Forms: α. 3–8 taillage, 4–5 taylage, 4–7 tailage, 5 tayllage (7–8 tailliage). β. 4–5 taliage, 4–6 talage, 4–9 talliage, 5 tal(l)yage, 4– tallage. γ. 6 talenge. [a. OF. taillage (1170 in Godef.), f. tailler, TAIL v.2: see -AGE. Hence med.L. talliagium, tallagium (taillagium, taliagium), a. 1087 in Du Cange.]
Orig., in Eng. Hist., An arbitrary tax levied by Norman and early Angevin kings upon the towns and the demesne lands of the Crown; hence, a tax levied upon feudal dependants by their superiors; also, by extension, a municipal rate; a toll or customs duty; a grant, levy, imposition, aid.
By the articles of 1297, the Latin version of which is commonly cited as the Statute De Tallagio non concedendo, an attempt was made to restrict the right of tallage, which was finally surrendered by the king in the act of 1340.
[1154–7. Calr. Charter Rolls, III. 385.
1190. Pipe Roll 1 Rich. I. (1844), 230. De toto tallagio quod Rex Henricus pater fecit.]
c. 1290. Beket, 402, in S. Eng. Leg., I. 118. A taillage it is, and sumdel with vnriȝte i-take.
[1292. Britton, III. vii. § 5. Des vileyns, et de villenages … lour rentes, lour services, lour taillages, et lour custumes.
1302. Rolls of Parlt., I. 266/2. Ad assidendos tallagium nostrum in Civitatibus, Burgis, & Dominicis nostris.]
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 44. Now comes Suane … Þe lond leid to taliage so mykelle on ilk a toun.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Former Age, 54. No lord, no taylage by no tyranye.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 97. Hydage, taylage of hydes of lond. Danegeld, taylage i-ȝeue to þe Danes.
c. 1420. Chron. Vilod., 224. He granted þo to þe Pope Leo such a talage Offe euery howse in his kyndam a peny by ȝere.
1440. J. Shirley, Dethe K. James (1818), 7. The saide kynge of Scottes … ordeynd that tallage … upon his people.
1481. Caxton, Godeffroy, 277. To helpe … the cristen men of Iherusalem to paye the cruel taillages that the turkes had sette vpon them.
1534. More, Comf. agst. Trib., III. Wks. 1212/1. With occasions of his warres, he pilleth them with taxes and tallages vnto the bare bones.
1556. Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden), 38. A rysynge in Lyngcolshere of the comons for taske and talenge of ane abbé there.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., II. 141. [The elected chief of every Irish county] had a generall tallage or cutting high or low at his pleasure upon all the inheritance.
1622. F. Markham, Bk. War, V. vi. 183. It is … the Office of the Treasurer to receiue all Tribuits, Taxes, Tailliages and Impositions.
1642. Declar. Ho. Parlt., in Rushw., Hist. Coll. (1692), III. I. 665. The Law there declared was, That none could be compelled to contribute to any Tax, Tallage, Aid, or other like Charge but by Consent in Parliament.
1762. Hume, Hist. Eng., I. App. ii. 413. The king … levied heavy tailliages at pleasure on the inhabitants.
1776. Adam Smith, W. N., III. ii. (1869), I. 396. The taille, as it still subsists in France, may serve as an example of those ancient tallages. It is a tax upon the supposed profits of the farmer, which they estimate by the stock that he has upon the farm.
1874. Stubbs, Const. Hist., I. xiii. 585. The donum, auxilium, or tallage, which Henry [II.] imposed in lieu of the ancient Danegeld, was assessed by the officers of the Exchequer.
fig. 1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 9254. Ianglyng longeþ to sacrylage, Þar-of takeþ þe fende taylage.
