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CUSTOMS DUTIES
. Throughout the Middle Ages, seigneurs and towns levied tolls and duties on passing
commerce, but not until the later 13th century did the monarchy attempt, in any
systematic way, to exact payments on goods passing across the frontiers of the kingdom.
For the customs to become a significant source of revenue, the king had to develop a
specialized branch of the government in charge of ports et passages, and this customs
service really dates from the reign of Philip IV, one of whose officers, Pierre de Chalon,
was the first specialist in ports et passages. The first type of customs duty was based on
the prohibition of exports. When France and England went to war in 1294, their
respective kings undertook to raise revenue by prohibiting the export of wool and
woolens. Those wishing to be excused from this prohibition, generally Italian merchant
companies, had to buy a license from the crown, and the revenue from this source was in
effect a customs duty on exports. It brought Philip IV considerable revenue in the early
14th century but had declined in value to 8,000 livres parisis in 1331 and only 2,000 1.p.
by 1344. This tax was known as haut passage.
The improved machinery that Chalon established in the ports et passages
administration made it possible to establish, in 1324, a second type of customs duty, this
one a general tax on exports amounting to four deniers per pound, i.e., 1⅔ percent of the
value of exported goods. This tax, known as the droit de rève, also began as a measure to
finance war. It was worth 60,000 livres tournois in 1332 and 40,000 l.t. in 1344. The rève
was incorporated into another duty, the imposition foraine, in 1369, but it was in force
under Charles VI as a separate tax once more.
The imposition foraine, established in 1361, was the principal customs duty of late-
medieval France. Like the others, it was levied on goods exported from the realm. When
the aides were established late in 1360 to raise money for the ransom of King John II,
they took the form of a 5 percent tax on the sale of goods. To prevent evasion of this tax
in border areas, the crown imposed a tax of the same rate on goods leaving the kingdom.
When, in 1362, Languedoc arranged to pay a different form of tax in lieu of the aides, the
imposition foraine ceased to be levied on goods leaving Languedoc but was now levied
on goods passing into Languedoc from parts of the kingdom that were subject to the
aides. Replacement of this indirect tax in Languedoc thus created an internal customs
barrier. In general, the imposition foraine was canceled and reestablished when the aides
were, but because it gave rise to complaints that it damaged commerce, it was canceled
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