Le Roi doit vivre du sien

Modern historians have seen taxation for the current expenses of government as marking the emergence of the state. So too did medieval writers, in all but name. Lydwine Scordia's study traces this development in conceptual, not institutional, terms. The point of departure for all theories of the fiscal rights of rulers were the biblical passages 1 Samuel 8. 10–18, Matthew 22. 21, and Romans 13. 7. The central question which these posed, but did not answer, was whether royal taxation should be adjudged as theft and thus inherently evil, or whether it was a legitimate claim on the property of subjects. For John of Salisbury and others, kings should draw their wealth from their domains, and only if this was insufficient could they call on subjects to contribute for the common defence of the realm. This model of virtuous autarky—‘the king should live of his own’—though essentially domestic in context

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