Generally the members of a corporation were divided into three distinct
classes--the masters, the paid assistants or companions, and the
apprentices. Apprenticeship, from which the sons of masters were often
exempted, began between the ages of twelve and seventeen years, and
lasted from two to five years. In most of the trades the master could only
receive one apprentice in his house besides his own son. Tanners, dyers,
and goldsmiths were allowed one of their relatives in addition, or a
second apprentice if they had no relation willing to learn their trade;
and although some commoner trades, such as butchers and bakers, were
allowed an unlimited number of apprentices, the custom of restriction had
become a sort of general law, with the object of limiting the number of
masters and workmen to the requirements of the public. The position of
paid assistant or companion was required to be held in many trades for a
certain length of time before promotion to mastership could be obtained.
[Illustration: Fig. 243.--Bootmaker's Apprentice working at a
Trial-piece.--From a Window of the Thirteenth Century, published by
Messrs. Cahier and Martin]
When apprentices or companions wished to become masters, they were called
_aspirants_, and were subjected to successive examinations. They were
particularly required to prove their ability by executing what was termed
a _chef-d'oeuvre_, which consisted in fabricating a perfect specimen of
whatever craft they practised. The execution of the _chef-d'oeuvre_ gave
rise to many technical formalities, which were at times most frivolous.
The aspirant in certain cases had to pass a technical examination, as,
for instance, the barber in forging and polishing lancets; the wool-weaver
in making and adjusting the different parts of his loom; and during the
period of executing the _chef-d'oeuvre,_ which often extended over several
months, the aspirant was deprived of all communication with his fellows.
He had to work at the office of the association, which was called the
_bureau_, under the eyes of the jurors or syndics, who, often after an
angry debate, issued their judgment upon the merits of the work and the
capability of the workman (Figs. 243 and 244).
[Illustration: Fig. 244.--Carpenter's Apprentice working at a
Trial-piece.--From one of the Stalls called _Miséricordes_, in Rouen
Cathedral (Fifteenth Century).]
On his admission the aspirant had first to take again the oath of
allegiance to the King before the provost or civil deputy, although he had
already done so on commencing his apprenticeship. He then had to pay a
duty or fee, which was divided between the sovereign or lord and the
brotherhood, from which fee the sons of masters always obtained a
considerable abatement. Often, too, the husbands of the daughters of
masters were exempted from paying the duties. A few masters, such as the
goldsmiths and the cloth-workers, had besides to pay a sum of money by way
of guarantee, which remained in the funds of the craft as long as they
carried on the trade. After these forms had been complied with, the
masters acquired the exclusive privilege of freely exercising their
profession. There were, however, certain exceptions to this rule, for a
king on his coronation, a prince or princess of the royal blood at the
time of his or her marriage, and, in certain towns, the bishop on his
installation, had the right of creating one or more masters in each trade,
and these received their licence without going through any of the usual
formalities.
[Illustration: Fig. 245.--Staircase of the Office of the Goldsmiths of
Rouen (Fifteenth Century). The Shield which the Lion holds with his Paw
shows the Arms of the Goldsmiths of Rouen. (Present Condition).]
A widower or widow might generally continue the craft of the deceased wife
or husband who had acquired the freedom, and which thus became the
inheritance of the survivor. The condition, however, was that he or she
did not contract a second marriage with any one who did not belong to the
craft. Masters lost their rights directly they worked for any other master
and received wages. Certain freedoms, too, were only available in the
towns in which they had been obtained. In more than one craft, when a
family holding the freedom became extinct, their premises and tools became
the property of the corporation, subject to an indemnity payable to the
next of kin.
[Illustration: Fig. 246.--Shops under Covered Market (Goldsmith, Dealer in
Stuffs, and Shoemaker).--From a Miniature in Aristotle's "Ethics and
Politics," translated by Nicholas Oresme (Manuscript of the Fifteenth
Century, Library of Rouen).]
