1 pound troy = 2 marks.
1 mark = 8 oz.
1 oz. = 20 engels.
1 engel = 32 azen.
So that 160 engels or 5120 azen made up the mark.
In reckoning the standard or alloy, the weight system was—
For silver—1 mark = 12 pfennige or deniers.
For silver—1 mark = 288 grs. (12 x 24).
For gold—1 mark = 24 carats.
For gold—1 mark = 288 grs. (24 x 12).
Although forming part of the Holy Roman Empire (being included in the Burgundian Circle), the Mint system of the Empire has apparently never obtained in the Netherlands. The Counts of Holland, from the days of Floris II. and Jan I. (i.e. from 1256 onwards) have minted on their own account, as have also the Counts of Flanders from a much more remote date. The silver deniers of the Counts of Flanders date from at least the days of Count Arnold II. (964-989). The introduction of "la grosse monnaie" (whence gros and groots), in imitation of the French money, dates from the reign of Marguerite, Countess of Flanders (1244-1280), or possibly earlier; and the gold coinage (royaux, in imitation of those of Philip the Long of
France, and florins, in imitation of those of Florence) dates from Count Louis de Crécy (1322-1346).
The interest, however, attaching to the monies of the Counts of Flanders and Holland up to the close of the fifteenth century is prevailingly numismatic, as, in the absence of a continuous series of Mint indentures, it is a matter of almost insuperable difficulty to construct tables of the coins. The chief indications are contained in the tariffs already referred to (supra, text, pp. [79]-[83]), but their testimony bears more expressly on exchange rates rather than upon Mint rate and standard.
The table of the groot, according to this source, is as follows:—
| Engel. | Azen. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1336. | 9-pfennige weight, | 1 | 9 | |
| 1376. | 4.16 | " | 2 | 4 |
| 1388. | 5 | " | 1 | 23 |
| 1393. | 5 | " | 1 | 20 |
| 1422. | 4 | " | 2 | 16 |
| 1489. | 5 | " | 1 | 5 |
The foundations of a national Mint, or monetary system for the Netherlands, were first laid by the ordinance issued by the Emperor Maximilian at Breda on the 14th December 1489.
According to this ordinance the gold double florin was to be struck at a tale of 44 3⁄4 to the mark Troy, of a fineness of 23 7⁄8 carats, and issued at an equivalence of 80 gros.