The royal treasury and financial administration of medieval England, also referring to the court that handled financial disputes. Named after the checkered cloth used for counting money on a table.
From Old French 'eschequier' meaning 'chessboard,' ultimately from Persian 'shah' (king) through Arabic. The term arose because medieval accountants used a checkered tablecloth as a counting board, with coins moved like chess pieces to calculate royal revenues and expenses.
The Exchequer literally turned accounting into a board game—royal officials moved coins around a giant checkerboard to track the kingdom's finances! This system was so efficient that England's Exchequer became the model for treasury departments across Europe.
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