At times, and particularly in those trades where the aspirants were not
required to produce a _chef-d'oeuvre_, the installation of masters was
accompanied with extraordinary ceremonies, which no doubt originally
possessed some symbolical meaning, but which, having lost their true
signification, became singular, and appeared even ludicrous. Thus with the
bakers, after four years' apprenticeship, the candidate on purchasing the
freedom from the King, issued from his door, escorted by all the other
bakers of the town, bearing a new pot filled with walnuts and wafers. On
arriving before the chief of the corporation, he said to him, "Master, I
have accomplished my four years; here is my pot filled with walnuts and
wafers." The assistants in the ceremony having vouched for the truth of
this statement, the candidate broke the pot against the wall, and the
chief solemnly pronounced his admission, which was inaugurated by the
older masters emptying a number of tankards of wine or beer at the expense
of their new brother. The ceremony was also of a jovial character in the
case of the millwrights, who only admitted the candidate after he had
received a caning on the shoulders from the last-elected brother.
[Illustration: Fig. 247.--Fac-simile of the first six Lines on the Copper
Tablet on which was engraved, from the year 1470, the Names and Titles of
those who were elected Members of the Corporation of Goldsmiths of Ghent.]
The statutes of the corporations, which had the force of law on account of
being approved and accepted by royal authority, almost always detailed
with the greatest precision the conditions of labour. They fixed the hours
and days for working, the size of the articles to be made, the quality of
the stuffs used in their manufacture, and even the price at which they
were to be sold (Fig. 246). Night labour was pretty generally forbidden,
as likely to produce only imperfect work. We nevertheless find that
carpenters were permitted to make coffins and other funeral articles by
night. On the eve of religious feasts the shops were shut earlier than
usual, that is to say, at three o'clock, and were not opened on the next
day, with the exception of those of pastrycooks, whose assistance was
especially required on feast days, and who sold curious varieties of cakes
and sweetmeats. Notwithstanding the strictness of the rules and the
administrative laws of each trade, which were intended to secure good
faith and loyalty between the various members, it is unnecessary to state
that they were frequently violated. The fines which were then imposed on
delinquents constituted an important source of revenue, not only to the
corporations themselves, but also to the town treasury. The penally,
however, was not always a pecuniary one, for as late as the fifteenth
century we have instances of artisans being condemned to death simply for
having adulterated their articles of trade.
[Illustration: Fig. 248.--Elder and Jurors of the Tanners of the Town of
Ghent in Ceremonial Dress.--Fac-simile of a Miniature in a Manuscript of
the Fifteenth Century.]
This deception was looked upon as of the nature of robbery, which we know
to have been for a long time punishable by death. Robbery on the part of
merchants found no indulgence nor pardon in those days, and the whole
corporation demanded immediate and exemplary justice.
According to the statutes, which generally tended to prevent frauds and
falsifications, in most crafts the masters were bound to put their
trade-mark on their goods, or some particular sign which was to be a
guarantee for the purchaser and one means of identifying the culprit in
the event of complaints arising on account of the bad quality or bad
workmanship of the articles sold.
[Illustration: Fig. 249.--Companion Carpenter.--Fragment of a Woodcut of
the Fifteenth Century, after a Drawing by Wohlgemüth for the "Chronique de
Nuremberg."]
Besides taking various steps to maintain professional integrity, the
framers of the various statutes, as a safeguard to the public interests,
undertook also to inculcate morality and good feeling amongst their
members. A youth could not be admitted unless he could prove his
legitimacy of birth by his baptismal register; and, to obtain the freedom,
he was bound to bear an irreproachable character. Artisans exposed
themselves to a reprimand, and even to bodily chastisement, from the
corporation, for even associating with, and certainly for working or
drinking with those who had been expelled. Licentiousness and misconduct
of any kind rendered them liable to be deprived of their mastership. In
some trade associations all the members were bound to solemnize the day of
the decease of a brother, to assist at his funeral, and to follow him to
the grave. In another community the slightest indecent or discourteous
word was punishable by a fine. A new master could not establish himself in
the same street as his former master, except at a distance, which was
determined by the statutes; and, further, no member was allowed to ask for
or attract customers when the latter were nearer the shop of his neighbour
than of his own.
