ABSTRACT
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 (décimes) 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 (arrière-ban) beforehand. He also experimented with indirect taxes (impôts) on the sale of basic foodstuffs, drink and manufactured goods, together with customs dues like the maltôte (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 trésor 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 impôts, now termed aides, passed after 1390 to the Cour des aides and a Cour du trésor took over supervision of domainal revenues.
