Definitions for "Tallage"
Keywords:  borough, impost, royal, lord, levied
A certain rate or tax paid by barons, knights, and inferior tenants, toward the public expenses.
To lay an impost upon; to cause to pay tallage.
A tax levied on boroughs and on the tenants living on royal estates. (MEDIEV-L. Medieval Terms) Tax levied at the will of the lord on unfree tenants, or tax levied on towns at the king's discretion. (Waugh, Scott. England in the Reign of Edward III, 238) Annual tax levied by lord on villeins. (Gies, Frances and Joseph. Life in a Medieval Village, 246) Arbitrary levy, especially on property of unfree tenants and ancient demesne of Crown. (Sayles, George O. The King's Parliament of England, 146) An occasional direct tax of a relatively arbitrary kind, taken from those who (like villeins) were personally unfree or (like towns) had a customary obligation to pay; thus distinguished from aids, which were regarded as more freely granted. In towns, used in two main senses: A) royal tallages, i.e. lump sums levied by the king before they were superseded by parliamentary taxes; B) town or borough tallages levied by town authorities for their own use. (Reynolds, Susan. An Introduction to the History of English Medieval Towns, 200)