In the Middle Ages religion placed its stamp on every occupation and
calling, and corporations were careful to maintain this characteristic
feature. Each was under the patronage of some saint, who was considered
the special protector of the craft; each possessed a shrine or chapel in
some church of the quarter where the trade was located, and some even kept
chaplains at their own expense for the celebration of masses which were
daily said for the souls of the good deceased members of the craft. These
associations, animated by Christian charity, took upon them to invoke the
blessings of heaven on all members of the fraternity, and to assist those
who were either laid by through sickness or want of work, and to take care
of the widows and to help the orphans of the less prosperous craftsmen.
They also gave alms to the poor, and presented the broken meat left at
their banquets to the hospitals.
Under the name of _garçons_, or _compagnons de devoir_ (this surname was
at first specially applied to carpenters and masons, who from a very
ancient date formed an important association, which was partly secret, and
from which Freemasonry traces its origin) (Fig. 250), the companions,
notwithstanding that they belonged to the community of their own special
craft, also formed distinct corporations among themselves with a view to
mutual assistance. They made a point of visiting any foreign workman on
his arrival in their town, supplied his first requirements, found him
work, and, when work was wanting, the oldest companion gave up his place
to him. These associations of companionship, however, soon failed to carry
out the noble object for which they were instituted. After a time the
meeting together of the fraternity was but a pretext for intemperance and
debauchery, and at times their tumultuous processions and indecent
masquerades occasioned much disorder in the cities. The facilities which
these numerous associations possessed of extending and mutually
co-operating with one another also led to coalitions among them for the
purpose of securing any advantage which they desired to possess. Sometimes
open violence was resorted to to obtain their exorbitant and unjust
demands, which greatly excited the industrious classes, and eventually
induced the authorities to interfere. Lastly, these brotherhoods gave rise
to many violent quarrels, which ended in blows and too often in bloodshed,
between workmen of the same craft, who took different views on debateable
points. The decrees of parliament, the edicts of sovereigns, and the
decisions of councils, as early as at the end of the fifteenth century and
throughout the whole of the sixteenth, severely proscribed the doings of
these brotherhoods, but these interdictions were never duly and rigidly
enforced, and the authorities themselves often tolerated infractions of
the law, and thus license was given to every kind of abuse.
[Illustration: Fig. 250.--Carpenters.--Fac-simile of a Miniature in the
"Chroniques de Hainaut," Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century, in the
Burgundy Library, Brussels.]
We have frequently mentioned in the course of this volume the political
part played by the corporations during the Middle Ages. We know the active
and important part taken by trades of all descriptions, in France in the
great movement of the formation of communities. The spirit of fraternal
association which constituted the strength of the corporations (Fig. 251),
and which exhibited itself so conspicuously in every act of their public
and private life, resisted during several centuries the individual and
collective attacks made on it by craftsmen themselves. These rich and
powerful corporations began to decline from the moment they ceased to be
united, and they were dissolved by law at the beginning of the revolution
of 1789, an act which necessarily dealt a heavy blow to industry and
commerce.
[Illustration: Fig. 251.--Painting commemorative of the Union of the
Merchants of Rouen at the End of the Seventeenth Century.]
[Illustration: Fig. 252.--Banner of the Drapers of Caen.]
Taxes, Money, and Finance.
Taxes under the Roman Rule.--Money Exactions of the Merovingian
Kings.--Varieties of Money.--Financial Laws under Charlemagne.--Missi
Dominici.--Increase of Taxes owing to the Crusades.--Organization of
Finances by Louis IX.--Extortions of Philip le Bel.--Pecuniary
Embarrassaient of his Successors.--Charles V. re-establishes Order in
Finances.--Disasters of France under Charles VI., Charles VII., and
Jacques Coeur.--Changes in Taxation from Louis XI. to Francis I.--The
great Financiers.--Florimond Robertet.
