Royal Power and Taxation: Taxation in the 13th England and Its Shaping of English Modernity

The fiscal system of medieval England was fundamentally a manifestation of power relations. Nearly every form of taxation was closely connected with the exercise of authority and reflected the interaction and negotiation between the monarchy and different social groups. The policies pursued during the reign of King John both continued the institutional practices established by his Angevin predecessors—Henry II of England and Richard I of England—and introduced new fiscal experiments in response to the exceptional difficulties he faced. These policies generated profound social tensions and contributed to the transformation of English fiscal institutions.Adopting the perspective of economic and social history, this article provides a systematic examination of King John's fiscal policies and explores how they shaped the evolution of English fiscal institutions through the interaction and contestation among feudal rights, royal authority, and emerging political representation.