World coins chat: Italian States - Sardinia & Piedmont

The Kingdom of Sardinia was an Italian state from the Middle Ages to the unification of Italy in 1861. From 1720 it consisted of mainland Piedmont and the island of Sardinia and was therefore also known as Piedmont-Sardinia. The Kingdom of Sardinia was the main driver of the Italian Unification that took place between 1859 and 1861. Its royal family, the House of Savoy, claimed the throne of the Kingdom of Italy and would hold that position until 1946.


Flag of the Kingdom of Sardinia from 1848 to 1861, with the Savoy coat of arms within the Italian 'tricolore'.

History
Sardinia before the Savoyard dynasty (1324-1720)
Pope Boniface VIII awarded Sardinia to the Spanish Kings of Aragon in 1297, but it took until 1324 before they could claim control of the island. Through this line the Kingdom of Sardinia became part of the Spanish Empire from 1516 to 1700. Sardinia was one of the focus points of the War of the Spanish Succession (1700-1714). Initially ruled by the Spanish King Philip V, Sardinia was taken by Habsburg Austrian forces in 1708 with support of a British fleet. From 1717 until 1720 it was briefly Spanish again.


The Aragonese Empire in the 15th century included Sardinia and Corsica.

During the War of the Spanish Succession, the Dukes of Savoy had switched sides to Habsburg Austria and were awarded Spanish territories in northern Italy and Sicily. In 1720 the title King of Sardinia was given to them in exchange for Sicily. This created the situation of a kingdom named after an island but ruled from mainland territory by a dynasty from the mainland.


Flag of Sardinia

The Duchy of Savoy before 1720
The County of Savoy was formed in 1003 as part of the Holy Roman Empire and was situated in the region where the French, Italian and Swiss borders meet. In 1295 the capital was established in Chambéry, in present-day France. The County was upgraded to a Duchy by Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund in 1416. In 1562 the capital was moved to Turin, and the Duchy became known as Piedmont.


Duchy of Savoy in 1494. During the War of the Spanish Succession (1700-1714) the Duchy of Savoy would extend its territory with parts of the Duchy of Milan and the whole of Montferrat and Saluzzo.

The Dukes of Savoy navigated a treacherous geopolitical environment in the following centuries, with France, Spain and Austria trying to exercise control over the region. Parts of Savoy were lost to France, but gains were made acquiring smaller states in north east Italy. The War of the Spanish Succession (1700-1714) increased the prestige of Piedmont. By switching sides during the war it was able to extend its territory at the expense of some Spanish territories in Italy. After swapping Sicily for Sardinia in 1720, a new kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, or usually referred to as Sardinia, was established. The Dukes of Savoy gained a royal title.


Flag of Savoy

Napoleonic Wars (1792-1815)
During the 18th century France exerted an increasing pressure on Piedmont-Sardinia. The French Revolution and the early campaigns of Napoleon Bonaparte during the War of the First Coalition (1792-1797) saw the Piedmontese army defeated at the Battle of Montenotte in 1796, ceding Savoy and Nice to France. In 1798 the whole of Piedmont was turned into a French client republic (Piedmontese Republic) but in 1799 the Kingdom of Sardinia was restored after an Austrian victory in the War of the Second Coalition (1798-1802). In 1800 Napoleon reconquered Piedmont and established the Subalpine Republic. The area was annexed to France in 1802, with the Kingdom of Sardinia only remaining on the island.


Italy in 1803. Piedmont was annexed by France but Sardinia was still independent.

Restoration (1815) and Italian Unification (1859-1861)
With the French retreating from Italy, the Kingdom of Sardinia was restored at the Congress of Vienna (1815) and now included the territory of the Ligurian Republic, until 1797 known as the Republic of Genua.


The Kingdom of Sardinia in 1848 with the dates of other Italian States joining Italy during the Second War of Italian Independence (1859-1861) and the 1866 and 1870 campaigns. In return for military assistance, Savoy and Nice were ceded to France in 1860.

In 1848 the Kingdom of Sardinia tried to capture Lombardy-Venetia in a war against Austria but failed. With French help and the military leadership of Giuseppe Garibaldi it was much more successful in 1859 when it annexed Lombardy and started revolutionary movements in most of Italy. By 1861 the Kingdom of Sardinia had expanded to most of Italy except Venetia and Rome, but had to cede Nice to France in return for the military assistance provided.

The Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed in 1861, and the King of Sardinia Vittorio Emanuele II became King of Italy. In 1866 Venetia was added and in 1870 Rome was conquered from the Papal States. The House of Savoy would remain in power until 1946, when the Republic of Italy was established in the aftermath of World War 2.

