Living in the present: tax practices in mediaval Denmark

Vivre de son temps: pratiques fiscales au sein du Danemark médiéval

Alex Boutry ()
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Alex Boutry: REIGENN - Représentations et identités. Espaces germanique, nordique et néerlandophone - SU - Sorbonne Université

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Abstract: The evolution of the Danish tax system between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries illustrates a conflict between the desire to adapt to Western standards and the resistance of local populations attached to ancestral customs. The Danish kingdom, initially structured around an embryonic Nordic economy and tax system, gradually saw the emergence of a more complex tax system, influenced by the Roman Church and the southern kingdoms. This transformation led to a gradual loss of the unchanging freedoms of the bønder, who became subject to the fiscal will of an increasingly powerful king. Although refusals to adapt and attempts at revolt made themselves felt between the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the opposition faced by the royal power gradually diminished, allowing the legitimization of a fiscal policy that marked Denmark's integration into the feudal model of the Christian West.

Keywords: tax revolts; tax policies; tax systems; taxation; révoltes fiscales economy; politiques fiscales; systèmes fiscaux; fiscalité; économie (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-11-18
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-acc, nep-his and nep-pbe
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Published in Scandia Journal of Medieval Norse Studies, 2025, 8

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