The grandson of St. Louis, Philip IV, did much to organize
a financial system for France. Now that the kingdom had become so large and
powerful, the old feudal dues were insufficient to pay the salaries of the
royal officials and support a standing army. Philip resorted to new methods of
raising revenue by imposing various taxes and by requiring the feudal lords to
substitute payments in money for the military service due from them.
THE ESTATES-GENERAL
Philip also called into existence the Estates-General, an
assembly in which the clergy, the nobles, and representatives from the commons
(the "third estate") met as separate bodies and voted grants of
money. The Estates-General arose almost at the same time as the English Parliament,
to which it corresponded, but it never secured the extensive authority of that
body. After a time the kings of France became so powerful that they managed to
reign without once summoning the nation in council. The French did not succeed,
as the English had done, in founding political liberty upon the vote and
control of taxation.
