Note on Dates, Currency, Translations, and Abbreviations

Unless otherwise stated, all the dates used in this book have been modified to follow the Gregorian calendar, with the calendar year commencing on 1 January, rather than on 1 March, as it was customary for Renaissance Venice (the Venetian dating system is known as more veneto). In this respect, a document dated 1 February 1580 has been adjusted to the Gregorian calendar as 1 February 1581. 

In cases when a page number has not been provided in archival records, the date furnishes the main indicator of the document’s archival classification. Unless specified, all ‘ducats’ mentioned are those of ‘account’, made up of 6 lire and 4 soldi. Each lira was equal to 20 soldi. Hence, 1 ducat was equivalent to 124 soldi. Similarly, unless indicated, all translations are mine. In the footnotes and bibliography, the following abbreviations have been used: 

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AGS Archivo General, Simancas 

ASF Archivio di Stato, Florence 

ASV Archivio di Stato, Venice 

CCX Capi del Consiglio di Dieci 

CX Consiglio di Dieci 

IS Inquisitori di Stato 

ASVat Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Rome 

BMCV Biblioteca del Museo Correr, Venice 

BMV Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice 

Mss. It Manoscritti italiani 

cl. Classe CSPVen Calendar of State Papers, Venetian 

NMM National Maritime Museum, London 

ADM Admiralty Collection 

TNA The National Archives, London 

SP State Papers B. Busta 

bb. Buste 

c. Carta 

cc. Carte 

f. Filza 

Fasc. Fascicolo 

fol. Folio 

fols. Folios 

Ms. Manuscript 

m.v. more Veneto 

n. Footnote/Endnote 

nn. Footnotes/Endnotes 

n.d. no date 

n.s. new series 

Reg. Registro 

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