Argo destined to re-open the valuable trade with Egypt and the far East contained, among its crew of two hundred and fifty persons, twelve young men of the principal families of Florence,[1] sent on board to acquire a knowledge of the trade of the Levant and of maritime affairs. To facilitate, also, commercial intercourse, knowing how difficult it is to reconcile people to a strange coinage and reckoning, the Florentines coined golden florins of the same value as those of Venice, called the "Galley florins," which they sent in large quantities with the expedition to secure an easy currency at the foreign ports and to facilitate their commercial transactions.[2]
Ambassadors were at the same time despatched to Egypt, with full powers to treat on all commercial affairs; a second embassy obtained mercantile concessions in Syria, Constantinople, and the Morea; while a third proceeded to Majorca, to make the Florentine flag known and respected in that part of the Mediterranean.
From this time the commerce of Florence increased so as to rival, if not surpass that of Venice. Her merchants were indeed princes. The trade with the East, opened in a measure by Cosimo de Medici, was greatly extended and improved by his grandson Lorenzo. So highly was this illustrious merchant esteemed by the Sultan of Egypt, that he sent an
- ↑ A similar practice has been noticed in the case of Venice.
- ↑ The "Fiorino largo di Galea," or "Broad Galley-piece," was struck of the exact size and weight of the Venetian ducat, A.D. 1422. See Napier, "Flor. Hist." iii. p. 56, and further details of the "Metallic Currency of Florence," vol. iv. p. 9. It may be added that the gold coin—at first so unpopular in England—struck by Edward III. in A.D. 1344, is generally believed to have been made to facilitate trade with Florence.—Cf. Rymer, Fœd. V. v. p. 403, &c.
