Florin (Italian coin)

Floren (Latin Florenus, Italian Fiorino d' oro, double florin ), was a 1252 to 1533 in Florence embossed gold coin.

After Charlemagne had in his coinage reform the ancient gold coins replaced by silver coins, there had been only a few gold coins of ancient and Arab coinage in medieval Europe. Then rose the High Middle Ages, with the increasing monetary transactions, the demand for high-value coins. The Roman ( HRR ) Emperor Frederick II built since 1231 in Brindisi gold coins shape, Augustales (singular: Augustalis ) called. Subsequently, the financial centers of Florence and began to publish after 1280 also Venice coins of gold in greater numbers.

The city of Florence began with the production of the Fiorino 1252 after their victory over her rival Siena at the Battle of Montalcino. The coin was composed of 3.54 g of fine gold. On the front, they bore the coat of arms of the city, a lily (Latin flos = flower). The reverse showed John the Baptist, the patron saint of the city. From 1300 embossed Fiorentini all carry a Münzmeisterzeichen that allows accurate dating, as the master of the mint changed every six months, so popular was this office. The books of the Florentine in good years from the Mint have an output of up to 350,000 florins, or about 1.2 tons of gold. The embossing of the Florin in Florence ended in 1533, as a unified Cosimo I de 'Medici, the coinage in his sphere of influence and issued on the French model the Scudo d' Oro.

The Fiorino became the model for numerous gold florins.

The old name is to be found later for other coins:

• The designated with a lily Tuscan Fiorino, an embossed silver coin since 1826 of 1,666 Tuscan lire
• English Florin, an embossed silver coin since 1849 of 2 shillings.
• Hungarian Forint currency unit
• The Dutch guilder
• The Aruban florin