View source for Tallage

{{Short description|Medieval English land tax}}

{{English Feudalism}}

'''Tallage''' or '''talliage''' (from the [[French language|French]] {{lang|nfr|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 [[city|cities]], [[borough]]s, and [[monarchy|royal]] domains. In effect, tallage was a [[land tax]].

==England==
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 of England|Henry II]] as a synonym for the {{lang|la|auxilium burgi}}, which was an occasional payment exacted by king and [[baron]]s.<ref name="EB1911">{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Tallage |volume=26 |page=372}}</ref> 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 of England|Parliament]]. There were three further attempts to impose tallage, and it was formally abolished in England in 1340 ([[Taxation, etc. Act 1340]]) under [[Edward III of England|Edward III]], when Parliament's consent to the imposition of common charges became required.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Like [[scutage]], tallage was superseded by various property and trade taxes, and then the subsidy system in the 14th century, which involved [[English Poll Taxes (1377–1381)|poll tax]]es. The last occasion on which tallage was levied in England appears to be about the year 1332.<ref name="EB9">{{cite EB9 |wstitle=Tallage |volume=23 |page=29}}</ref>

{{anchor|Statutum de Tallagio}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = A Statute Concerning Tallage (1297)
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of England
| long_title            ={{lang|la|Statutum de Tallagio non concedendo}} 
| year                  = 1297
| citation              = [[25 Edw. 1]]
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 1297
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = {{ubli|[[Statute Law Revision Act 1887]]|[[Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969]]}}
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = {{ubli|[[Magna Carta (1297)]]|[[Charter of the Forest]]|[[Confirmation of the Charters (1297)]]}}
| status                = Current
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = 
| revised_text          = https://www.legislation.gov.uk/aep/Edw1/25/1
| use_new_UK-LEG        = yes
| UK-LEG_title          = A Statute Concerning Tallage (1297)
| collapsed             = 
}}

The famous statute of [[25 Edw. 1]] (34 Edw. 1. Stat. 4 in ''[[The Statutes at Large]]''), {{lang|la|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|John Hampden's]] case in 1637, is probably an imperfect and unauthoritative abstract of the {{lang|la|[[Confirmatio Cartarum]]}}.<ref name="EB9"/><ref name="EB1911"/> The first section enacts that no tallage for aid shall be imposed or levied by the [[monarch|king]] and his heirs without the will and assent of the [[archbishop]]s, [[bishop]]s, and other [[prelate]]s, the [[earl]]s, [[baron]]s, [[knight]]s, [[burgess (title)|burgess]]es, and other freemen in the kingdom.<ref name="EB9"/>

{{boxquote|
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===
{{main|Tally stick}}
{{lang|la|[[wikt:tallagium|Tallagium]] [[wikt:facere|facere]]}} was the technical term for rendering accounts in the [[Exchequer]], the accounts being kept by means of ''[[tally stick|tallies]]'' or notched sticks. The [[wikt:teller|teller]]s (a corruption of {{lang|nfr|[[wikt:tallier|tallier]]s}}) 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).<ref name="EB9"/>

===Tallage and Jews===

The tax was frequently levied on English Jews during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. A tallage of £60,000, known as the "[[Saladin tithe|Saladin tallage]]", was levied at [[Guildford]] in 1189, the ostensible object being preparation for the [[Third Crusade]].<ref name=JewishEnc>{{cite JewishEncyclopedia |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=28&letter=T |article=Tallage}}</ref>

It was reported that [[John of England|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 England|Henry III]] of 4,000 marks (1225) and 5,000 marks (1270).<ref name=JewishEnc/> Important tallages were made by [[Edward I of England|Edward I]] in the second, third and fourth years (£1,000), and in the fifth year (25,000 marks), of his reign.<ref name=JewishEnc/> These taxes were in addition to the various claims which were made upon Jews for relief, [[wardship]], marriage, [[fine (penalty)|fine]]s, law-proceedings, [[debts]], [[license]]s, [[amercement]]s etc. and which Jews paid to the English exchequer, like other English subjects.<ref name=JewishEnc/>

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.<ref name=JewishEnc/><ref>{{cite journal |last=Rokéah |first=Zefira Entin |jstor=29779959 |title=A Hospitaller and the Jews: Brother Joseph de Chauncy and English Jewry in the 1270s |journal=Jewish Historical Studies |volume=34 |publisher=Jewish Historical Society of England |date=1994 |pages=189–207}}</ref>

==France==
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==
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==
*[[Danegeld]]
*[[Dazdie]]
*[[Leibzoll]]
*[[Taille]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite journal |url=https://www2.glos.ac.uk/bgas/tbgas/v019/bg019171.pdf |last=Fuller |first=E. A. |date=1895 |title=The Tallage of 6 Edward II., and the Bristol Rebellion |journal=Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society |volume=19 |pages=171–278}}
* {{EB9 |wstitle=Tallage |volume=23 |page=29}}
* {{EB1911 |wstitle=Tallage |volume=26 |page=372}}
*{{JewishEncyclopedia |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=28&letter=T |article=Tallage}}

== Further reading ==

*{{cite journal |authorlink=Mark Bailey (rugby union)|first=Mark |last=Bailey |url=https://academic.oup.com/ehr/article/134/566/25/5372487 |title=Tallage-at-will in later medieval England |journal=[[The English Historical Review]] |volume=134 |issue=566 |date=February 2019 |pages=25–58|doi=10.1093/ehr/cez002 }}

{{Taxation in medieval England}}

[[Category:Feudal duties]]
[[Category:Taxation in France]]
[[Category:Property taxes]]
[[Category:Medieval economic history]]
[[Category:Taxation in medieval England]]