Money at the Court in Ferrara
Notes from a lost internet source (I lost the address, I can't cite it):
From a list of 22th of January 1476 it is known, that:
- Sigismondo, brother of Ercole, got 2375 LM (Lira Marchesana) in one month
- Messer Alberto Ramaldo, 500 LM (forgot his function)
- Alberto, half-brother of Ercole, 831 LM
- Scipione, nephew of Alberto, 120 LM
- Polidero, nephew of Alberto, 15 LM
- Members of Consiglio Segreto, 8 - 80 LM
- Members of Consiglio di Giustitia, 45 LM
- chancellor, main secretary Paolo Antonio Trotti, 50 LM
- Messengers with horses, 20 LM
- Oratori (diplomats):
- at the pope: 28 LM
- in Venetia and Florence: ca 40 LM
- in Milano: 83 LM
- All administrative functions: 1884 monthly (without Sigismondo)
- Treasurers 20 LM
- Technicians (architects etc.: 20 LM)
- Musicians (occasionally): 26 LM
- lower servants: 1 LM monthly, also low: tailors, bow shooters, transporters
Ariosto 30 years later, gets 25 LM, three horses and 2 servants. All the court are 1476 ca. 600 persons, the total expenses
without Eleanora d'Aragon (ca. 1700 LM) are 9328 LM, an average of ca. 12. With 2 LM life was possible for a small man, a noble
got ca. 25.
Perhaps one may assume, that the very low paid persons had other indirect salary, that is free living and no cost for food, possibly also clothing, otherwise the discrepancy between low and high income looks a little unlikely (collective meals should have been normal, otherwise the organisation would have been difficult).
A Trionfi deck produced for duke Borso causes average costs of 4-5 Lira Marchesana, as much as 1/4 of the monthly income of a nobleman. This is not cheap.
(autorbis)