Coinage in the Crown of Aragon was based upon silver and used the Carolingian ratio of 1 pound (libra) to 20 sous (solidi), to 240 pennies (denariii). Gold coins were invariably of Muslim, Castilian, or other provenance. Of those silver units, only the penny and half-penny (obollus or mealla) were actually minted; the others were monies of account. Within King Jaume's realms, three distinct coinages had currency: those of Jaca, Barcelona, and Valencia. In addition, coins of Tours, Marseilles, Montpellier (Melgorian), and after 1300 Majorca also circulated. Despite the crown's effort in 1247 to fix a stable rate of exchange, the relative value of these currencies in fact varied from place to place and from year to year.

    The nominal equivalencies established by the crown in 1247 related 1s. of Valencia to 1s. 6d. of Barcelona, to 1s. 3d. of Jaca, to 1s. 4d. Melgorian, to 1s. 3d. of Tours. In addition, a Valencian sou was worth 4 silver pennies, and 48s. of Valencia was the equivalent of a silver mark. In general, throughout the thirteenth century the coins of Valencia and Jaca were worth more than those of Barcelona, but in varying proportions. The money of Jaca was the most stable, while that of Valencia declined steadily in this period. For example, between 1247 and 1310, the Valencian sou declined from 18d. of Barcelona to less than 15d., and from 16d. of Jaca to 8d. In 1300, a sou of Barcelona would purchase about 1s. 6d. of Jaca, and 1s. 3d. of Valencia. Between 1253 and 1268, 4s. Melgorian yielded 5s. of Barcelona.

    Most commercial transactions between the Crown of Aragon and Muslim states were expressed in terms of silver besants or gold dinars. In 1247, a silver besant fetched 3s. 9d. of Valencia; in 1268, 2s. 2d. of Barcelona; and in 1303, 2s. of Barcelona. The gold dinar, also loosely called the mithqal, brought 15s. of Barcelona in 1285-86, and 14 to 15s. of Valencia in 1288. By 1302, the dinar had appreciated to 16s. of Valencia, and in 1304 to 20s. of Barcelona. From 1280 to 1330, the money of Barcelona fell approximately 33 percent in relation to the Muslim dinar.

    [124] In the Crown of Castile, gold morabetins or maravedís were struck after 1172 in imitation of the Murabit dinar. This became a money of account in 1221, when Fernando III began to strike a dobla, or double dinar. In 1293, 111,833 maravedís were exchanged for 94,902s. of Barcelona, yielding the ratio of 1 maravedí to 9d. of Barcelona. The dobla, also called the gold morabetin or gold maravedí, was initially valued at 3 morabetins of account, but it quickly appreciated to 20.5 in 1293, and to 35 in 1350. Around 1250, the Castilian gold coin was valued at 6s. of Valencia, but a transaction of 1292-93 shows a rise in value to 17s. 1d. of Barcelona. The morabetin, in addition to being a Castilian gold coin and a money of account, was also used as a money of account in the Crown of Aragon, where its value was stated as approximately half the value of the dobla. Thus, in the fourteenth century the Aragonese morabetin of account equated to 7s. of Valencia, 9s. of Barcelona, and 8s. of Majorca.

    Other coins also circulated in the Crown of Aragon. Some were of foreign origin and others were Christian counterfeits of Muslim originals. The mazmodin was a gold coin of Muwahhid origin and approximately equivalent to a half dinar. The Moroccan original, called the Josephine mazmodin, was worth 4s. of Valencia in 1247; its Christian copy, or pseudo-josephine, brought 3s. 6d. of Valencia. King Jaume minted the millarés or dirham, a silver coin worth about 4d. of Barcelona. A Muslim morabetin also circulated beside its Castilian namesake and, in 1247, was worth 8s. 6d. of Valencia as compared to the 6s. of its Christian counterpart. Sterlingi were used as a money of account in Roussillon; in 1265, 3 sterling equalled 1s. Melgorian, and 1s. 3d. of Barcelona.

    These and perhaps other coins with their variable rates of exchange created confusion in the marketplace and with it the possibility of financial loss. The careful trader thus found it expedient to specify in his business dealings exactly which coins he would accept at specified rates of exchange.⁽¹⁾

    What was the actual value or purchasing power of these coins? While a broadly based study of wages and prices remains to be done, records of discrete transactions and contracts give us some notion of the real worth of money. There are, for example, some approximations of wage scales. R. W. Emery estimates that a single person required about 100s. Melgorian to live comfortably in thirteenth-century Perpignan. He cites individual examples that range from the 47s. 6d. paid to a young unskilled worker in 1266, to the 125s. demanded by a craftsman in 1273. Burns has discovered that Prince Pere [125] in 1268 paid Muslim bowmen 4d. of Valencia per day, and that garrison troops at Valencian castles commanded between 150s. and 360s. per year. Artisans of thirteenth-century Majorca earned about 1s. a day, and sailors a few pence. Seemingly affluent residents took in 2s. or more a day. Chantry priests in late thirteenth-century Narbonne were paid between 200 and 300s. Melgorian; Valencian rectors lived comfortably on 300s. of Valencia. The rich took in far more: knights averaged over 370s. a year, Valencian castellans between 1,000 and 3,500s., the justiciar of Valencia 2,000s., and great barons between 20,000 and 40,000s.

    Prices paid for commodities are more difficult to measure than wages, because market conditions were fluid. Emery has adduced the following as average prices paid at Perpignan between 1261 and 1287: horses, 500s.; mules, 100s.; asses, 40s.; slaves, 225s.; house rentals, 35s. 6d.; shop rentals, 38s. 1d.; and land rentals, 25s. Dowries for the daughters of local craftsmen averaged 562. 6d. A pound of fresh pork brought 5d. here in 1303, and in 1292 fifty kilograms of wheat cost 8 to 9s. in Barcelona. Thus, if Mercedarians paid between 100 and 200s. or more for a Christian captive, this amount would represent up to two years' income for a laborer, the annual salary of a moderately well-off individual, or the annual rental of 3 to 6 houses.⁽²⁾
 

1. For example, a purchase contract of 1255 at Gerona demanded payment of 150s. of Valencia or 200s. of Barcelona (ACA, Monacales, 2663: 206); another of 1264 equated 81s. 3d. of Barcelona with 62s. 6d. of Valencia (ibid., 2676:48rv).

2. For a discussion of money and prices, see Burns, Medieval Colonialism, 27- 33; Dufourcq, L'Espagne catalane, 169-70, 525- 30, 556; Emery, Jews of Perpignan, 128-30; Brutails, Étude sur Roussillon, 44-65; Hillgarth, Spanish Kingdoms, 2:629-31; and Joaquím Botet y Sisó, "Nota sobre la encunyació de monedas arábigues pel Rey Don Jaume," Congrés d'històriala Corona d'Aragó, dedicat al rey En Jaume I y la seua época (Barcelona, 1909-13), 2:944-45.