After traveling abroad, all those who travel abroad, after traveling, change the remaining foreign currency at the money exchange. Like today, foreign currency exchange was known as an important business in the Middle Ages. In the Middle Ages, due to the discovery of new lands and the desire of people for the wealth of those lands, trade started on a large scale, after which foreign currencies started spreading around the world in exchange for various goods.

Venetian ducat was one of the ancient foreign currencies. At that time, this currency also entered India in large numbers. Ducat is very popular mainly in South India, when one of the ‘secret vaults’ of the Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram was opened in 2011, a lot of gold ducats were found among other treasures.

The Middle Ages, from the 11th to the 13th centuries, witnessed a dramatic change in the fortunes of Europe, with the rise of many trading states. Among them were the Venetian merchants who were influential and wealthy in Europe. The city was also the birthplace of many great European explorers, such as Marco Polo, who had both traveled and traded successfully. Thus, by the end of the 13th century, Venetian merchants were able to control trade throughout the Mediterranean.

Venetian merchants knew that if they were to consolidate their power and influence over world trade, they would need a currency that would be accepted by all nations and that trade would expand freely through such a currency. They came up with the ducat to facilitate payment in trade.

The popularity of the ducat quickly spread far and wide, and it quickly took over markets in Europe, the Middle East, India, Egypt, and Africa. The Venetians used the standard, weight, purity, and design of this coin to allow any nation in the world to trade with any other, and to easily establish a uniform method of exchange. It did not take long for the Venetian ducat to become the international currency of choice.

The word ducat comes from the Latin ‘ducatus’, which means ‘each related to a duke’. In very simple terms, it means ‘duke’s coin’. The first ducat of Venice was minted during the reign of King Roger II, in 1140 AD, when he was Duke of Apulia in Italy. The obverse of this first ducat features the portrait of King Roger II. There we see Saint Mark holding a Gospel and the king kneeling before him. On the reverse, Jesus Christ stands in an oval frame within a field of stars and the inscription reads, ‘Sit tibi, Christe y, datas, cum tu regis iste ducatus’ meaning ‘O Lord, your reign is everywhere and I dedicate everything to you.’

Initially, two types of coins were called ducats, made of gold and silver. Later, coins made of gold only became more popular. Then the name of all coins made of silver was changed to ‘grossi’. In the time of Don Giovanni Dandolo, we see a new type of ducat, in 1284, when a new type of ducat was minted in Venice, made of 3.5 grams of pure gold and full of fineness, it was one of the purest and finest. This coin was used for trade until the end of the Venetian Republic in 1797.

The international importance of this coin declined after Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of Venice in 1797. Between the 14th and 18th centuries, trade between Venice and South India increased greatly, especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where gold ducats issued by Francis Lorendano, Paul Rainier and Peter Grimani were used. These Venetian coins were in great demand in medieval Kerala, and Indian rulers would give them as gifts to priests and scholars.

Since the coins bore the image of Saint Mark, these coins were considered sacred to the Christians of Kerala, and many Christian women wore necklaces made of Venetian coins at that time. This is why many ducats have small holes in them. In India, ducats were exchanged as dowries in addition to jewellery.

Venetian gold coins have also been found in other places in India. In 1981, the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Karnataka, found 39 Venetian ducats, dating from Bartholomew Gradenigo (1339–1341 AD) to Thomas Mocenigo (1414–1423 AD), totaling about 9 doge coins.