Money Values
Economic historians now regard equating the value of fifteenth-and sixteenth-century coinage with today’s money as unrealistic owing to the number of factors involved in the calculation. However, a rough rule of thumb would be to multiply each currency (gold coins such as ducats, francs, florins and scudi were all much the same) by one hundred to arrive at a modern sterling equivalent.
Time Calculations
In fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Italy there were twenty-four hours in the day (like ours) but, instead of starting the day at midnight as we do, the Italians began the day half an hour after sunset: thus the twenty-fourth hour was the last hour of daytime.
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Italy in 1494
The Estense territories
The Descendants of Alexander VI
The House of Este
The Neapolitan House of Aragon (d’Aragona)
