The ‘anti-tax movements’ during the War of the Neapolitan succession (1458-1465): a reassessment

Abstract

This contribution deals with the War of the Neapolitan Succession from the fiscal and political viewpoint. Historiography has already emphasized the participation of the kingdom’s populations in the conflict, as well as the fiscal discontent that sometimes animated it. Especially in the Calabrian case, such disturbances have had particular reso-nance. Their interpretation, however, has been rather reductive, especially when insisting on the misery that afflicted the rural ‘plebs’. A new reading is provided here. Emphasis is given to the specific terms in which the tax issue was debated, the use made of it by the warring parties, and the different perspectives from which barons and communities could look at it. The extreme fragmentation caused by the internal war also shows why parliamentary negotiation of fiscal arrangements ended up in a vacuum. Thus, the road to peace passed through case-by-case agreements, which averted structural changes to the detriment of the royal state.