Florentine Gold Florin

Timeline

1. 1252Florence Mint · FlorenceThe Republic of Florence set up a mint near the Baptistery of Saint John and struck the first florin, with Saint John the Baptist on the obverse and the city's lily arms on the reverse, establishing a 24-karat gold and fixed weight standard.
2. c. 1280–1340Mediterranean trade network · MediterraneanThanks to its stable fineness and reputation, the florin spread with Florentine bankers and Mediterranean trade routes into Genoa, Venice, Provence, and southern France, becoming a commonly used gold coin unit for cross-border bills of exchange and bulk trade.
3. 1341–1350Western Europe and the Italian Peninsula · Italian PeninsulaIn the 1340s the florin was widely seen in English and French court accounts, papal revenues and expenditures, and settlements among northern Italian city-states; together with the Venetian ducat it ranked among Europe's most trusted gold coins, supporting long-distance trade and war finance that continued after the Black Death.
4. c. 1400–1533Florence and various European states · FlorenceEntering the 15th to 16th centuries, Florence continued to mint florins, and Hungary, the Netherlands, and other places also issued gold coins of the same name following its specifications; the florin's historical influence as a European gold coin paradigm continued until the formation of modern monetary systems.