How much of their wealth did medieval peasants have to hand over in taxes? The answer could vary dramatically depending on when and where they lived. Research into medieval Sweden reveals that taxes could rise to extraordinary levels, sometimes forcing peasants to surrender the equivalent of more than 100 kilograms of butter each year.
A study by economic historians Dag Retsö and Johan Söderberg of Stockholm University examines taxation in Sweden between 1320 and 1550. Their research, published in the Scandinavian Journal of History, reveals how much peasants paid to the royal government and how those demands changed over more than two centuries.
The historians analysed surviving taxation records, expressing the amounts paid in silver and calculating the quantities of goods, such as butter and oxen, that could be purchased for the same sums. Their findings reveal three distinct periods: relatively low taxes between 1320 and 1363, exceptionally high taxes over the following decades, and a return to much lower taxation towards the end of the Middle Ages.
Paying Medieval Taxes in Butter, Grain and Livestock
Coin of King Eric the Pomeranian of Denmark, Norway & Sweden – Wikimedia Commons
Unlike modern taxpayers, medieval Swedish peasants often paid their taxes in goods rather than money. These payments could include rye, barley, cattle, sheep, butter, pork and iron.
Much of the Swedish royal household’s income came from the peasantry, since noble families, the clergy and many townspeople, including residents of Stockholm, were exempt from taxation.
During the middle decades of the fourteenth century, the average tax-paying peasant contributed the equivalent of about 32 grams of silver annually, representing approximately 2% of the value of their farm.
Expressed in butter, this amounted to around 16 kilograms. Retsö and Söderberg estimate that a typical peasant household owned about four cows, each producing between 14 and 20 kilograms of butter annually. Even at these relatively low tax levels, payments represented a significant quantity of agricultural produce.
When Medieval Taxes Soared
BnF, MS Francais 2609, fol. 294v
The situation changed dramatically in 1363, when Sweden was invaded by German forces led by Duke Albert of Mecklenburg. His son, also named Albert, became King of Sweden the following year, beginning a period of exceptionally heavy taxation.
The historians describe this era as “a decentralized plunder economy”, in which enormous military expenses were supported through high taxes and the outright seizure of peasant property.
Surviving records reveal just how burdensome taxation became. In 1365, the average peasant paid the equivalent of 168 grams of silver, or approximately 105 kilograms of butter. The following year, this rose to 227 grams of silver, equivalent to 162 kilograms of butter.
These demands were several times higher than those imposed earlier in the century.
Why Did Medieval Peasants Pay So Much?
The Mecklenburg dynasty lost control of Sweden in 1389, when forces led by Queen Margaret of Denmark conquered the kingdom. Margaret would establish the Kalmar Union, which united the Scandinavian kingdoms under a common monarch.
However, the change in government did not immediately bring lower taxes. As the researchers explain:
The regime of Margaret aimed at strengthening royal power and the central state. In order to broaden the tax base of the crown, Margaret enacted a reduction of several thousand farms that had been acquired by noblemen or the church and exempted from land dues to the crown. These properties were now brought back to ordinary tax-paying status, reversing the trend during the previous regime of King Albert. The queen strengthened royal control of the bailiffs, though local uprisings against them still occurred.
Between 1365 and 1424, the average annual tax payment was equivalent to 177 grams of silver, or approximately 105 kilograms of butter. This represented about 15% of the value of a farm.
For comparison, the researchers note that average taxation per person in England during the 1370s, shortly before the Peasants’ Revolt, amounted to approximately 10 grams of silver.
These figures illustrate the exceptionally heavy demands placed on Swedish peasants during this period, although differences in taxation systems make direct comparisons between kingdoms difficult.
How Did Peasants Survive Such Heavy Taxes?
With taxation reaching such high levels, an important question is how ordinary farming households managed to survive. Retsö and Söderberg offer an explanation:
A key question is how the peasants were able to survive the high taxes in the decades around 1400. Part of the answer seems to be that taxes were redistributed from poor to rich peasants due to the collective responsibility of the local community. Affluent taxpayers had to pay those amounts that the less wealthy did not manage to put up. In practice, then, the tax system was less regressive than it would appear at first sight.
This collective responsibility meant that wealthier peasants sometimes covered payments that poorer households could not afford, redistributing part of the tax burden within local communities.
