Alloggiamenti militari e difesa territoriale autogestita: le comunità rurali del ducato di Milano. Ripartizione del carico fiscale e dinamiche contrattuali nella seconda fase delle guerre d'Italia

The essay analyzes the fiscal consequences produced by permanent war for hegemony in Italy, which saw the Valois dispute Emperor Charles V of Habsburg's possession of the Duchy of Milan. In particular, an enduring state of global emergency in Italy and Europe brought about a gradual increase in the tax burden for military purposes, not accompanied, however, by improvements in the ability of the monarchies in ensuring the regularity of the money to pay armies. The debt owed to the soldiers, with the inevitable consequences in discipline, led the imperial ministers in Italy to unload on subjects of Lombardy, and in particular on rural communities, the cost of permanent troops, through the imposition of military quartering, in addition to the extraordinary taxes imposed to support the Habsburg wars in Piedmont and the enormous expenses for the maintenance of the units in transit, through the Duchy, by the various European fronts. The tax burden and the need to defend themselves against abuses of the accommodated soldiers produced forms of political and military resistance from the community, who took an active role in negotiating with central authorities in the matter of quartering, as the ability to provide for their own defence made them militarily relevant.