Abstract

What were the models and ideal-types through which historians of the medieval West have dealt with the topic of the funding of the state and of institutions? First conceived in the context of a meeting between historians of the Christian West, of Islam, and of Byzantium, this paper stakes out a historiographical analysis, setting out some contradictions and suggesting some additions as well. Its focus is on three basic questions: 1) How were the creation and functioning of political structures and institutions fi nanced? 2) How were political structures themselves infl uenced by the forms of their funding? 3) What were the social and economic consequences of the circulation of resources derived from politics?