Blowhard, Esq. writes:

The King of England receiving a herald from the King of France, France or Southern Netherlands, c. 1485

The Hundred Years’ War (waged from 1337 to 1453, so it was actually 116 years long) was a series of conflicts between England and France over control of the French monarchy. The war actually had roots that went back to the Norman invasion of 1066. When William the Conqueror, who you’ll remember was the French Duke of Normandy, took the English throne, he also retained his French landholdings. Thus, William and all subsequent English kings were technically vassals of the French king. What did this mean? Could the French king summon the English king to the French court, make the English monarch kneel, pledge fealty, and pay homage to France? If the English king was next in line for the French throne, could he take it? The Hundred Years’ War was fought to settle these questions. (SPOILER ALERT: France won.)

While war was not waged continuously over that 116 years, while there were periods of truce and relative peace, it was nevertheless a fierce conflict. English armies ravaged the French countryside — killing peasants, burning towns and farms, and generally making things miserable for the French. Not to mention the war coincided with the first outbreak of the Black Death from 1348 to 1350. Good Lord, was there anything worse than being a mid-14th century French peasant?

The Siege of Mortagne, near Bordeaux, in 1377

Besides giving us the Battle of Agincourt and Joan of Arc, the war introduced an innovation on which states have relied ever since: permanent and regular taxation of the citizenry.

Prior to the Hundred Years’ War, it was expected that monarchs would finance their governments out of their own pockets, specifically, from money generated from their extensive landholdings. Imagine that the Bushes had to fund the federal government with money produced by their compound in Kennebunkport and Crawford ranch. Yes, monarchs could supplement their income with indirect taxes by tapping into the funds of all royal subjects, but this was rare and done only in exceptional, emergency circumstances. There was a medieval legal maxim that prevented permanent taxation (one that should be tattooed on the foreheads of all politicians): “With the cause having ended, the consequence must end.” That is, once the emergency was over, the tax must end too.

But that legal rule would be consigned to the dustbin of history with the Hundred Years’ War. As you might imagine, financing a war over generations is quite expensive. Paying for armies to pillage and rape for decades doesn’t come cheap. Thus, given the duration and intensity of the conflict, direct taxes became a routine part of life. It was as if governments now existed in a state of permanent emergency. To give you an example of the change, during the reign of Henry III of England, which lasted almost 50 years from 1216 to 1272, direct taxes were levied only 5 times, an average of once a decade. However, during the reign of Edward III of England, which also lasted 50 years from 1327 to 1377, direct taxes were levied 27 times, more than every 2 years.

So the next time you make out that check to the IRS, you can thank a war fought for the French crown 560 years ago.

Related

• Back here I told a story from the First Crusade that ends with a monk burning to death.
• The Crusade post and this one were shamelessly ripped-off from Prof. Philip Daileader’s Great Courses lectures on the high and late Middle Ages.