If we believe Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War, the Gauls were
groaning in his time under the pressure of taxation, and struggled hard to
remove it. Rome lightened their burden; but the fiscal system of the
metropolis imperceptibly took root in all the Roman provinces. There was
an arbitrary personal tax, called the poll tax, and a land tax which was
named _cens_, calculated according to the area of the holding. Besides
these, there were taxes on articles of consumption, on salt, on the import
and export of all articles of merchandise, on sales by auction; also on
marriages, on burials, and on houses. There were also legacy and
succession duties, and taxes on slaves, according to their number. Tolls
on highways were also created; and the treasury went so far as to tax the
hearth. Hence the origin of the name, _feu_, which was afterwards applied
to each household or family group assembled in the same house or sitting
before the same fire. A number of other taxes sprung up, called
_sordides_, from which the nobility and the government functionaries were
exempt.
This ruinous system of taxation, rendered still more insupportable by the
exactions of the proconsuls, and the violence of their subordinates, went
on increasing down to the time of the fall of the Roman Empire. The Middle
Ages gave birth to a new order of things. The municipal administration,
composed in great part of Gallo-Roman citizens, did not perceptibly
deviate from the customs established for five centuries, but each invading
nation by degrees introduced new habits and ideas into the countries they
subdued. The Germans and Franks, having become masters of part of Gaul,
established themselves on the lands which they had divided between them.
The great domains, with their revenues which had belonged to the emperors,
naturally became the property of the barbarian chiefs, and served to
defray the expenses of their houses or their courts. These chiefs, at each
general assembly of the _Leudes_, or great vassals, received presents of
money, of arms, of horses, and of various objects of home or of foreign
manufacture. For a long time these gifts were voluntary. The territorial
fief, which was given to those soldlers who had deserved it by their
military services, involved from the holders a personal service to the
King. They had to attend him on his journeys, to follow him to war, and to
defend him under all circumstances. The fief was entirely exempt from
taxes. Many misdeeds--even robberies and other crimes, which were
ordinarily punishable by death--were pardonable on payment of a
proportionate fine, and oaths, in many cases, might be absolved in the
same way. Thus a large revenue was received, which was generally divided
equally between the State, the procurator fiscal, and the King.
[Illustration: Fig. 253.--The Extraction of Metals.--Fac-simile of a
Woodcut in the "Cosmographie Universelle" of Munster, folio: Basle, 1552.]
War, which was almost constant in those turbulent times, furnished the
barbarian kings with occasional resources, which were usually much more
important than the ordinary supplies from taxation. The first chiefs of
the Visigoths, the Ostrogoths, and the Franks, sought means of
replenishing their treasuries by their victorious arms. Alaric, Totila,
and Clovis thus amassed enormous wealth, without troubling themselves to
place the government finances on a satisfactory basis. We see, however, a
semblance of financial organization in the institutions of Alaric and his
successors. Subsequently, the great Théodoric, who had studied the
administrative theories of the Byzantine Court, exercised his genius in
endeavouring to work out an accurate system of finance, which was adopted
in Italy.
Gregory of Tours, a writer of the sixteenth century, relates in several
passages of his "History of the Franks," that they exhibited the same
repugnance to compulsory taxation as the Germans of the time of Tacitus.
The _Leudes_ considered that they owed nothing to the treasury, and to
force them to submit to taxation was not an easy matter. About the year
465, Childéric I., father of Clovis, lost his crown for wishing all
classes to submit to taxation equally. In 673, Childéric II., King of
Austrasia, had one of these _Leudes_, named Bodillon, flogged with rods
for daring to reproach him with the injustice of certain taxes. He,
however, was afterwards assassinated by this same Bodillon, and the
_Leudes_ maintained their right of immunity. A century before the _Leudes_
were already quarrelling with royalty on account of the taxes, which they
refused to pay, and they sacrificed Queen Brunehaut because she attempted
to enrich the treasury with the confiscated property of a few nobles who
had rebelled against her authority. The wealth of the Frank kings, which
was always very great, was a continual object of envy, and on one occasion
Chilpéric I., King of Soissons, having the _Leudes_ in league with him,
laid his hands on the wealth amassed by his father, Clotaire I., which was
kept in the Palace of Braine. He was, nevertheless, obliged to share his
spoil with his brothers and their followers, who came in arms to force him
to refund what he had taken. Chilpéric (Fig. 254) was so much in awe of
these _Leudes_ that he did not ask them for money. His wife, the
much-feared Frédégonde, did not, however, exempt them more than Brunehaut
had done; and her judges or ministers, Audon and Mummius, having met with
an insurmountable resistance in endeavouring to force taxation on the
nobles, nearly lost their lives in consequence.