A Medieval Rebellion Brings Lower Taxes
Eventually, heavy taxation helped provoke the Engelbrekt rebellion of 1434–1436, which challenged the rule of King Eric of Pomerania and contributed to his removal from power in Sweden.
Castles played an important role in collecting and enforcing taxes, making them particular targets during the uprising. Several were attacked and destroyed.
“Several of these strongholds were not rebuilt, with the result that the number of functioning castles was much reduced toward the end of the 15th century,” the researchers write.
Following these political upheavals, taxation declined dramatically. Between 1446 and 1551, the average peasant paid the equivalent of just 17 grams of silver annually, or approximately 17 kilograms of butter.
This was less than one-tenth of the average silver-equivalent tax payment recorded during the period of exceptionally high taxation between 1365 and 1424.
Where You Lived Also Mattered
Compost et Kalendrier des Bergères, Paris 1499
Taxation was not uniform across medieval Sweden. The researchers found substantial regional differences, with peasants in the more fertile and economically diverse central regions paying as much as five times more than those living in northern areas.
The study ultimately reveals that medieval taxation was far from consistent. Although Swedish peasants experienced periods of extraordinary financial pressure, much of the later Middle Ages was characterised by relatively low taxes.
The researchers conclude:
Most of the late-medieval period, then, was characterized by low taxes. This state of affairs obviously was connected to the comparatively high material living standards of the period. It also stimulated labour-saving technological change in peasant agriculture. The other side of the coin was that the state was too weak to avert or subdue armed conflicts involving Swedish as well as Danish lords fighting for supremacy. No working monopoly of violence was created.
The study, The Late-Medieval Crisis Quantified: Real taxes in Sweden, 1320–1550, by Dag Retsö and Johan Söderberg, appears in the Scandinavian Journal of History, Vol. 40, No. 1 (2015). The article can be accessed through Taylor and Francis Online.
For another perspective on medieval taxation, this video explores how taxes were collected in the Byzantine Empire.
Top Image: A tax collector at work in the 15th century. Hausbuch der Mendelschen Zwölfbrüderstiftung, Band 1. Nürnberg 1426–1549. Stadtbibliothek Nürnberg, Amb. 317.2°, fol. 48r.
How much of their wealth did medieval peasants have to hand over in taxes? The answer could vary dramatically depending on when and where they lived. Research into medieval Sweden reveals that taxes could rise to extraordinary levels, sometimes forcing peasants to surrender the equivalent of more than 100 kilograms of butter each year.
A study by economic historians Dag Retsö and Johan Söderberg of Stockholm University examines taxation in Sweden between 1320 and 1550. Their research, published in the Scandinavian Journal of History, reveals how much peasants paid to the royal government and how those demands changed over more than two centuries.
The historians analysed surviving taxation records, expressing the amounts paid in silver and calculating the quantities of goods, such as butter and oxen, that could be purchased for the same sums. Their findings reveal three distinct periods: relatively low taxes between 1320 and 1363, exceptionally high taxes over the following decades, and a return to much lower taxation towards the end of the Middle Ages.
Paying Medieval Taxes in Butter, Grain and Livestock
Unlike modern taxpayers, medieval Swedish peasants often paid their taxes in goods rather than money. These payments could include rye, barley, cattle, sheep, butter, pork and iron.
Much of the Swedish royal household’s income came from the peasantry, since noble families, the clergy and many townspeople, including residents of Stockholm, were exempt from taxation.
During the middle decades of the fourteenth century, the average tax-paying peasant contributed the equivalent of about 32 grams of silver annually, representing approximately 2% of the value of their farm.
Expressed in butter, this amounted to around 16 kilograms. Retsö and Söderberg estimate that a typical peasant household owned about four cows, each producing between 14 and 20 kilograms of butter annually. Even at these relatively low tax levels, payments represented a significant quantity of agricultural produce.
When Medieval Taxes Soared
The situation changed dramatically in 1363, when Sweden was invaded by German forces led by Duke Albert of Mecklenburg. His son, also named Albert, became King of Sweden the following year, beginning a period of exceptionally heavy taxation.
The historians describe this era as “a decentralized plunder economy”, in which enormous military expenses were supported through high taxes and the outright seizure of peasant property.
