4 network of fiefs constituted the dominant form of military organization during this period. Thus it was that medieval administrations knew nothing about the budgeting of future revenues and expenditures. When a new expenditure arose it was considered to be temporary in nature and was covered by whatever funds happened to be available at the moment. This approach was characteristic for the medieval fiscal administrative tradition, for, as Clemens Bauer has pointed out: ® fiir das reguläre Wirtschaften, d.h. fiir die Bedarfsurteilung wle fiir die Mittelbeschaffung ist uberwiegend das Herkommen massgebend. Es fehlt die Erkenntnis des wachsenden Bedarfes, man sieht im Grunde oft oder fast regelmässig wiederkehrende Ausgaben, die in einem Strukturwandel ihren Grund haben, als einmalige an. In conjunction with this, the French characterized the administration of the traditional demesne revenues as “finances ordinaires” right on into the sixteenth century, while the administration of indirect taxes was treated as “finances extraordinaires.” At the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century, the French drew up so-called “etats des finances du roi,” which likened real fiscal planning. These états remained unsystematic in form, however, and, as had been the case with medieval fiscal overviews, they only covered certain offices. Then, too, the états did not appear regularly, but were drawn up only when some change was made in the fiscal administration.'^ In summary, then, administration in the European states remained highly Irregular and planless as late as the sixteenth century. Administrative activities were technically unsystematic and lacked the regularity and unity which were necessary preconditions for mobilizing and structuring the increased revenue needs of the state during the course of that century. Just as steps were now taken to avoid shortages in the state treasuries by assembling great reserves of cash for future needs, the need for organizing the regular and uniform administration of resources was also recognized. Parallel with the developments in military and tax policy discussed above, there occurred a comparable reform of the administrative structure, which in itself involved a further expansion of public expenditures. The creation of standing armies led, as Fritz Hartung has pointed out, “zum Ausbau einer neuen einheitlichen, zunächst an den Bediirfnissen des Heeres orientierten Verwaltungsorganisation und zur einheitlichen Zusam- * Clemens B.\uer, “Mittelalterlichc Staatsfinanz und Internationale Hochfinanz,” Historisches Jahrbuch, 50 (1930), 33. Ibid., 31. Max von Heckel, Das Budget (Leipzig, 1898), 3; Baufr (1930), 33.
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