Scutage

A *fine or money paid in lieu of military service i.e. shield money; tax on an estate. The Latin form was scutagium. Land held of the king by tenants-in-chief owed military service, i.e. the supply of a specified number of knights when called upon. Henry II imposed such a tax every four years or so, at two marks (£1 6s 8d). It was basically a military tax; one which *Magna Carta affirmed could not be levied without the 'common counsel of the kingdom'. The purpose of levying a scutage in the late 12c and the 13c was to raise money to pay the wages of hired soldiers, who were beginning to predominate in armies of the time. In the late 12c, a knight was paid a daily wage of 1s, a foot soldier 1d or 2d. By the time of Edward III, "mercenaries were an essential part of the armies he mustered for use in the "Hundred Years' War. At this time knights' wages had gone up to 2s a day. Indeed, the *Dialogus de Scaccario had this to say of scutage: 'The king decrees that a certain sum be paid from each knight's fief, namely, a mark or a pound, whence come the pay and gratuities for the soldiers. For the prince prefers to thrust into the vortex of war mercenary troops rather than domestic forces. And so this sum is paid in the name of shields and is therefore called scutage.' [< Lat. scutum = shield] -

Cf. Scutage Rolls; Escuage; Knight's fee