A historical fee or payment collected from merchants for providing military protection or safe passage through dangerous territories.
From 'escort' (to accompany for protection) with the suffix '-age' (indicating a fee, right, or system). Derived from Old French 'escorte,' from Italian 'scorta.'
Escortage was essentially the medieval protection racket—travelers paid nobles or military groups to guard them on dangerous roads, creating a system where armed power translated directly into income, much like modern security services but with swords instead of radios.
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