Definitions for "Scutage"
Keywords:  knight, escuage, scutum, lieu, feudal
Shield money; commutation of service for a sum of money. See Escuage.
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. (MEDIEV-L. Medieval Terms) Shield-tax, a tax paid in lieu of military service. (Gies, Joseph and Francis. Life in a Medieval Castle, 231) Feudal payment in place of knight service in the field. (Sayles, George O. The King's Parliament of England, 145) Literally "shield-money"; a payment in lieu of military service, paid in respect of the knights which a tenant-in-chief owed to the Crown. The personal obligation to serve of the tenant-in-chief himself could not be discharged by scutage, but only by fine. (Warren, W.L. Henry II, 636)
the money payment made instead of providing a knight or knights for knight service.