«Since the interest of the community is superior to that of the individuals»: fiscal discourse and political identity in 15th century Cervera

Abstract

Just as taxation contributes decisively to the institutional development of the local government, so the discourse used to justify or criticize the fiscal and financial policies of its rulers constitutes a fundamental element in the formation of a communal identity in Catalonia during the later Middle Ages. This is what can be gathered from an analysis of the language and discursive strategies used in Cervera, both by the local authorities and by their critics, throughout the fifteenth century. In light of the references contained in the council minute books and other municipal sources, the conflicts caused by royal exactions and the payments of public debt, by the establishment of one form of taxation or another, and by the administration of communal finances, allow us to appreciate very clearly how far the idea of the common good made its way into the collective urban imagination. As the title of this article suggests, in any given situation we can find references to the idea that the general interest of the universitas and the benefit of its republic always should be given preference to that of an individual (including the monarch), and that this should be done following a specific series of ethical and moral principles, such as charity, trust, credibility and so on -all of them according to the communal rhetoric developed by the Franciscan theorists of the period.