Currency
Sardinian Scudo
Sardinia had its own currency until the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. The Sardinian Scudo (23.58 grams of .895 silver) was worth 2½ Lire, with 1 Lira = 20 Soldi. The Reale, a unit originally from Spain, was worth 5 Soldi. A Soldo was divided in 6 Cagliaresi or 12 Denari. The Doppietta was a gold coin of 3.21 grams worth 2 Scudi, and the Carlino a gold coin of 16 grams worth 10 Scudi.

Piedmontese Scudo
The Piedmontese Scudo was a silver coin of 35 grams, divided in 6 Lire with 1 Lira = 12 Soldi = 240 Denari. Gold coins were denominated in Doppio (2 Scudi) and Carlino (20 Scudi). During the War with France (1792-1797) debased coins of 25% of actual silver content were struck in denominations of 5, 10 and 20 Soldi, although the Scudo coins retained their pre-war silver content.

The Scudo remained in circulation during the Piedmontese Republic (1797-1798) and the Subalpine Republic (1800-1802), although the Franc was introduced as well during the latter period. The Piedmontese Franc was equal to the French one.

Sardinian Lira (1815-1861)
After the Congress of Vienna the Kingdom of Sardinia unified its currency for both Piedmont and Sardinia. The Lira was introduced at par with the French Franc and was divided in 100 Centesimi. The Sardinian Lira evolved into the Italian Lira after the unification of Italy in 1861. Because of its relation to the French Franc (in contrast to the old Lira) the Sardinian and Italian Lira were often referred to as Francs in Piedmont.

The old Piedmontese Scudo was worth 7,08 Sardinian Lire and the old Sardinian Scudo 4,93 Lire.

Catalogue links:
Savoy - French Feudal (until 1562)
Duchy of Savoy (before 1720)
Kingdom of Sardinia
Piedmontese Republic - Scudo (1798-1799)
Piedmont (Subalpine Republic) - Franc (1800-1802)

I discovered that the catalogue mixes up Piedmontese and Sardinian coins. Some research will be needed to make sure this gets done correctly.

THANK YOU!! For this, i've been waiting for one on the Italian states for a while!
Loruca

Look below, we already had Venice

I found a great resource on Italian coins and specifically coins of the House of Savoy:

http://numismatica-italiana.lamoneta.it/cat/W-3

Using this site one can start distinguishing Piedmontese from Sardinian coins. I hope we can start from here to reorder and clean up this part of the catalogue. I'll wait for some suggestions here and then I will contact ecapoe and nthn to do a few suggestions.

Quote: "jokinen"​I found a great resource on Italian coins and specifically coins of the House of Savoy:
​
​http://numismatica-italiana.lamoneta.it/cat/W-3
​
​Using this site one can start distinguishing Piedmontese from Sardinian coins. I hope we can start from here to reorder and clean up this part of the catalogue. I'll wait for some suggestions here and then I will contact ecapoe and nthn to do a few suggestions.

​Yes it is a great catalogue, i am also a forum member on their site and have passed over some "hot potatoes" (unidentifiable coins) before. their catalogue is a work in progress. A few weeks ago i tried to start the dialogue on the subject too but slightly ineffectually.

https://en.numista.com/forum/topic52400.html

EDIT: Sorry for hijacking the post

I would also highly recommand to check some links provided by Numista, as redirecting to the Corpus Nummorum Italicorum, a state catalog of all Italian states coins since the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the Risorgimento.

More specific links:
Vol. I - Casa Savoia
Vol. II - PIEMONTE-SARDEGNA (zecche d'oltremonti di Casa Savoia)

Volume 1 page 372 and page 403 list the coins solely struck for Sardinia. The other coins listed were struck for Piedmont.

On Numista these coins are all listed in one place, but the currency systems were different.

I just found out that there was a monetary reform in Piedmont in 1755. Before this the Lira was the main unit of account:

Lira = 20 Soldi = 240 Denari
Zecchino = 9 Lire 15 Soldi
Doppia Vecchia = 16 Lire 7 Soldi 6 Denari
Doppia Altra Nuova = 18 Lire
Scudo Vecchio = 5 Lire
Ducatone = 5 Lire 10 Soldi

In 1755 the New Scudo became 6 Lire with a New Doppia at 24 Lire.


By the way, I moved coins from Cagliari into Sardinia:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/sardinia-1.html

But I am also contemplating to move the Piedmontese coins to Savoy and rename the issuer to Savoy-Piedmont. Only in 1816 did Piedmont and Sardinia have a uniform monetary system.

My understanding of this sort of thing is that the base unit "lira" was not changed right? Only the higher denominations were re-defined.

