Financial recommendations for Francis I

Financial recommendations for Francis I

The growing financial demands placed upon the French state during the reign of Francis I (r. 1515–47) precipitated efforts to reform the nation’s tax system that had been in place since the Middle Ages. This unique booklet consists of fifty-eight recommendations and was issued in 1522 or 1523. The colophon echoes the claim voiced by the king’s mother, Louise of Savoy that she and her son were being continuously swindled by financial officials. Tax collection in the kingdom had previously been farmed out to independent merchants who extracted a substantial cut of the revenues, a system the author sought to reform. The intent was to provide a more stable and predictable means of financing the king’s activities and to free him from dependence on credit from foreign merchants.

ca. 1522–23

Manuscript on parchment, 16 fols.

University of Pennsylvania, Ms. Codex 849

France