Monetization of taxation in Early Medieval Egypt: a documentary investigation

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

My project aims to investigate the monetization of taxation in Egypt that became apparent around the beginning of the 9th century. By leveraging a large multilingual documentary corpus, this research will provide a new perspective on a crucial period of Egyptian history. I will look to determine when, how and why authorities of one of the longest lasting medieval empires, the Abbasids, shifted away from assessing taxes in kind as well as the immediate economic and social consequences of that decision. As an heir of the Roman fiscal system, Egypt's taxes were assessed partially in kind until the early Islamic period, however, evidence of this practice disappears from the documentary record around the beginning of the 9th century. This change did not come alone, as already from the beginning of the 8th century, under Umayyad rule, the state's grip on taxation has been gradually tightening. To that end, the legal status of Egypt was reviewed, consequently allowing for extraction of more revenue. In addition, a new class of Muslim officials, who were outsiders to the region, was introduced to manage the emerging new system, thus, diminishing the importance of the local Christian elites and sparking considerable upheaval. These developments notwithstanding, when the Abbasids came to power in 750, they chose to move away from taxation in kind, even though it would inevitably spark further problems and a liquidity crisis in the province. This move would change the face of Egyptian economy forever. Using primarily documents from the region written contemporaneously to the events, I will seek to reconstruct as closely as possible how this change has happened as well as analyze its possible reasons and outcomes.