Tax Commissions and Public Opinion: Languedoc 1438-1561
Paul Solon
In Summer 1550 King Henry II of France commissioned the renewal a special military tax, taillon . his commission, chancery draftsmen asserted that this recently-introduced tax and associated reforms had been so successful "que de tous costes s'en levent et rendent graces à Dieu." They added provinces previously complaining garrisons now clamored for them "pour en avoir le prouffit." Such assertions were patently ridiculous in an era when soldiers about as welcome horde locusts, yet royal government did not scruple to offer them.
Renaissance Quarterly