A medieval tax or poll tax levied on individuals, particularly on the common people in England and France.
From Old French 'chevage,' derived from 'chief' (head), the word literally means a 'head tax'—a tax assessed per person rather than on property or land.
The chevage was wildly unpopular because unlike land taxes, it taxed the poorest peasants the same as richer ones—and it became one of the triggers for the Peasants' Revolt in 1381 when English kings tried to collect it aggressively.
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