BOOK: Denis MENJOT, Mathieu CAESAR, Florent GARNIER, Pere VERDÉS PIJUAN (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Public Taxation in Medieval Europe (London: Routledge, 2022), pp. 512, ISBN 9780367903367

 

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Abstract:

Beginning in the twelfth century, taxation increasingly became an essential component of medieval society in most parts of Europe. The state-building process and relations between princes and their subject cities or between citizens and their rulers were deeply shaped by fiscal practices. Although medieval taxation has produced many publications over the past decades there remains no synthesis of this important subject.

This volume provides a comprehensive overview on a European scale and suggests new paths of inquiry. It examines the fiscal systems and practices of medieval Europe, including essential themes such as medieval fiscal theory and the power to tax; royal and urban taxation; and Church taxation. It goes on to survey the entire European continent, as well as including comparative chapters on the non-European medieval world, exploring questions on how taxation developed and functioned; what kinds of problems authorities encountered assessing their fiscal power; and the circulation of fiscal cultures and practices across cities and kingdoms. The book also provides a glossary of the most important types of medieval taxes, giving an essential definition of key terms cited in the chapters.

The Routledge Handbook of Public Taxation in Medieval Europe will appeal to a large audience, from seasoned scholars who need a comprehensive synthesis, to students and younger scholars in search of an overview of this critical subject.

Contents:

1. General introduction (Denis Menjot, Mathieu Caesar, Florent Garnier and Pere Verdés Pijuan)

Part I – Medieval taxation

2. The History of Taxation in Medieval Europe: Sources, Historiography and Methods (Denis Menjot, Pere Verdés Pijuan and Mathieu Caesar)
3. The Right to Tax and its Justifications (Lydwine Scordia and Florent Garnier)
4. Church Taxation (Jordi Morelló Baget)

Part II – Fiscal systems

5. Crown of Aragon: Catalonia, Aragon, Valencia and Majorca (Mario Lafuente and Albert Reixach)
6. Kingdoms of Castile and Navarre (Pablo Ortego and Iñigo Mugueta)
7. Kingdoms of Sicily (Serena Morelli and Alessandro Silvestri)
8. Northern Italy: Cities and Regional States (Patrizia Mainoni)
9. The Church Lands: a long Term Overhaul (1200-1550) (Armand Jamme)
10. Kingdom of France (with Brittany and Dauphiné) (Jean-François Lassalmonie)
11. The Burgundian Low Countries (Marc Boone)
12. Medieval German Holy Roman Empire (Laurence Buchholzer )
13. Provence and Savoy (Michel Hébert and Mathieu Caesar)
14. Kingdom of England (Maureen Jurkowski)
15. The Scandinavian kingdoms (Thomas Lindkvist)
16. Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Piotr Guzowski and Urszula Sowina)
17. Russia from the Mongol invasion to the death of Ivan the Terrible (1242-1584) (Pierre Gonneau)
18. The Byzantine Empire (Anastasia Kontogiannopoulou)
19. Muslim Worlds (Ángel Galán Sánchez, Alejandro Garcia Sanjuan and Kate Fleet)

On the editors:

Denis Menjot is Emeritus Professor of Medieval History at the Université Lumière-Lyon 2. With Pere Verdés Pijuan he directs the e-Glossary of Medieval Taxation. He has been president of the European Association of Urban History (2006–2008). He is president of the Société Française d’Histoire Urbaine, director of Histoire Urbaine and corresponding member of the Real Academia de la Historia. His previous publications include "Taxation and Sovereignty in Medieval Castile", in Authority and Spectacle in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, Routledge, 2017.

Mathieu Caesar is Associate Professor in Medieval History at the Université de Genève. He is the author of Le pouvoir en ville. Gestion urbaine et pratiques politiques à Genève (fin XIIIe – début XVIe siècles), Brepols, 2011, and the editor of Factional Struggles. Divided Elites in European Cities and Courts (1400–1750), Brill, 2017, and (with Franco Morenzoni), La Loi du Prince, vol. 1: Les Statuts de Savoie d’Amédée VIII (1430), Turin, 2019.

Florent Garnier is Professor in Legal History at the University of Toulouse 1 Capitole. He is member of Commission scientifique du Comité pour l’Histoire Economique et Financière de la France. His previous publications include "Le fort portant le faible", Déclarez vos revenus! Histoire et imaginaire d’un instrument fiscal (XVIIIe–XXIe siècle), O. Poncet et K. Weidenfeld (Études réunies par), Collection "Études et rencontres de l’École des Chartes", 57, Paris, 2019.

Pere Verdés Pijuan is currently Senior Scientist in the IMF-CSIC in Barcelona, Spain, where he directs the research group on "Taxation and public finances in the Crown of Aragon (13th–15th centuries)". He is director with Denis Menjot of the Glossary of Medieval Taxation and is part of the Steering Committee of the research network on taxation in the Hispanic kingdoms Arca Comunis. Since 2019, he has been director of the Anuario de Estudios Medievales.

For more details see the webpage.