> I presume that "s" means "solidi" (shillings) and that "lb" means "librae"
> (pounds, with one pound = 20 shillings, if Carolingian mode still applied
> at the given time). In this case, the schoolmaster apparently has 340
> pupils: 14 lb + 20 lb = 280 s + 400 s = 680 s, divided by the difference of
> 10 s - 8 s gives 680/2 = 340. If this is correct, he pays (340*8)+280 =
> 3000 s = 150 lb rent, which seems high, but is probably an annual rent, and
> for a big schoolhouse (if it can house 340 pupils).
I'm neither a philologist nor an economic historian per se, but I
can confirm that the passage in question indicates "soldi" and "lire".
The Carolingian system of conversion applies here, as Otfried indicates,
but it's important to keep in mind that these terms should not be confused
with English currency values. Lire, soldi and denari are terms of
account, and refer to the common silver-based currency used in daily life
in Italian cities. The values of these units fluctuated in relation to
the gold-based currency of florins (fiorini of various weights and
denominations), ducats (ducati, again of varying types), and scudi. Some
useful bibliography here includes: Paul Grendler, _Schooling in
Renaissance Italy_, who reports on pp. 18-19 that most Italian communes in
the 14th-16thc hired schoolmasters for between 50-70 ducats or florins,
plus fees per year. See also Paul Gehl, _A Moral Art: Grammar, Society,
and Culture in Trecento Florence_ for an earlier, specifically Tuscan
study of schoolmasters and their pupils, inc fees and number of pupils
taught in both abbaco and grammar schools.
As for 150 lire charged as an annual house rent, that figure needs
to be converted into some type of gold currency (florins is easiest,
although more
problematic for the late 16thc from which this text dates). A table of
conversions from silver to gold currency is provided in two very useful
books: Richard Goldthwaite,_The Building of Renaissance Florence_, and
Carlo Cipolla, _Money in Sixteenth-Century Florence_ (can you tell I'm a
Florentine historian??). See also the work of Frederic Lane and Reinhold
Muller for Venetian monies. I'd say that at a rough early 16thc
conversion of 7 lire to the florin, the house rent equals between 21-22
florins, which is absolutely mainstream for a middling type of domestic
rental. Take this conversion, though, as coming from someone whose work
rarely goes past the mid-16thc (that is, with a large grain of salt!).
One other point re: number of pupils: if Otfried's math is
correct, not all 340 pupils would necessarily attend at the same time.
Terms of schooling were fragmented and not standardized. And the fees
were actually quite affordable even to the upper ranks of the artisanate.
Hope this message will help contextualize the question, which
strikes me as a little problem in practical arithmetic that a
schoolmaster might have set his pupils. Best regards,
Sharon Strocchia
>
> Now if we assume that the example is more or less realistic in content, we
> may infer that 8 or 10 shillings are only a part of the sum which each
> pupil has to pay for going to school, unless we believe that the remainder
> of 20 pounds (which are left to the schoolmaster only if each pupil in fact
> pays 10 sh. instead of 8 or, say, 9) are enough for a schoolmaster to
> sustain his life for a year! For this reason (which of course is only a lot
> of guesswork not based on any expert knowledge of the economical situation
> at the given place and time), it seems likely to me that the 8 or 10
> shillings paid "per uno diuanto[?]" are in fact only an "advance payment",
> meant to enable the schoolmaster to pay the rent.
>
> However, I have not yet been able to verify whether there was an
> appropriate word like "diuanto[?]" (the print or the transcription may be
> misspelled) in 15/16th Italian, allowing to translate "per uno diuanto[?]"
> with "for/as an advance of money". If anybody knows of such a word, I will
> be delighted to forward his reply to the original sender (Prof. Lueneburg,
> Univ. of Kaiserslautern, Dept. of Mathematics, author of a book on Leonardo
> da Pisa), as I have already done with Gloria's explanation.
>
> Btw, apologies to all who, like myself, decided to study philology because
> they hated mathematics!
>
> Yours,
>
> Otfried
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Otfried Lieberknecht, Schoeneberger Str. 11, D-12163 Berlin
> Tel.: ++49 30 8516675 (fax on request), E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> Homepage for Dante Studies:
> http://members.aol.com/lieberk/welcome.html
> Listowner Italian-Studies:
> http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/italian-studies/
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|