tallage

tallage, in medieval Europe, a tax imposed by the lord of an estate upon his unfree tenants. In origin, both the amount and the frequency of levies was at the lord’s discretion, but by the 13th century tallage on many estates had already become a fixed charge. In England, from the late 12th century, tallage had become established as the name of a royal tax levied on estates in the king’s possession and on boroughs. The latter produced the major revenue from the tax, London’s contribution alone often amounting to more than one-third of the whole. King John (reigned 1199–1216) levied tallages frequently, and the practice was attacked in the Magna Carta (1215). From the late 13th century, when borough representatives began to be summoned to Parliament, parliamentary taxation of boroughs and of the king’s estates began to be preferred to tallage. The last royal tallage in England was taken in 1312.