Note 23 — Chapter XX

These, and many other particulars interwoven with our narrative, are taken from the anonymous Diary, Vat. Urb. MSS. No. 904. During the preceding year of scarcity, wheat had varied in different parts of Italy from four to twelve golden ducats, each of forty bolognini, a price scarcely credible. Riposati quotes a document proving that in 1450 a florin contained forty bolognini of Gubbio, of which twenty-nine and a half were coined from an ounce of silver, with 9/48 of alloy. Although it seems right to insert the above tariff, most of the prices appear enormous, beyond all belief. See the Preface to this work, for the comparative value of money. *This diary is the one quoted under Madiai.