Grotin

At the beginning of the 14th century, in the Lower Weser region, the Pfennigs were supplanted by the French Turkish pennies ( French Gros tournois ) and their imitations. Initially, in Bremen, they received the name "Groten turnos" ^[1] . In the middle of the XIV century, a Bremen weight mark was formed ^[2] , which was divided into 32 grotens. The separation of Turkish pennies and grottos, which were originally only their German name, dates back to this time. Under French law, 58 Turkish pennies were to be produced from one French brand (244.752 g) of 23 carat silver. Thus, 1 Turkish penny contained 4.044 g of pure silver. The weight of the Bremen brand in the fourteenth century was revised several times. So, in 1344 it was 128.296 g, in 1349-137.227 g, in 1369-138.852. ^[3] If, based on the mass of the Bremen mark, in 1344, the grotto in silver content corresponded to Turkish pennies, then in 1369 it was already 7% more expensive. Thus, the grotto and the Turkish penny became the designation not of the same coin, but of various monetary units containing a different amount of precious metal from each other.

Initially, the grotto was not real, but a monetary unit ^[4] . In the second half of the 14th century, only Pfennig, Witten, and Schwaren were minted in Bremen ^[5] .

In 1405, the following monetary system was formed in Bremen ^[6] :

The Rhine Guilder gold coin, common in German states, was equivalent to 16 grotens ^[7] .

The described time of medieval coinage is characterized by a constant change in the relationship of various monetary units. So already in 1412, 1 witten was equal to half of the groten or 2.5 schwaren ^[8] . This was due to the constant decrease in the content of precious metals in coins, the revision of the weight characteristics of the brand, the influence of monetary systems adjacent to the Bremen state. The devaluation of the Bremen money is evidenced by the value of the golden guilder in 1439 in 39 grotens ^[9] , in 50 - in 1540 ^[10] , in 60 - in 1578 ^[11] . In 1618, when the Thirty Years War began , the golden guilder was exchanged for 70 grotens. Already in the next 1619, the guilder was equated with 92 grotens ^[7] . Thus, over one century, the content of noble metals in Bremen's money decreased by almost 6 times.

On April 23, 1620, the common currency of the German states, the Reichstaller was officially equated to 72 grotnes. However, this course did not last long. Already in the same year, the cost of the Reichstaller increased to 78 grotens, and in 1621 - to 82 ^[12] . In 1622, at a meeting of Lower Saxon deputies, it was decided that the Reichstaller should be equivalent to 72 grotens ^[12] . The precious metal content of the Bremen coins continued to decline. By 1705, one Reichstaller corresponded to 96 grotens ^[13] .

The first coin in denomination in grotto was minted in Bremen in 1423. It depicted the coat of arms of the city key and the imperial eagle ^{[1] [14]} . Subsequently, coins with multiple denominations of ½, 1½, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12, 24, 32, 36 and 48 grotens were issued ^{[1] [14] [15]} .

Over the course of several centuries, the noble metal content in grottos continuously deteriorated: in 1405 it contained 2.386 g of silver, in 1416 - 1.794 g, in 1439 - 0.911 g, in 1538 - 0.556 g, in 1621 - 0.317 g, in 1752 - 0.206 g The Reichstaler, and later the thaler of gold introduced in Bremen, was equivalent to 72 grotens ^[14] .

In the first half of the XVIII century in Bremen, which was a port city, French golden louisters spread. In the middle of the century, a monetary system developed in the city according to which the louis was equivalent to five thalers, each of which amounted to 72 grotens ^[16] . Thus, Bremen switched to the gold standard , unlike other German states that adhered to silver . Subsequently, this free city did not join the Dresden and Vienna coin conventions , which were aimed at the unification of the monetary systems of the German states. Due to the difference in weight characteristics with thalers of other states of the German Union, the Bremen thaler was called the gold thaler ( German Taler Gold ) equal to 72 grotens or 360 schwaren ^{[1] [3]} .

Grotin was demonetized along with other monetary units of Bremen after the creation of a single German empire . According to the monetary law of 1871 , 10 marks were exchanged for 3 _{1/93 of the} Bremen gold thalers. Thus, one thaler of gold corresponded to 3 brands of 32 pfennigs, and 4.51 pfennigs of grotin ^[17] .

• Coins of bremen

• Zvarich V.V. Numismatic Dictionary . - 4th ed .. - Lviv: Higher school, 1980.
• Fengler H., Girow G., Unger V. Dictionary of numismatists / Otv. ed. V.M. Potin. - 2nd ed., Revised. and additional .. - M .: Radio and communications, 1993. - ISBN 5-256-00317-8 .
• Cuhaj GS Standard Catalog of German Coins 1501 — present / compiled by N. Douglas Nicol. - 3rd. - Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2011 .-- 1,488 p. - ISBN 978-1-4402-1402-8 .
• Jungk Hermann. Die Bremischen Münzen. Münzen und Medaillen des Erzbisthums und der Stadt Bremen mit geschichtlicher Einleitung . - Bremen: Verlag von C. Ed. Müller, 1875.