Medieval English land tax
Tallage
or
talliage
(from the
French
tailler
, i.e. a part cut out of the whole) may have signified at first any
tax
, but became in England and France a land use or land tenure tax. Later in England it was further limited to assessments by the crown upon
cities
,
boroughs
, and
royal
domains. In effect, tallage was a
land tax
.
England
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Land taxes were not unknown in England, as the Anglo-Saxon kings had periodically levied a
Danegeld
on that basis, but tallage was brought to England by the
Normans
as a feudal duty. The word first appeared in the reign of
Henry II
as a synonym for the
auxilium burgi
, which was an occasional payment exacted by king and
barons
.
[1]
Under Henry's sons it became a common source of royal revenue. It was condemned in the
Magna Carta
of 1215, and its imposition practically ceased by 1283 in favour of a general grant made in
Parliament
. There were three further attempts to impose tallage, and it was formally abolished in England in 1340 under
Edward III
, when Parliament's consent to the imposition of common charges became required.
[1]
Like
scutage
, tallage was superseded by various property and trade taxes, and then the subsidy system in the 14th century, which involved
poll taxes
. The last occasion on which tallage was levied in England appears to be about the year 1332.
[2]
United Kingdom legislation
The famous statute of
25 Edw. 1
(34 Edw. 1. Stat. 4 in
The Statutes at Large
),
De Tallagio non Concedendo
, though it is printed among the statutes of the realm, and was cited as a statute in the preamble to the
Petition of Right
in 1628, and by the judges in
John Hampden's
case in 1637, is probably an imperfect and unauthoritative abstract of the
Confirmatio Cartarum
.
[2]
[1]
The first section enacts that no tallage for aid shall be imposed or levied by the
king
and his heirs without the will and assent of the
archbishops
,
bishops
, and other
prelates
, the
earls
,
barons
,
knights
,
burgesses
, and other freemen in the kingdom.
[2]
No Tallage or Aid shall be taken or levied by Us or our Heirs in our Realm, without the good will and Assent of the Archbishops, Bishops, Earls, Barons, Knights, Burgesses, and other Freemen of the Land.
Tally sticks
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Tallagium
facere
was the technical term for rendering accounts in the
Exchequer
, the accounts being kept by means of
tallies
or notched sticks. The
tellers
(a corruption of
talliers
) of the Exchequer were at one time important financial officers.
The system of keeping the national accounts by tallies was abolished by the
Receipt of the Exchequer Act 1783
(
23 Geo. 3
. c. 82) and the office of teller by the
Offices of Exchequer Act 1817
(
57 Geo. 3
. c. 84).
[2]
Tallage and Jews
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The tax was frequently levied on English Jews during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. A tallage of £60,000, known as the "
Saladin tallage
", was levied at
Guildford
in 1189, the ostensible object being preparation for the
Third Crusade
.
[3]
It was reported that
John
may have imposed a tallage upon Jews in 1210 to the extent of 60,000 marks (£40,000). There are likewise records of tallages under
Henry III
of 4,000 marks (1225) and 5,000 marks (1270).
[3]
Important tallages were made by
Edward I
in the second, third and fourth years (£1,000), and in the fifth year (25,000 marks), of his reign.
[3]
These taxes were in addition to the various claims which were made upon Jews for relief,
wardship
, marriage,
fines
, law-proceedings,
debts
,
licenses
,
amercements
etc. and which Jews paid to the English exchequer, like other English subjects.
[3]
It has been claimed that after their expulsion from England in 1290, the loss of the income from Jews was a chief reason why Edward I was obliged to give up his right of tallage upon Englishmen.
[3]
[4]
France
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Tallage lasted much longer in France, where it was a royal tax and one of estate owners with tenants. It came to be called 'taille' and was much used during the
Hundred Years' War
. It was not abolished in France until the
French Revolution
.
Germany
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Tallage never became significantly developed in the German states. It remained a small tax owed to a feudal lord in lieu of other feudal duties, dying out along with other feudal duties.
See also
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References
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Bibliography
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Further reading
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