ABSTRACT
Loosely incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire, Savoy and Provence originally shared a common history, diverging in their later evolution although they remain partly subject to the influence of the powerful kings of neighbouring France. For both territories, historians dispose of various types of accounts that are among the richest and best-preserved series for medieval Europe. The development of public forms of taxation under princely authority emerged from the lack of sufficient resources from traditional lordship and demesne at the turn of the fourteenth century. Additional revenue came through extraordinary subsidies and renewed forms of aid mostly related to the context of public warfare, resulting in a remarkable growth in institutionalized state taxation, which in turn brought about the development of institutionalized forms of political representation.. In both polities, the granting of subsidies was but one of a number of traditional or newly instated forms of taxation, many of which were directly associated with commercial traffic, such as a network of tolls in Savoy. Urban fiscal systems grew out of and developed mainly from the need to fortify and to meet increased princely taxation. In many cases, towns were able to negotiate, thereby maintaining or increasing their autonomy. Thus, towns were given a fiscal authority over the countryside and increased their character as local centres of power. In the end, the history of late medieval fiscal systems in these parts cannot be reduced to a purely linear growth of princely taxation leading to increased fiscal centralization.