[Illustration: Fig. 254.--Tomb of Chilpéric.--Sculpture of the Eleventh
Century, in the Abbey of St. Denis.]
The custom of numbering the population, such as was carried on in Rome
through the censors, appears to have been observed under the Merovingian
kings. At the request of the Bishop of Poitiers, Childebert gave orders to
amend the census taken under Sigebert, King of Austrasia. It is a most
curious document mentioned by Gregory of Tours. "The ancient division," he
says, "had been one so unequal, owing to the subdivision of properties and
other changes which time had made in the condition of the taxpayers, that
the poor, the orphans, and the helpless classes generally alone bore the
real burden of taxation." Florentius, comptroller of the King's household,
and Romulfus, count of the palace, remedied this abuse. After a closer
examination of the changes which had taken place, they relieved the
taxpayers who were too heavily rated and placed the burden on those who
could better afford it.
This direct taxation continued on this plan until the time of the kings of
the second dynasty. The Franks, who had not the privilege of exemption,
paid a poll tax and a house tax; about a tenth was charged on the produce
of highly cultivated lands, a little more on that of lands of an inferior
description, and a certain measure, a _cruche_, of wine on the produce of
every half acre of vineyard. There were assessors and royal agents charged
with levying such taxes and regulating the farming of them. In spite of
this precaution, however, an edict of Clovis II., in the year 615,
censures the mode of imposing rates and taxes; it orders that they shall
only be levied in the places where they have been authorised, and forbade
their being used under any pretext whatever for any other object than that
for which they were imposed.
[Illustration: Fig. 255.--Signature of St. Eloy (Eligius), Financier and
Minister to Dagobert I.; from the Charter of Foundation of the Abbey of
Solignac (Mabillon, "Da Re Diplomatica").]
Under the Merovingians specie was not in common use, although the precious
metals were abundant among the Gauls, as their mines of gold and silver
were not yet exhausted. Money was rarely coined, except on great
occasions, such as a coronation, the birth of an heir to the throne, the
marriage of a prince, or the commemoration of a decisive victory. It is
even probable that each time that money was used in large sums the pound
or the _sou_ of gold was represented more by ingots of metal than by
stamped coin. The third of the _sou_ of gold, which was coined on state
occasions, seems to have been used only as a commemorative medal, to be
distributed amongst the great officers of state, and this circumstance
explains their extreme rarity. The general character of the coinage,
whether of gold, silver, or of the baser metals, of the Burgundian,
Austrasian, and Frank kings, differs little from what it had been at the
time of the last of the Roman emperors, though the _Angel bearing the
cross_ gradually replaced the _Renommée victorieuse_ formerly stamped on
the coins. Christian monograms and symbols of the Trinity were often
intermingled with the initials of the sovereign. It also became common to
combine in a monogram letters thought to be sacred or lucky, such as C, M,
S, T, &c.; also to introduce the names of places, which, perhaps, have
since disappeared, as well as some particular mark or sign special to each
mint. Some of these are very difficult to understand, and present a number
of problems which have yet to be solved (Figs. 256 to 259). Unfortunately,
the names of places on Merovingian coins to the number of about nine
hundred, have rarely been studied by coin collectors, expert both as
geographers and linguists. We find, for example, one hundred distinct
mints, and, up to the present time, have not been able to determine where
the greater number of them were situated.
[Illustration: Merovingian Gold Coins, Struck by St. Eloy, Moneyer to
Dagobert I. (628-638).
