A medieval tax or feudal payment paid by knights to avoid military service; equivalent to scutage.
From Old French escuage, derived from the Frankish word for shield (scudo/escudo), as this tax was originally a payment in place of providing armed troops.
Medieval nobles would literally pay money instead of showing up to fight—escruage was the ultimate medieval 'pay-to-skip'—and this created a whole system where wealthy lords could hire professional soldiers instead of depending on reluctant knight service.
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