the same weight and size into the 16th century. Most imitations of the Venetian ducat were made in the Levant, where Venice spent more money than it received. The Knights of Saint John struck ducats with grand master Dieudonné de Gozon, 1346-1353, kneeling before Saint John on the obverse and an angel seated on the Sepulcher of Christ on the reverse. Subsequent grand masters, however, found it expedient to copy the Venetian types more exactly, first at Rhodes and then on Malta. Genoese traders went further; they struck ducats at Chios that could be distinguished from the Venetian originals only by their workmanship. These debased ducats were problematic for Venice, which valued its money's reputation for purity. The rarity of ducats that Genoese traders struck at Mytilene, Phocaea, and Pera suggests that Venetians melted those they encountered. Hungarian ducats In Western Europe, Venice was an active trader but they sold more than they bought, thus giving the Florentine florin an early foothold in the Rhine river valley in 1354. However, this Rhenish florin or gulden was debased over the centuries, from 3.43 g fine gold in 1354, to 2.76 g fine gold by 1419, and to 2.503 g fine gold by 1559. After Henckels assassinated Amadeus Aba in 1311, Charles I of Hungary began a gold coinage exploiting ores of Aba's ancient gold mines. His son, Louis I of Hungary changed the designs by replacing the standing figure of Saint John from the florin with a standing figure of Saint Ladislaus and later changing the lily of Florence to his coat of arms, but he maintained the purity of the gold. In light of the 15th century debasement of the Rhenish florin or goldgulden versus the original ducat, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V recognized this distinction in 1524 when he made ducats of the Venetian standard valid money in the Empire with a value 39% higher than the gulden. His younger brother and eventual successor, Ferdinand I, brought this system to Hungary in 1526, when he inherited its throne. The still-pure gold coins of Hungary were henceforth called ducats. Their purity made the Hungarian ducat acceptable throughout Europe. Even the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland left records of the ones his king used for gambling. Hungary continued to strike ducats with 3.53133 grams of 98.6% fine gold. Unlike the unchanging designs of the ducats in Venice, the coat of