> The ruler of a region needs to put some of the tax money back
> into the region. This is the MAIN reason for taxes, is it
> not? Except for tyrants, who tend to horde all the tax
> money. This is where peasants and merchants become
> hateful of the new government.
I'm afraid that this is _not_ the MAIN reason for medieval
government. Unfortunately the contract theory of government wasn't
born yet and fortunately neither was the Social Security and
Infrastructure "Investment". Seriously, a medieval ruler regarded
himself not as some form of deputy of The People, but Ruler by Gods
(and possibly the Kings or Emperors) Grace whose subjects _Duty_ it
was to support him. The ruler does not have an obligation to rebuild
all private homes which might collapse and certainly had no reason to
build roads and bridges but to build toll gates on them. If a
medieval baron had anything which could be regarded as duties to his
subjects at all then it was the giving and enforcement of his law and
the defense from foreign invasions and even here one might argue that
the ruler did that not out of duty, but just because it was in his
interest.
Carl Edman