Political Liberty: A History of the Conception in the Middle Ages and Modern Times. A. J. Carlyle

The system of compulsory tithes in the Middle Ages has long been used by protestant and liberal historians as a stick with which to beat the medieval Church. ‘This most harassing and oppressive form of taxation’, wrote H. C. Lea in his well-known History of the Inquisition, ‘had long been the cause of incurable trouble, aggravated by the rapacity with which it was enforced, even to the pitiful collections of the gleaner’. Von Inama-Sternegg remarked on the growing hatred of tithes in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries, especially among the small free landholders, ‘upon whom the burden of tithes must have fallen most heavily’. Gioacchino Volpe said that tithes were ‘the more hated because they oppressed the rich less than the poor, the dependents on seigneurial estates less than the small free proprietors to whose ruin they contributed…. At that time tithes were both an ecclesiastical and secular oppression, a double offence against religious sentiment and popular misery’. G. G. Coulton, writing before the introduction in England of an income tax at a rate of over ten per cent., proclaimed that before the Reformation tithes ‘constituted a land tax, income tax and death duty far more onerous than any known to modern times, and proportionately unpopular’.

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Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus: Achievements and Prospects

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus Humanitarian Series ◽

10.29235/2524-2369-2018-63-4-434-446 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 63 (4) ◽

pp. 434-446

Author(s):

V. V. Danilovich ◽

V. L. Lakiza

Keyword(s):

Middle Ages ◽

Scientific Organization ◽

Archaeological Research ◽

Contemporary History ◽

National Academy Of Sciences ◽

Archaeological Heritage ◽

Modern Times ◽

History Of ◽

Academy Of Sciences ◽

The Middle Ages

The article presents the major accomplishments of the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus in recent years – the leading scientific organization in the field of fundamental and applied research on national and universal history, archaeology and anthropology, including organization and implementation of activities to study and preserve the historical, cultural and archaeological heritage of the country, practical application and popularization.In the year of the 90th anniversary of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus the Institute incorporates 5 centers: the Center of Archaeology and Ancient History of Belarus (including departments of archaeology of primitive society, archaeology of the Middle Ages and Modern times, the department of preservation and using of archaeological heritage, the department of history of Belarus in the Middle Ages and early Modern times); the Center of Modern and Contemporary History of Belarus (including departments of history of Belarus in modern times, the military history of Belarus, the department of the newest history of Belarus); the Center of History and Anthropology Related Sciences (including departments of genealogy, heraldry and numismatics, the department of source studies and archeography, the departments of historiography and methods of historical research, anthropology); the Center of General History and International Relations; the Center for History of Geopolitics.The Institute has an Archaeological Scientific and Museum Exposition, the Central Scientific Archive of NAS of Belarus (including the only one in the country Fund of archaeological research documents) and the International School of Historical and Archaeological Research.The article focuses on the achievements of scientists in the framework of fulfilling the tasks of the subprogram “History and Culture” of the state research program “Economics and Humanitarian Development of the Belarusian Society” for 2016– 2020, as well as the results that were included in the TOP 10 achievements of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, important publications, scientific and practical events, prospects for the development of scientific research.

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