Scutage

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English feudalism
Harold Sacramentum Fecit Willelmo Duci (Bayeux Tapestry)
Fief Ecclesiastical fief Crown land Allodial title Appanage Vassal Feoffment Seignory Subinfeudation Feoffee Fealty Homage Affinity Feudal maintenance Feudal fragmentation Bastard feudalism Livery
Manorialism
Lord of the manor Manorial court Manor house (List) Demesne Glebe Overlord Lord Peasant Serfdom Free tenant
Feudal land tenure in England
Land tenure English feudal barony Feudal baron Knight's fee Knight-service Baronage Peerage Serjeanty Copyhold Freehold Gavelkind Customary freehold Landed gentry Peerages in the United Kingdom
Feudal duties
Avera and inward Socage Scutage Feudal aid Scot and lot Tallage
Feudalism
v t e

Scutage was a medieval English tax levied on holders of a knight's fee under the feudal land tenure of knight-service. Under feudalism the king, through his vassals, provided land to knights for their support. The knights owed the king military service in return. The knights were allowed to "buy out" of the military service by paying scutage (a term derived from Latin scutum, "shield").

As time passed the kings began to impose a scutage on holders of knight's fees, whether or not the holder was actually a knight.