Fig. 256.--Parisinna Ceve Fit.. Head of Dagobert with double diadem of
pearls, hair hanging down the back of the neck. _Rev._, Dagobertvs Rex.
Cross; above, omega; under the arms of the cross, Eligi.
Fig. 257.--Parissin. Civ. Head of Clovis II., with diadem of pearls, hair
braided and hanging down the back of the neck. _Rev._, Chlodovevs Rex.
Cross with anchor; under the arms of the cross, Eligi.
Fig. 258.--Parisivs Fit. Head of King. _Rev._, Eligivs Mone. Cross; above,
omega; under, a ball.
Fig. 259.--Mon. Palati. Head of King. _Rev._, Scolare. I. A. Cross with
anchor; under the arms of the cross, Eligi. ]
From the time that Clovis became a Christian, he loaded the Church with
favours, and it soon possessed considerable revenues, and enjoyed many
valuable immunities. The sons of Clovis contested these privileges; but
the Church resisted for a time, though she was eventually obliged to give
way to the iron hand of Charles Martel. In 732 this great military
chieftain, after his struggle with Rainfroy, and after his brilliant
victories over the Saxons, the Bavarians, the Swiss, and the Saracens,
stripped the clergy of their landed possessions, in order to distribute
them amongst his _Leudes_, who by this means he secured as his creatures,
and who were, therefore, ever willing and eager to serve him in arms.
On ascending the throne, King Pepin, who wanted to pacify the Church,
endeavoured as far as possible to obliterate the recollection of the
wrongs of which his father had been guilty towards her; he ordered the
_dîmes_ and the _nones_ (tenth and ninth denier levied on the value of
lands) to be placed to the account of the possessors of each
ecclesiastical domain, on their under-taking to repair the buildings
(churches, châteaux, abbeys, and presbyteries), and to restore to the
owners the properties on which they held mortgages. The nobles long
resented this, and it required the authority and the example of
Charlemagne to soothe the contending parties, and to make Church and State
act in harmony.
Charlemagne renounced the arbitrary rights established by the Mayors of
the Palace, and retained only those which long usage had legitimatised. He
registered them clearly in a code called the _Capitulaires_, into which he
introduced the ancient laws of the Ripuaires, the Burgundians, and the
Franks, arranging them so as to suit the organization and requirements of
his vast empire. From that time each freeman subscribed to the military
service according to the amount of his possessions. The great vassal, or
fiscal judge, was no longer allowed to practise extortion on those
citizens appointed to defend the State. Freemen could legally refuse all
servile or obligatory work imposed on them by the nobles, and the amount
of labour to be performed by the serfs was lessened. Without absolutely
abolishing the authority of local customs in matters of finance, or
penalties which had been illegally exacted, they were suspended by laws
decided at the _Champs de Mai_, by the Counts and by the _Leudes_, in
presence of the Emperor. Arbitrary taxes were abolished, as they were no
longer required. Food, and any articles of consumption, and military
munitions, were exempted from taxation; and the revenues derived from
tolls on road gates, on bridges, and on city gates, &c., were applied to
the purposes for which they were imposed, namely, to the repair of the
roads, the bridges, and the fortified enclosures. The _heriban_, a fine of
sixty sols--which in those days would amount to more than 6,000
francs--was imposed on any holder of a fief who refused military service,
and each noble was obliged to pay this for every one of his vassals who
was absent when summoned to the King's banner. These fines must have
produced considerable sums. A special law exempted ecclesiastics from
bearing arms, and Charlemagne decreed that their possessions should be
sacred and untouched, and everything was done to ensure the payment of the
indemnity--_dîme_ and _none_--which was due to them.
[Illustration: Fig. 260.--Toll on Markets levied by a Cleric.--From one of
the Painted Windows of the Cathedral of Tournay (Fifteenth Century).]
