Grosso, perhaps only of account, which was only 3/4 of the
former, therefore equivalent to 3-3/4d. only. This would be a clue to
difficulties which I do not find dealt with by anybody in a precise or
thorough manner; but I can find no evidence for it.
Accounts were kept at Venice not in ducats and grossi, but in Lire,
of which there were several denominations, viz.:
1. LIRA DEI GROSSI, called in Latin Documents Libra denariorum
Venetorum grosorum.[6] Like every Lira or Pound, this
consisted of 20 soldi, and each soldo of 12 denari
or deniers.[7] In this case the Lira was equivalent to 10 golden
ducats; and its Denier, as the name implies, was the Grosso. The
Grosso therefore here was 1/240 of 10 ducats or 1/24 of a ducat, instead
of 1/18.
2. LIRA AI GROSSI (L. den. Ven. ad grossos). This by decree of
2nd June, 1285, went two to the ducat. In fact it is the soldo of
the preceding Lira, and as such the Grosso was, as we have
just seen, its denier; which is perhaps the reason of the name.
3. LIRA DEI PICCOLI (L. den. Ven. parvulorum). The ducat is
alleged to have been at first equal to three of these Lire
(Romanin, I. 321); but the calculations of Marino Sanudo
(1300-1320) in the Secreta Fidelium Crucis show that he reckons the
Ducat equivalent to 3.2 lire of piccoli.[8]
