Clement VI. spent 1,278 florins in the
purchase of cloth of gold, woven by the Saracens of Damascus; one payment
to Jacopo Malabayla of Arti for summer and winter clothing for the papal
household amounted to 6,510 florins, and the same obviously Hebrew
merchant received 10,652 florins in 1341 for cloth and ermine and beaver;
in 1347 Clement's furrier received 1,080 ermine skins, whereof 430 were
used in one cloak, 310 for a mantle, 150 for two hoods, and 88 for nine
birettas; in 1351, 2,258 florins went to Tuscany for silk, and 385 for
brocade to Venice.
The richness of the papal utensils beggars description; jeweled cups,
flagons of gold, knife handles of jasper and ivory, forks of mother-of-
pearl and gold. A goldsmith in 1382 was paid 14 florins for repairing two
of the last-named implements. The flabelli, or processional feather fans,
cost 14 florins; Benedict XIII., paid 300 florins for an enameled silver
bit; the Golden Roses cost from 100 to 300 florins. Presents of jewels
were costly and frequent. Gregory XI. gave 168 pearls, value 179 francs,
to the citizens of Avellino; Clement VII.
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