The Grosso and the Fourth Crusade

I originally wrote this article for Cointalk.com, and posted it on Oct. 21, 2016.  The below update was created on May. 31, 2025.

The Doge of Venice at this time was Enrico Dandalo. Enrico realized that the silver ingots so regularly used in international commerce would need to be coined to pay the shipwrights and others for their labor and for provisions (the ingots might be an easy way to pay one person, but inconvenient when paying many). However, there was a problem with the Venetian Denier: it had become debased, and much smaller is size than it originated (the denier of Charlemagne was 1.7 grams in weight and became the standard for Europe, but in the ensuing centuries many deniers would become smaller and debased: the Venetian denier in the 1170s was 0.1 grams). Should the 85,000 marks be minted into Deniers, this would equate to 230 million deniers, and an overwhelming amount of labor from the moneyers. The simple solution was to mint a new, larger, non-debased coin: a "great" coin, called a 'grosso.'

I wish I could say this was my coin. Enrico Dandalo Grossos are incredibly expensive. However, I have managed to find a example of a Venetian denaro, which became known as 'piccolos.' 

Not long before these events, the Byzantine emperor Isaac II was overthrown, and his son and heir, Alexios IV, was imprisoned. Alexios would be smuggled out of his imprisonment, and upon hearing of the Crusaders' financial predicament, he promised the Crusaders support, wealth, and use of the Byzantine navy, in exchange for returning Byzantium to him and his dynasty. This would prove to be too tempting a promise for the floundering crusade to ignore. In 1203, the Crusaders would besiege the city of Constantinople. Alexios would be installed as emperor, but naturally was not very popular with the citizens of Constantinople. After a series of political missteps, Alexios would be overthrown, and a new emperor crowned. The Crusading army demanded the new emperor keep Alexios' vow of support. When he did not, the crusaders attacked and sacked Constantinople in 1204. With this attack, the Crusaders not only gained enough money to pay Venice, they gained an empire.

Enrico Dandalo would die in Constantinople in 1205. He would be succeeded as Doge by Pietro Ziani, under whose authority my Grosso would be minted. Ziani had apparently joined the crusade, but it was he who was responsible for bringing back many of the riches of Constantinople, and placing them in Venice. To this day, one can see the golden horses which were once in front of the imperial palace placed on top of the the Duomo de San Marco in Venice (although the ones outside are a reproduction, the originals are just inside the Duomo to protect them from the elements). Ziani also contemplated moving the capital of Venice to Constantinople, but was prevented by the Venetian council.