Between the early Middle Ages and the thirteenth century the king of France derived his income not from taxes on his subjects at large but almost exclusively from his own estates (domaine) like any other great landholder. But under Philip IV (1285-1314) this ordinary income, even when augmented by careful exploitation of sovereign rights and boosted by windfalls when the Crown attacked privileged groups like the Lombards, Jews and Templars, failed to cover royal needs and further revenue raised by taxation, usually termed 'extraordinary' taxation, was required. A crusading tithe levied on the clergy in 1147 and 1188 provided a model. In the thirteenth century the king raised similar tenths (decimes) from ecclesiastics at frequent intervals, with or without papal approval, and this remained a valuable source of income. But Philip IV, justifying his demands by pleas of evident necessity and defence of the realm in an emergency, now sought war subsidies directly from his lay subjects, though he normally also had to summon the feudal host (arriere-ban) beforehand. He also experimented with indirect taxes (impdts) on the sale of basic foodstuffs, drink and manufactured goods, together with customs dues like the maltote (1295). At the same time the rudimentary financial administration was transformed, though it was the mid-fourteenth century before a proper system for collecting revenue derived from sources other than the royal domaine was devised. The Templars, who had acted as royal bankers since the mid-twelfth century, were relieved of their duties in the 1290s and a royal tresor was set up. Accounting took place before an enlarged curia de compotis (1289) or chambre des comptes, which functioned fully as a court by the 1320s, even if it was 1381 before its first president appeared, and control of impots, now termed aides, passed after 1390 to the Cour des aides and a Cour du tresor took over supervision of domainal revenues.
However, the idea that extraordinary revenues should constitute a regular and permanent source of income in peacetime for the Crown was long resisted. Some great duchies and counties like Brittany, Burgundy, Flanders and Gascony managed to preserve their fiscal autonomy. There was a failure to devise standard national means either for authorizing taxation or for levying and collecting it and much was left to local endeavours, with the Crown simply grateful to receive a proportion of what it demanded. Philip IV called an assembly or Estates General and his successors found it expedient to summon them occasionally, or meetings of regional Estates for northern and southern France (Languedoil and Languedoc) to consider the imposition of a particular tax—but it was to obtain their counsel rather than their consent. After 1439, however, the next meeting of the Estates General did not take place until 1484. In contrast, between 1330 and 1430 other more local provincial Estates were formed. Some, like those of Normandy, claimed the right to consent to taxes and were indeed consulted according to circumstance or tradition. Some modification of the form or burden of taxation could thus be negotiated. But from an early point the Crown, frustrated by the delays such consultation inevitably entailed (for decisions taken by Estates General had to be ratified by local Estates and taxes granted in the larger bodies were seldom collected), began to decide in advance the sum required and simply ordered provincial assemblies to authorize its levying. This they normally did by sharing out their quota amongst those liable to taxation in
Their area, the division (repartition) being based on information derived from great inquiries, like that of 1328, into the number of hearths or households (feux) in the regions under royal control. Hence the hearth tax (fouage) was the main form of direct taxation. Established during Philip IV's reign in the Midi, after 1355 it was applied in Languedoil also, where from the 1380s it was normally termed the taille. With demographic changes, especially consequent upon the Black Death, revision of the number of feux was necessary, and the concept of the fiscal household made up of a varying number of real households emerged. From the start exemption from the fouage and taille was claimed by the nobility, clergy and certain other privileged groups (royal officials, for example)—though they did not always enjoy it, especially in the almost permanent state of war which afflicted France after 1337.
It was this war with England that revealed how inadequate the Crown's income from war subsidies still was. After recourse to traditional means of raising extra income, especially currency manipulation, a series of taxes, already tried in limited form, were generalized. In 1341 a sales tax on salt, the gabelle, was imposed. Though it was dropped in 1346, it was revived between 1356 and 1380 and from 1383 became a permanent item in royal revenue. In the fifteenth century it was raised from about one-third of the kingdom at royal warehouses (greniers) where the salt was deposited before sale. But the really critical period for the establishment of both direct and indirect taxes was 1355-70. An already serious political crisis in 1355 deepened in 1356 when John II was captured at Poitiers. To meet the enormous ransom of 3 million ecus (?500,000) forced loans were levied and the traditional feudal aid was granted—but this was levied as a fouage while, at the same time, the sales tax (aides) was also extended, accustoming subjects to paying taxes now on an annual basis, not only because of evident necessity but also for the common benefit. To collect this money royal France was divided into new administrative districts. The Estates of 1355-6 nominated collectors known as elus (hence elections for their circumscriptions). The elections were usually based on existing dioceses and were eventually grouped into regional recettes generales supervised by general councillors. From 1436 there were four main recettes under four tresoriers and four generaux. The addition of new territories to the royal domaine in the later fifteenth century meant that by Louis Xll's reign (1498-1514) there were ten or eleven recettes, and some eighty-five elections. From 1360 the Crown had taken over the nomination and payment of the elus and their subordinates.
By this means a large proportion of John II's ransom was paid and the Crown came to depend on the regular levying of taxes. But on his deathbed Charles V (1364-80), conscious of the tradition that such taxation was still considered exceptional, abolished the fouage. Military and political crises allowed his successor to reestablish both the fouage and the aides, which had been cancelled after Charles died, and these taxes were collected regularly until the Crown's position was once again weakened after 1412. Charles VII (1422-61) was forced to consult extensively with various representative assemblies early in his reign. The taille was not levied between 1412-23 nor aides from 1418-28. But after 1428 the king began to take taxes without consent, and the Estates at Orleans in 1439 were the last to give general approval to raising the taille. In 1443 Languedoc and Dauphine bought off the aides by conceding an annual lump sum, the equivalent. By this time the distinction between the pays d'etats, regions with representative institutions, and those lacking them, pays d'elections, had clearly emerged, though it apparently made little difference to their relative burden of taxation. Normandy, a pays d'etats, for example, produced between a sixth and third of royal revenue after its reconquest (1450). By then Charles VII raised annually about 1.2 million livres from the taille. Under Louis XI (1461-83) the annual income of the Crown rose dramatically to about 4.7 million livres. Of this only about 100,000 came from the domaine, 650,000 from aides and no less than 3.9 million from the taille. By far the largest cost to the Crown was its expenditure on the army established on a permanent basis in the 1440s and enormously expanded by Louis XI. During the minority of Charles VIII (1483-90) there was an inevitable reaction against royal fiscality. The Estates General of 1484 reduced both the level of taxation and the size of the army, but the beginning of French intervention in Italy soon raised the burden of taxation in the 1490s to 4 million livres.
M. Jones
World History
