scutage Obs. exc. Hist.
(ˈskjuːtɪdʒ)
Also 5 scutagie.
[ad. med.L. scūtāgium, f. scūtum shield, after OF. escuage: see escuage.]
A tax levied on knight's fees; chiefly in restricted sense, such a tax paid in lieu of military service.
| c 1460 Oseney Reg. 123 Þe foresaide [canons] schall aquite towarde Richard ffiȝt Odone and his heyres (þat is to say, ij. s. iiij. d., how that euer þe scutage goo, weþer it be more or lasse). a 1513 Fabyan Chron. vii. (1811) 345 A taske callyd the scutage. 1583 Foxe A. & M. (ed. 4) 276/1 The king more and more incensed against hym,..called him to a counte of..scutagies, gifts, presents, scapes of prisoners. 1766 Blackstone Comm. ii. v. 74 We find in our antient histories, that,..when our kings went to war, they levied scutages on their tenants..to defray their expenses, and to hire troops. 1874 Stubbs Const. Hist. I. xii. 454 The term scutage, now first employed, indicates that the assessment of the knights' fees was coming into use. 1884 Tennyson Becket i. i, It seem'd to me but just The Church should pay her scutage like the lords. |