How Were Medieval Taxes Collected? Documentary
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Date: 2022-07-19
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Comments and reviews: 19
history_matters
Oh, no. Nononononono. The Emperor most definitely did not hold the entirety of the lands under his legal control as personal property. And I can't imagine any source published after 1930 stating it like that. The Roman commonwealth was legally speaking a republic, and everyone who owned land has a stake in it. Private individuals owned their land, they most certainly did not hold it in fief from an emperor.
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Oh, no. Nononononono. The Emperor most definitely did not hold the entirety of the lands under his legal control as personal property. And I can't imagine any source published after 1930 stating it like that. The Roman commonwealth was legally speaking a republic, and everyone who owned land has a stake in it. Private individuals owned their land, they most certainly did not hold it in fief from an emperor.
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Tomas
An interesting fact I remember reading is that medieval kings often sold the right to collect taxes rather than directly collecting them. So basically a tax collector would be a sort of entrepeneur who would hunt you down to recover what hed already paid the king and then some. This scheme led to a lot of abuse and made tax collectors especially detested and the source of revolts
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An interesting fact I remember reading is that medieval kings often sold the right to collect taxes rather than directly collecting them. So basically a tax collector would be a sort of entrepeneur who would hunt you down to recover what hed already paid the king and then some. This scheme led to a lot of abuse and made tax collectors especially detested and the source of revolts
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Say
It still blows my mind how silly it was that the peasantry/poorer classes bore the brunt of all taxes. I know that, during the Roman Empire (including the East/Byzantium, a lot of this was due to the crazy way that wealthy landowners could get out of it via the tax code (you dont trade, you dont pay a tax, which I think existed in the late Western Empire, but its still nuts.
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It still blows my mind how silly it was that the peasantry/poorer classes bore the brunt of all taxes. I know that, during the Roman Empire (including the East/Byzantium, a lot of this was due to the crazy way that wealthy landowners could get out of it via the tax code (you dont trade, you dont pay a tax, which I think existed in the late Western Empire, but its still nuts.
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Martin
Each time that coins are collected from a province, that province will have less coins, and the prices will go down. On the other hand, in the capital city where the collected coins are received, the number of coins will increase, and the prices will go up. How did they keep the number of coins (and prices) stable in the capital city and the provinces?
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Each time that coins are collected from a province, that province will have less coins, and the prices will go down. On the other hand, in the capital city where the collected coins are received, the number of coins will increase, and the prices will go up. How did they keep the number of coins (and prices) stable in the capital city and the provinces?
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Eric
Interesting. So poor people were only allowed to live on a lords property if they paid rent? They had to justify their existence with taxes? People without property had to sell their labor? And the rich elites didnt have to pay taxes? What a crazy world it was back then. Its a good thing everything has changed since then, amirite? ;)
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Interesting. So poor people were only allowed to live on a lords property if they paid rent? They had to justify their existence with taxes? People without property had to sell their labor? And the rich elites didnt have to pay taxes? What a crazy world it was back then. Its a good thing everything has changed since then, amirite? ;)
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kstv11
Imagine being a farmer/hunter in a time before civilization and one day some armed aholes on horses appear in front of your home and tell you, that you're on their land now, and therefore you have to give them a cut of everything you harvest or hunt. That's what I imagine how taxation started.
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Imagine being a farmer/hunter in a time before civilization and one day some armed aholes on horses appear in front of your home and tell you, that you're on their land now, and therefore you have to give them a cut of everything you harvest or hunt. That's what I imagine how taxation started.
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BigFire
And then there's Domesday Books compiled during the reign of William the Conqueror who after conquering England needs to figure out who owns what send out surveyors across the land to document that down so he can properly exact the taxes from everyone.
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And then there's Domesday Books compiled during the reign of William the Conqueror who after conquering England needs to figure out who owns what send out surveyors across the land to document that down so he can properly exact the taxes from everyone.
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Bob
Nowadays when you pay your taxes it's done in several ways. Either you get a bill at the end of the tax year or it comes out of your paycheck before you even see it.
US Government: Here's a little move I like to call 'multi-track drifting. '
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Nowadays when you pay your taxes it's done in several ways. Either you get a bill at the end of the tax year or it comes out of your paycheck before you even see it.
US Government: Here's a little move I like to call 'multi-track drifting. '
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PLAY_HRD
I live in Virginia, if you add up Fed, state, sales, and personal property taxes I pay about 30% a year. And now the Dems want more taxes to waste on things like windmills and college, both inefficient means to achieve a result.
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I live in Virginia, if you add up Fed, state, sales, and personal property taxes I pay about 30% a year. And now the Dems want more taxes to waste on things like windmills and college, both inefficient means to achieve a result.
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JEVO
fun fact, when an eastern roman emperor died, the Varangian guard (bodyguards of the emperor composed of Norsemen and Englishmen) were allowed to loot the emperors personal treasury and carry off as much as they wanted.
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fun fact, when an eastern roman emperor died, the Varangian guard (bodyguards of the emperor composed of Norsemen and Englishmen) were allowed to loot the emperors personal treasury and carry off as much as they wanted.
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Valentin
By the way, the Ottoman Empire adopted the Byzantine tax system to a very large extent. My people (the Bulgarians) were subjects of these both empires and the similarities are obvious.
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By the way, the Ottoman Empire adopted the Byzantine tax system to a very large extent. My people (the Bulgarians) were subjects of these both empires and the similarities are obvious.
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Im
Fun fact: this method of taxation was created by the roman emperor diocletian back in the 280s. It was so effective that it would be used for around 1200 years, from the 280s till 1453
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Fun fact: this method of taxation was created by the roman emperor diocletian back in the 280s. It was so effective that it would be used for around 1200 years, from the 280s till 1453
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Alex
So. apart from wars, what were these taxes actually used for? It wasn't like governments did a lot in those days, did it just all go into the pockets of the king and his entourage?
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So. apart from wars, what were these taxes actually used for? It wasn't like governments did a lot in those days, did it just all go into the pockets of the king and his entourage?
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Kallaji
Important note: People used to pay only 25% of their income roughly in taxes. In the modern era, taxes can exceed 50% of your income in many industrial countries.
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Important note: People used to pay only 25% of their income roughly in taxes. In the modern era, taxes can exceed 50% of your income in many industrial countries.
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Vollification
Rob everything and you're a bandit
Rob a little and provide protection and you're a mobster
Rob a little long enough and you're the King
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Rob everything and you're a bandit
Rob a little and provide protection and you're a mobster
Rob a little long enough and you're the King
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Lovley
If you were the Dragonborn, it was taken out of an inheritance of a friend that you may or may not have killed. Other than that, you pay nothing.
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If you were the Dragonborn, it was taken out of an inheritance of a friend that you may or may not have killed. Other than that, you pay nothing.
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Gretchen
The Byzantine Empire under Basil II had some awesome looking borders (Italy kinda ruined it a bit but who would complain about more land: P)
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The Byzantine Empire under Basil II had some awesome looking borders (Italy kinda ruined it a bit but who would complain about more land: P)
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Bob
If there is one type of person throughout history that is universally loathed by every culture, religion, and nation, it's tax collectors.
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If there is one type of person throughout history that is universally loathed by every culture, religion, and nation, it's tax collectors.
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LDS
Basically put. the tax collectors were sent out to demand money. then inserts all the complicated burocricy that went on behind the scenes
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Basically put. the tax collectors were sent out to demand money. then inserts all the complicated burocricy that went on behind the scenes
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