War has always had the power to cripple both state and private finances, while also opening the door to fraud and speculation. In 13th-century Italian city-states, the cost of military equipment fell on individual citizens, but any damage incurred during warfare was reimbursed by the municipality. These compensations, referred to in contemporary sources as “emendatio,” covered not only damaged equipment but, more importantly, injuries or the loss of highly valuable warhorses.

For noble knights, this system acted as a true social safety net: it provided the financial means to purchase a new horse and maintain their social standing. However, since these reimbursements primarily benefited the cavalry, already often resented by the general populace, they were ripe for abuse, especially in the early stages when the aristocracy itself oversaw the compensation process.

Knights could inflate the value of a horse lost in battle to profit from the reimbursement, or falsely claim that a horse which had died of natural causes was killed in combat. Such frauds were often supported by family members or allies responsible for assessing the value of the loss.

Given the astronomical costs that these reimbursements could reach during wartime, it’s no surprise that the emerging People's institutions fought to curb the abuse. Initially, some municipalities introduced a cap on reimbursements for lost horses. They also attempted to prevent fraud by creating advance registries of all warhorses with their corresponding values and implemented stricter checks to verify whether a horse was truly unfit for battle.

The crux of the issue, however, was removing the aristocracy’s monopoly over managing these reimbursements. Many cities tackled this by appointing farriers from the working class alongside noble officials—individuals less likely to favor the elite.

Yet even with tighter controls and a reduction in fraud, compensation for knights’ wartime losses remained a massive financial burden for municipal treasuries. These costs could only be covered through special taxes known as “collette.” A more equitable distribution of these taxes quickly became one of the People's key demands.