Charlemagne also superintended the coining and circulation of money. He
directed that the silver sou should exactly contain the twenty-second part
by weight of the pound. He also directed that money should only be coined
in the Imperial palaces. He forbade the circulation of spurious coin; he
ordered base coiners to be severely punished, and imposed heavy fines upon
those who refused to accept the coin in legal circulation. The tithe due
to the Church (Fig. 260), which was imposed at the National Assembly in
779, and disbursed by the diocesan bishops, gave rise to many complaints
and much opposition. This tithe was in addition to that paid to the King,
which was of itself sufficiently heavy. The right of claiming the two
tithes, however, had a common origin, so that the sovereign defended his
own rights in protecting those of the Church. This is set forth in the
text of the _Capitulaires_, from the year 794 to 829. "What had originally
been only a voluntary and pious offering of a few of the faithful," says
the author of the "Histoire Financière de la France," "became thus a
perpetual tax upon agriculture, custom rather than law enforcing its
payment; and a tithe which was at first limited to the produce of the
soil, soon extended itself to cattle and other live stock."
Royal delegates (_missi dominici_), who were invested with complex
functions, and with very extensive power, travelled through the empire
exercising legal jurisdiction over all matters of importance. They
assembled all the _placites_, or provincial authorities, and inquired
particularly into the collection of the public revenue. During their
tours, which took place four times a year, they either personally annulled
unjust sentences, or submitted them to the Emperor. They denounced any
irregularities on the part of the Counts, punished the negligences of
their assessors, and often, in order to replace unworthy judges, they had
to resort to a system of election of assessors, chosen from among the
people. They verified the returns for the census; superintended the
keeping up of the royal domains; corrected frauds in matters of taxation;
and punished usurers as much as base coiners, for at that time money was
not considered a commercial article, nor was it thought right that a
money-lender should be allowed to carry on a trade which required a
remuneration proportionate to the risk which he incurred.
[Illustration: Fig. 261.--Sale by Town-Crier. _Preco_, the Crier, blowing
a trumpet; _Subhastator_, public officer charged with the sale. In the
background is seen another sale, by the Bellman.--Fac-simile of a Woodcut
in the Work of Josse Damhoudere, "Praxis Rerum Civilium," 4to: Antwerp,
1557.]
These _missi dominici_ were too much hated by the great vassals to outlive
the introduction of the feudal system. Their royal masters, as they
themselves gradually lost a part of their own privileges and power, could
not sustain the authority of these officers. Dukes, counts, and barons,
having become magistrates, arbitrarily levied new taxes, imposed new
fines, and appropriated the King's tributes to such an extent that,
towards the end of the tenth century, the laws of Charlemagne had no
longer any weight. We then find a number of new taxes levied for the
benefit of the nobles, the very names of which have fallen into disuse
with the feudal claims which they represented. Among these new taxes were
those of _escorte_ and _entrée_, of _mortmain_, of _lods et ventes_, of
_relief_, the _champarts_, the _taille_, the _fouage_, and the various
fees for wine-pressing, grinding, baking, &c., all of which were payable
without prejudice to the tithes due to the King and the Church. However,
as the royal tithe was hardly ever paid, the kings were obliged to look to
other means for replenishing their treasuries; and coining false money was
a common practice. Unfortunately each great vassal vied with the kings in
this, and to such an extent, that the enormous quantity of bad money
coined during the ninth century completed the public ruin, and made this a
sad period of social chaos. The freeman was no longer distinguishable from
the villain, nor the villain from the serf. Serfdom was general; men found
themselves, as it were, slaves, in possession of land which they laboured
at with the sweat of their brow, only to cultivate for the benefit of
others. The towns even--with the exception of a few privileged cities, as
Florence, Paris, Lyons, Rheims, Metz, Strasburg, Marseilles, Hamburg,
Frankfort, and Milan--were under the dominion of some ecclesiastical or
lay lord, and only enjoyed liberty of a more or less limited character.