Surviving records reveal just how burdensome taxation became. In 1365, the average peasant paid the equivalent of 168 grams of silver, or approximately 105 kilograms of butter. The following year, this rose to 227 grams of silver, equivalent to 162 kilograms of butter.
These demands were several times higher than those imposed earlier in the century.
Why Did Medieval Peasants Pay So Much?
The Mecklenburg dynasty lost control of Sweden in 1389, when forces led by Queen Margaret of Denmark conquered the kingdom. Margaret would establish the Kalmar Union, which united the Scandinavian kingdoms under a common monarch.
However, the change in government did not immediately bring lower taxes. As the researchers explain:
The regime of Margaret aimed at strengthening royal power and the central state. In order to broaden the tax base of the crown, Margaret enacted a reduction of several thousand farms that had been acquired by noblemen or the church and exempted from land dues to the crown. These properties were now brought back to ordinary tax-paying status, reversing the trend during the previous regime of King Albert. The queen strengthened royal control of the bailiffs, though local uprisings against them still occurred.
Between 1365 and 1424, the average annual tax payment was equivalent to 177 grams of silver, or approximately 105 kilograms of butter. This represented about 15% of the value of a farm.
For comparison, the researchers note that average taxation per person in England during the 1370s, shortly before the Peasants’ Revolt, amounted to approximately 10 grams of silver.
These figures illustrate the exceptionally heavy demands placed on Swedish peasants during this period, although differences in taxation systems make direct comparisons between kingdoms difficult.
How Did Peasants Survive Such Heavy Taxes?
With taxation reaching such high levels, an important question is how ordinary farming households managed to survive. Retsö and Söderberg offer an explanation:
A key question is how the peasants were able to survive the high taxes in the decades around 1400. Part of the answer seems to be that taxes were redistributed from poor to rich peasants due to the collective responsibility of the local community. Affluent taxpayers had to pay those amounts that the less wealthy did not manage to put up. In practice, then, the tax system was less regressive than it would appear at first sight.
This collective responsibility meant that wealthier peasants sometimes covered payments that poorer households could not afford, redistributing part of the tax burden within local communities.
A Medieval Rebellion Brings Lower Taxes
Eventually, heavy taxation helped provoke the Engelbrekt rebellion of 1434–1436, which challenged the rule of King Eric of Pomerania and contributed to his removal from power in Sweden.
Castles played an important role in collecting and enforcing taxes, making them particular targets during the uprising. Several were attacked and destroyed.
“Several of these strongholds were not rebuilt, with the result that the number of functioning castles was much reduced toward the end of the 15th century,” the researchers write.
Following these political upheavals, taxation declined dramatically. Between 1446 and 1551, the average peasant paid the equivalent of just 17 grams of silver annually, or approximately 17 kilograms of butter.
This was less than one-tenth of the average silver-equivalent tax payment recorded during the period of exceptionally high taxation between 1365 and 1424.
Where You Lived Also Mattered
Taxation was not uniform across medieval Sweden. The researchers found substantial regional differences, with peasants in the more fertile and economically diverse central regions paying as much as five times more than those living in northern areas.
The study ultimately reveals that medieval taxation was far from consistent. Although Swedish peasants experienced periods of extraordinary financial pressure, much of the later Middle Ages was characterised by relatively low taxes.
The researchers conclude:
Most of the late-medieval period, then, was characterized by low taxes. This state of affairs obviously was connected to the comparatively high material living standards of the period. It also stimulated labour-saving technological change in peasant agriculture. The other side of the coin was that the state was too weak to avert or subdue armed conflicts involving Swedish as well as Danish lords fighting for supremacy. No working monopoly of violence was created.
The study, The Late-Medieval Crisis Quantified: Real taxes in Sweden, 1320–1550, by Dag Retsö and Johan Söderberg, appears in the Scandinavian Journal of History, Vol. 40, No. 1 (2015). The article can be accessed through Taylor and Francis Online.
For another perspective on medieval taxation, this video explores how taxes were collected in the Byzantine Empire.
Top Image: A tax collector at work in the 15th century. Hausbuch der Mendelschen Zwölfbrüderstiftung, Band 1. Nürnberg 1426–1549. Stadtbibliothek Nürnberg, Amb. 317.2°, fol. 48r.
Subscribe to Medievalverse
Related Posts