had noted it some
years before, when commencing an arrangement of the archives of the
Institution.

[12] The Legal Year at Venice began on the 1st of March. And 1324 was 7th
of the Indiction. Hence the date is, according to the modern Calendar,
1324.

[13] Marsden says of Moreta and Fantina, the only daughters named by
Ramusio, that these may be thought rather familiar terms of endearment
than baptismal names. This is a mistake however. _Fantina_ is from one
of the parochial saints of Venice, S. Fantino, and the male name was
borne by sundry Venetians, among others by a son of Henry Dandolo's.
Moreta is perhaps a variation of Maroca, which seems to have been a
family name among the Polos. We find also the male name of Bellela,
written _Bellello, Bellero, Belletto_.

[14] The _Decima_ went to the Bishop of Castello (eventually converted
into Patriarch of Venice) to divide between himself, the Clergy, the
Church, and the Poor. It became a source of much bad feeling, which
came to a head after the plague of 1348, when some families had to pay
the tenth three times within a very short space. The existing Bishop
agreed to a composition, but his successor Paolo Foscari (1367)
claimed that on the death of every citizen an exact inventory should
be made, and a full tithe levied. The Signory fought hard with the
Bishop, but he fled to the Papal Court and refused all concession.
After his death in 1376 a composition was made for 5500 ducats yearly.
(_Romanin_, II. 406; III. 161, 165.)

[15] There is a difficulty about estimating the value of these sums from
the variety of Venice pounds or _lire_. Thus the _Lira dei piccoli_
was reckoned 3 to the ducat or zecchin, the _Lira ai grossi_ 2 to the
ducat, but the _Lira_ dei _grossi_ or _Lira d'imprestidi_ was equal to
10 ducats, or (allowing for higher value of silver then) about 3_l._
15_s._; a little more than the equivalent of the then Pound sterling.
This last money is _specified_ in some of the bequests, as in the 20
soldi (or 1 lira) to St. Lorenzo, and in the annuity of 8 lire to
Polo's wife; but it seems doubtful what money is meant when _libra_
only or _libra denariorum venetorum_ is used. And this doubt is not
new. Gallicciolli relates that in 1232 Giacomo Menotto left to the
Church of S. Cassiano as an annuity _libras denariorum venetorum
q