Oncia

In southern Italy, the oncia (plural oncie or once) or onza (pl. onze) was a unit of account during the Middle Ages and later a gold coin minted between 1732 and 1860. It was also minted in the Spanish Empire, and a silver coin of the same value was minted by the Knights of Malta. The name is derived from the ancient Roman uncia. It may sometimes be translated ounce.

A silver Maltese oncia from 1741–73

In the medieval kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, one oncia was equivalent to 30 tarì, 600 grani and 3600 denari (pennies). Conventionally, a sum of money is indicated by numbers of oncie, tarì, grani and denari separated by full stops, thus 2.2.15.1 indicates 2 oncie, two tarì, 15 grani and 1 denaro. Although the oncia was never minted in the Middle Ages, it was the basic unit of account. The lesser denominations were minted, as was the ducat (six of which equalled an oncia) and the carlino (60 to the oncia).[1][2] Frederick II introduced the augustalis, which was a quarter of an oncia.[3]

Notes
  1. Eleni Sakellariou, Southern Italy in the Late Middle Ages: Demographic, Institutional and Economic Change in the Kingdom of Naples, c.1440–c.1530 (Brill, 2012), p. 492.
  2. Stephan R. Epstein, An Island for Itself: Economic Development and Social Change in Late Medieval Sicily (Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. xii.
  3. Donald Matthew, The Norman Kingdom of Sicily (Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. xi.
gollark: Terrestrial housing gets breathable air and some degree of temperature control "for free".
gollark: It'll probably be a while before there are actually space habitats that big, and more having to be done technologically probably means more failures.
gollark: If they fail on a space habitat, I probably die horribly and can't easily get help from somewhere nearby.
gollark: If the power or water supply fail here, I'll probably be somewhat uncomfortable until they're restored, but be basically fine, at least as long as they're available somewhere not too far away.
gollark: No, the requirements on a space habitat are higher.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.