Scutage
Pronunciation: \?skü-tij, ?skyü-\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Medieval Latin scutagium, from Latin scutum shield
Date: 15th century
The sum that the holder of a knight’s fee may pay his lord in lieu of military service. Sometimes used as a form of tax.
Steven
My life has been pretty simple. I grew up in Alabama and graduated from the University of Alabama with a Bachelor's in Advertising. I have spent about the last ten years in web development. In 1998, a friend of mine and I started a web design company we ran for three or four years before deciding to close it due to the demands of school. Since then, I stayed in the web working with various companies in Alabama.
I worked for a brief period with Southern Progress, namely with Southern Living magazine and Health magazine, in their web departments. While there, I also wrote for Southern Living magazine, Health.com., and the company's internal newsletter.
I write as much as I can. For the last five years, I have been working on my first novel. I am on the third revision now and hope to be finished with this draft by the end of the year. I also write short fiction, though not as frequently as I used to due to the time I spend on the novel. My goal is to have my novel published in the next three years.
Other interests include: History (particularly medieval and ancient civlizations), Reading, Foreign Language (I currently speak Spanish but plan to learn as many as I can), Landscape Photography, the outdoors, sports (especially college football), and Travel.
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Hi Steven,
Scutage was around long before the 15thC. It’s listed in all the pipe rolls I’ve got for the reigns of Richard and John – in Latin, not English, but I would expect any barons having a conversation about it would use the common form. ‘Have you paid your scutage this year, or are you going personally?’ type of thing.
Thanks Elizabeth. I was kind of wondering that myself. Seems the source I pulled it from might have the date listed incorrectly.