e were two _tailles_: _la taille seigneuriale_, a
contribution paid by serfs to their lord; and _la taille royale_, paid
by the third estate to the King. The latter was first levied by
Philippe le Bel (1285-1314), but was only an occasional tax until the
reign of Charles VII, who converted it into a regular impost. But
although collected at stated intervals its amount varied from reign to
reign, becoming intolerably burdensome under the spendthrift kings,
while wise rulers, like Henri IV, considerably reduced it. It was not
abolished until the Revolution (W.S.).]

[Footnote 589: _Recueil des ordonnances_, vol. xiii, p. xcix, and the
index of this volume under the word _Impots_. Loiseleur, _Compte des
depenses_, pp. 51 _et seq._ A. Thomas, _Les etats generaux sous
Charles VII_ in the _Cabinet historique_, vol. xxiv, 1878. _Les etats
provinciaux de la France centrale sous Charles VII_, Paris, 1879, 2
vols. in 8vo, _passim_.]

[Footnote 590: Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. iii, p. 318. Vallet de
Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 390. De Beaucourt,
_Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 428; vol. ii, pp. 646 _et seq._]

In 1427 a free lance, Sabbat by name, in garrison at Langeais, was the
terror of Touraine and Anjou. Thus the representatives of the towns
were in no hurry to present themselves at the meeting of the Estates.
It might have been different had they believed that their money would
be employed for the good of the realm. But they knew that the King
would first use it to make gifts to his barons. The deputies were
invited to come and devise means for the repression of the pillage and
plunder from which they were suffering;[591] and, when at the risk of
their lives they did come to the royal presence, they were forced to
consent to the _taille_ in silence. The King's officers threatened to
have them drowned if they opened their mouths. At the meeting of the
Estates held at Mehun-sur-Yevre in 1425 the men from the good towns
said they would be glad to help the King, but first they desired that
an end be put to pillage, and my Lord Bishop of Poitiers, Hugues de
Comberel, said likewise. On hearing his words the Sire de Giac said to
the King: "If my advice were taken, Comberel would be thrown into the
river with the others of his opinion." Whereupon the men from the good
towns voted two hundred and sixty thousand livres.[592] In September,
1427, assembled at Chinon, they granted five hundred thousand l