C, Calendar
of Documents, No. 13.) This might give some additional colour to M.
Pauthier's supposition that this Peter the Tartar was a faithful
servant who had accompanied Messer Marco from the East 30 years
before. But yet the supposition is probably unfounded. Slavery and
slave-trade were very prevalent at Venice in the Middle Ages, and V.
Lazari, a writer who examined a great many records connected
therewith, found that by far the greater number of slaves were
described as Tartars. There does not seem to be any clear
information as to how they were imported, but probably from the
factories on the Black Sea, especially Tana after its establishment.
A tax of 5 ducats per head was set on the export of slaves in 1379,
and as the revenue so received under the Doge Tommaso Mocenigo
(1414-1423) amounted (so says Lazari) to 50,000 ducats, the startling
conclusion is that 10,000 slaves yearly were exported! This it is
difficult to accept. The slaves were chiefly employed in domestic
service, and the records indicate the women to have been about twice
as numerous as the men. The highest price recorded is 87 ducats paid
for a Russian girl sold in 1429. All the higher prices are for young
women; a significant circumstance. With the existence of this system
we may safely connect the extraordinary frequence of mention of
illegitimate children in Venetian wills and genealogies. (See Lazari,
Del Traffico degli Schiavi in Venezia, etc., in Miscellanea di
Storia Italiana, I. 463 seqq.) In 1308 the Khan Toktai of Kipchak
(see Polo, II. 496), hearing that the Genoese and other Franks were in
the habit of carrying off Tartar children to sell, sent a force
against Caffa, which was occupied without resistance, the people
taking refuge in their ships. The Khan also seized the Genoese
property in Sarai. (Heyd. II. 27.)
[20] "Stracium et omne capud massariciorum"; in Scotch phrase "napery
and plenishing." A Venetian statute of 1242 prescribes that a bequest
of massariticum shall be held to carry to the legatee all articles
of common family use except those of gold and silver plate or
jeweller's work. (See Ducange, sub voce.) Stracci is still used
technically in Venice for "household linen."
[21] In the original aureas libras quinque. According to Marino Sanudo
the Younger (Vite dei Dogi in Muratori xxii. 521) this should be
pounds or lire of aureole, the name of a silver coin struck by
and named after the Doge Aurio Mastropietro (1178-1192): "Ancora fu
fatta una Moneta d'argento che si chiamava Aureola per la casata del
Doge; e quella Moneta che i Notai de Venezia mettevano di pena sotto
i loro instrumenti." But this was a vulgar error.