Quote: "loruca"​My understanding of this sort of thing is that the base unit "lira" was not changed right? Only the higher denominations were re-defined.

​Yes you could also see it that way. But the Numismatica website does distinguish the monetary reform of 1755.

Quote: "chomp-master"​More specific links:
​Vol. I - Casa Savoia
​Vol. II - PIEMONTE-SARDEGNA (zecche d'oltremonti di Casa Savoia)

​I am writing a historical fiction series which is set in the Duchy of Savoy in the early 1400s. I'm trying to find information on the money used, the names of each coin and their values. Can anyone supply a reference?

Quote: "cordharper"​

Quote: "chomp-master"​More specific links:
​​Vol. I - Casa Savoia
​​Vol. II - PIEMONTE-SARDEGNA (zecche d'oltremonti di Casa Savoia)

​​I am writing a historical fiction series which is set in the Duchy of Savoy in the early 1400s. I'm trying to find information on the money used, the names of each coin and their values. Can anyone supply a reference?

​If you'd mind specifying under which ruler(s) this story might develop? Or at least a more precise general year duration?
Here's a convenient link for the second part of Amedeo VIII's Reign.
https://numismatica-italiana.lamoneta.it/cat/W-AM8DU

Quote: "cordharper"I'm trying to find information on the money used, the names of each coin and their values. Can anyone supply a reference?

​Hi, to speak about the medieval Savoy currency you should focus that the Savoy economy was really poor at that time and, for the international Countries, their monetary system counted not so much.

Before Amedeo VII (1383-1391) the monetary system was confused. Inside the border usually strong foreign coins were circulated (as appens for relative poor Countries now), and the whole territory was divided in monetary areas (Piedmont, Savoy, Valle D'Aosta and Cuneo). Every area had their preference in currency: Dauphiné, Milano, Genova, Geneve... and the Savoy grosso some times....

With the reform of 1384, Amedeo VII tried to give an order to this caos. This is the reformed metrology:
1 fiorino = 12 grossi = 48 quarti = 96 forti = 192 viennesi = 384 oboli di viennesi
but also, 1 grosso = 12 bianchetti = 24 oboli di bianchetto.

Here in the catalog the currency for that period is wrong. It is marked as "Livre" but the Lira appears only in 1561 with Emanuele Filiberto reform (1 lira = 20 soldi = 240 denari). As it is wrong to put medieval Savoy in France Feudal... really? Savoy born as vassal of German Holy Roman Empire in XI Century, it never be under feudal control of France, and the hystorical Savoy is French only since 1860 as gift to Napoleon III for the help in the National Unity process.. but this is another story.

Quote: "cobrapel"​

Quote: "cordharper"I'm trying to find information on the money used, the names of each coin and their values. Can anyone supply a reference?

​​Hi, to speak about the medieval Savoy currency you should focus that the Savoy economy was really poor at that time and, for the international Countries, their monetary system counted not so much.
​
​Before Amedeo VII (1383-1391) the monetary system was confused. Inside the border usually strong foreign coins were circulated (as appens for relative poor Countries now), and the whole territory was divided in monetary areas (Piedmont, Savoy, Valle D'Aosta and Cuneo). Every area had their preference in currency: Dauphiné, Milano, Genova, Geneve... and the Savoy grosso some times....
​
​With the reform of 1384, Amedeo VII tried to give an order to this caos. This is the reformed metrology:
​1 fiorino = 12 grossi = 48 quarti = 96 forti = 192 viennesi = 384 oboli di viennesi
​but also, 1 grosso = 12 bianchetti = 24 oboli di bianchetto.
​
​Here in the catalog the currency for that period is wrong. It is marked as "Livre" but the Lira appears only in 1561 with Emanuele Filiberto reform (1 lira = 20 soldi = 240 denari). As it is wrong to put medieval Savoy in France Feudal... really? Savoy born as vassal of German Holy Roman Empire in XI Century, it never be under feudal control of France, and the hystorical Savoy is French only since 1860 as gift to Napoleon III for the help in the National Unity process.. but this is another story.

​
thank you for the good insight, maybe something worth discussing on the french forum.
someone up for the lead on this?

Thanks for adding useful info on when the Fiorino was instated.

I wrote a separate article about Savoy which you can find here:

https://en.numista.com/forum/topic77093.html

I agree with you that French Feudal sounds incorrect or at least weird. It would perhaps be more accurate to be part of French states, with 'French' referring to the predominant language rather than nationality. Just like Lorraine and Burgundy, these were states of the Holy Roman Empire but mostly French-speaking. We also put Bohemia separately.