▪ I. tallage, n.1
(ˈtælɪdʒ)
Forms: α. 3–8 taillage, 4–5 taylage, 4–7 tailage, 5 tayllage (7–8 tailliage). β. 4–5 taliage, 4–6 talage, 4–9 talliage, 5 tal(l)yage, 4– tallage. γ. 6 talenge.
[a. OF. taillage (1170 in Godef.), f. tailler, tail v.2: see -age. Hence med.L. talliagium, tallagium (taillagium, taliagium), a 1087 in Du Cange.]
Orig., in Eng. Hist., An arbitrary tax levied by Norman and early Angevin kings upon the towns and the demesne lands of the Crown; hence, a tax levied upon feudal dependants by their superiors; also, by extension, a municipal rate; a toll or customs duty; a grant, levy, imposition, aid.
By the articles of 1297, the Latin version of which is commonly cited as the Statute De Tallagio non concedendo, an attempt was made to restrict the right of tallage, which was finally surrendered by the king in the act of 1340.
| [1154–7 Calr. Charter Rolls III. 385. 1190 Pipe Roll 1 Rich. I (1844) 230 De toto tallagio quod Rex Henricus pater fecit.] c 1290 Beket 402 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 118 A taillage it is, and sumdel with vnriȝte i-take. [1292 Britton iii. vii. §5 Des vileyns, et de villenages..lour rentes, lour services, lour taillages, et lour custumes. 1302 Rolls of Parlt. I. 266/2 Ad assidendos tallagium nostrum in Civitatibus, Burgis, & Dominicis nostris.] c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 44 Now comes Suane..Þe lond leid to taliage so mykelle on ilk a toun. c 1374 Chaucer Former Age 54 No lord, no taylage by no tyranye. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 97 Hydage, taylage of hydes of lond. Danegeld, taylage i-ȝeue to þe Danes. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 224 He granted þo to þe Pope Leo such a talage Offe euery howse in his kyndam a peny by ȝere. 1440 J. Shirley Dethe K. James (1818) 7 The saide kynge of Scottes..ordeynd that tallage..upon his people. 1481 Caxton Godeffroy 277 To helpe..the cristen men of Iherusalem to paye the cruel taillages that the turkes had sette vpon them. 1534 More Comf. agst. Trib. iii. Wks. 1212/1 With occasions of his warres, he pilleth them with taxes and tallages vnto the bare bones. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden) 38 A rysynge in Lyngcolshere of the comons for taske and talenge of ane abbé there. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. ii. 141 [The elected chief of every Irish county] had a generall tallage or cutting high or low at his pleasure upon all the inheritance. 1622 F. Markham Bk. War v. vi. 183 It is..the Office of the Treasurer to receiue all Tribuits, Taxes, Tailliages and Impositions. 1642 Declar. Ho. Parlt. in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1692) iii. I. 665 The Law there declared was, That none could be compelled to contribute to any Tax, Tallage, Aid, or other like Charge but by Consent in Parliament. 1762 Hume Hist. Eng. I. App. ii. 413 The king..levied heavy tailliages at pleasure on the inhabitants. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. iii. ii. (1869) I. 396 The taille, as it still subsists in France, may serve as an example of those ancient tallages. It is a tax upon the supposed profits of the farmer, which they estimate by the stock that he has upon the farm. 1874 Stubbs Const. Hist. I. xiii. 585 The donum, auxilium, or tallage, which Henry [II] imposed in lieu of the ancient Danegeld, was assessed by the officers of the Exchequer. |
| fig. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 9254 Ianglyng longeþ to sacrylage, Þar-of takeþ þe fende taylage. |
▪ II. † tallage, n.2 Obs.
Also 5–6 talage, 6 -e(d)ge, 7 talang.
[app. corruption of tarage n.1]
Taste, savour (lit. and fig.); = tarage n.1
| 14.. [see tarage n.1]. 1502 W. Atkynson tr. De Imitatione i. xxv. 178 To haue a spirituall tallage in god. 1528 Paynell Salerne's Regim. B b, Very nere the talage of water. 1542 Boorde Dyetary xii. (1870) 266 Chese..must be of good sauour & taledge. 1601 Holland Pliny viii. xxxii. 213 Their first milke must haue a taste and talang of those two hearbs. 1617 J. Moore Map Mans Mortalitie ii. vii. 147 Wherein..there rests some taste and tallage of the former corruptions. |
b. The sense of taste.
| 1557 Primer, Prayer after receiving Sacrament, So to order the talage and taste of my heart, that I never fele other swetenes but thee. 1600 Holland Livy v. v. 183 Some kinde of meat or drinke..to please his palate and to content his talage. |
▪ III. ˈtallage, v.
[f. tallage n.1]
trans. To impose tallage upon; to tax.
| c 1460 Godstow Reg. 102 Whan the kyng tallagith his demaynes thurgh Englond. 1520 Caxton's Chron. Eng. vi. 77 b/2 The Archebysshop wolde not graunte hym to talenge the chirches at his wyll. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccxxxii. 319 Without taxyng or talagyng any of your subgettes or countre. 1738 Hist. Crt. Excheq. ii. 17 None were tallaged, (i.e. taxed by the King or his Justices) but Ancient Demesnes and Burroughs holding of the Crown. 1890 Gross Gild Merch. I. 57 The king tallaged his boroughs whenever he pleased. 1898 Maitland Township & Borough 66 He was tallaged along with the other men of the town. |