Dowell, Steve, ed.; Ilersic, A.R., intro., A History of Taxes and Taxation in England: Volume 1 Taxation from the earliest times to the Civil War (Reprints of Economic Classics. Augustus M. Kelley. New York.,1965; 1st published ).
Saladin Tithe
2
1188 - 1188
- Latin
- Original language included
The Saladin Tithe is printed in the original Latin
- England
- Law - Legislation
- Taxes - Lay Subsidy
- Clergy - Priests, Bishops, Canons
- Crusades
- Government
- Royalty / Monarchs
- Introduction
The introduction by Ilersic provides an overview of the career of Steven Dowell, the original author and editorof the work. Dowell’s extensive description of taxation in England, which begins with the lack of taxation in Britain prior to the coming of the Romans and ends with a description of taxation in the seventeeth century, may be dated at this point as the work was written at the end of the 19th century.
EAK
Appendix I is a printing of the Saladin Tithe, which was a lay subsidy, or income tax, implemented in 1188 as a means to generate funds for King Henry II’s crusade to the Holy Land. Henry II died before being able to embark on his crusade, but his son Richard I used the funds from the tithe to support his own crusade. Saladin was the name of the leader of the Islamic forces. The Ordinance of the Saladin Tithe demanded that each person in England be taxed a tenth of their personal income, which was based on movable goods such as cattle, as well as each community in England gather together forces to join the king on the crusade.