ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the harsh development of taxation in the territories of the Church, marked by phases of expansion and shrinkage, and by influences, now undervalued of fiscal models inherited from the Empire and created by the cities. This complexity was reinforced by the duality of the authority over lay and ecclesiastical subjects, by provincials specificities revealed by the fiscal lexicon, but above all by the conception the papacy had over time, both in its own territories and in its role as head of the Church. For a long time, the provinces were considered as a set of goods and rights belonging to the Church of Rome, which was their owner and therefore claimed the right to collect the fruits of this ownership. A progressive absolutisation of pontifical authority transformed the pope into the head of a State (and not of States), imposing his will beyond the realm of particular of towns and provinces.
