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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: 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)