Towards the end of the eleventh century, under Philip I., the enthusiasm
for Crusades became general, and, as all the nobles joined in the holy
mission of freeing the tomb of Jesus Christ from the hands of the
infidels, large sums of money were required to defray the costs. New taxes
were accordingly imposed; but, as these did not produce enough at once,
large sums were raised by the sale of some of the feudal rights. Certain
franchises were in this way sold by the nobles to the boroughs, towns, and
abbeys, though, in not a few instances, these very privileges had been
formerly plundered from the places to which they were now sold. Fines were
exacted from any person declining to go to Palestine; and foreign
merchants--especially the Jews--were required to subscribe large sums. A
number of the nobles holding fiefs were reduced to the lowest expedients
with a view to raising money, and even sold their estates at a low price,
or mortgaged them to the very Jews whom they taxed so heavily. Every town
in which the spirit of Gallo-Roman municipality was preserved took
advantage of these circumstances to extend its liberties. Each monarch,
too, found this a favourable opportunity to add new fiefs to the crown,
and to recall as many great vassals as possible under his dominion. It
was at this period that communities arose, and that the first charters of
freedom which were obligatory and binding contracts between the King and
the people, date their origin. Besides the annual fines due to the King
and the feudal lords, and in addition to the general subsidies, such as
the quit-rent and the tithes, these communities had to provide for the
repair of the walls or ramparts, for the paving of the streets, the
cleaning of the pits, the watch on the city gates, and the various
expenses of local administration.
Louis le Gros endeavoured to make a re-arrangement of the taxes, and to
establish them on a definite basis. By his orders a new register of the
lands throughout the kingdom was commenced, but various calamities caused
this useful measure to be suspended. In 1149, Louis le Jeune, in
consequence of a disaster which had befallen the Crusaders, did what none
of his predecessors had dared to attempt: he exacted from all his subjects
a sol per pound on their income. This tax, which amounted to a twentieth
part of income, was paid even by the Church, which, for example's sake,
did not take advantage of its immunities. Forty years later, at a council,
or _great parliament_, called by Philip Augustus, a new crusade was
decided upon; and, under the name of Saladin's tithe, an annual tax was
imposed on all property, whether landed or personal, of all who did not
take up the cross to go to the Holy Land. The nobility, however, so
violently resisted this, that the King was obliged to substitute for it a
general tax, which, although it was still more productive, was less
offensive in its mode of collection.
On returning to France in 1191, Philip Augustus rated and taxed every
one--nobility, bourgeois, and clergy--in order to prosecute the great wars
in which he was engaged, and to provide for the first paid troops ever
known in France. He began by confirming the enormous confiscations of the
properties of the Jews, who had been banished from the kingdom, and
afterwards sold a temporary permission to some of the richest of them to
return.
The Jews at that time were the only possessors of available funds, as they
were the only people who trafficked, and who lent money on interest. On
this account the Government were glad to recall them, so as to have at
hand a valuable resource which it could always make use of. As the King
could not on his own authority levy taxes upon the vassals of feudal
lords, on emergencies he convoked the barons, who discussed financial
matters with the King, and, when the sum required was settled, an order
of assessment was issued, and the barons undertook the collection of the
taxes. The assessment was always fixed higher than was required for the
King's wants, and the barons, having paid the King what was due to him,
retained the surplus, which they divided amongst themselves.
The creation of a public revenue, raised by the contributions of all
classes of society, with a definite sum to be kept in reserve, thus dates
from the reign of Philip Augustus. The annual income of the State at that
time amounted to 36,000 marks, or 72,000 pounds' weight of silver--about
sixteen or seventeen million francs of present currency. The treasury,
which was kept in the great tower of the temple (Fig. 262), was under the
custody of seven bourgeois of Paris, and a king's clerk kept a register of
receipts and disbursements. This treasury must have been well filled at
the death of Philip Augustus, for that monarch's legacies were very
considerable. One of his last wishes deserves to be mentioned: and this
was a formal order, which he gave to Louis VIII., to employ a certain sum,
left him for that purpose, solely and entirely for the defence of the
kingdom.
[Illustration: Fig. 262.--The Tower of the Temple, in Paris.--From an
Engraving of the Topography of Paris, in the Cabinet des Estampes, of the
National Library.]
[Illustration: Gold Coins of the Sixth and Seventh Centuries.
Fig. 263.--Mérovée, Son of Chilperic I.
Fig. 264.--Dagobert I.