In post-Roman Europe, the fragmented states of Europe still held a degree of theoretical unity in that they all were bound by some universal religious and/or political authority. The question that is really to be asked is not who has this authority, but what does the theoretical authority mean in terms of legal power. By the 15th century, many western European fragment-states were governed by a local mercantile assembly. Though the assemblies had to submit to a 'national' law, the rulers had very little power over the people. The assemblies acted as political and legal buffers between national law and the common citizen. The mercantile assemblies held all socio-political institutions in the palm of their filthy rich hands. Rulers, both political and religious, needed to borrow money from these assemblies, and when withheld, accounted for a great deal of national economic damage.
Most of the common class were happy following local laws and paying local taxes as opposed to national. Thus, many of the common class remained unopposed to a suffering national government. The same applied to geographic divisions, nobles who offered land divisions were often more generous than a national counterpart, due to the fact that nobles received a direct service from peasants. Churchmen received a steady income from the universal Christian population. However, when the political rulers saw a need, and the Pope was to agree, church finances often tangled into a legal tax.
No comments:
Post a Comment