Archaic term for a feudal rent or payment owed to a lord, possibly calculated per head or person; a capitation tax.
Compound of 'head' (meaning a person, as in 'per head') and 'penny' (Old English 'pening', originally a coin and monetary unit). Related to 'headmoney' and capitation taxes.
Many historical taxes were 'per head' (poll taxes)—'headpenny' is an archaic term showing how mediaeval taxation systems were sometimes based on counting people rather than property.
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