A medieval term for the right to levy or collect alms, or the revenue generated from charitable donations, particularly by religious institutions.
From almoign/almoin plus the -age suffix (from Old French -age, Latin -aticum) meaning a collection or levy of something. This shows how medieval institutions systematized charity into administrative categories.
Medieval monasteries actually had entire financial systems built around almonage—they could tax alms like any feudal lord collected taxes, which shows how formalized medieval charity could become!
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