Analysis Of Scutage In Medieval England

In the twelfth Century, the king of England was once in urgent need for money due to aserious inflation. To make things worse, the king also found it hard to call the knights tomilitary service as the system of “military tenure” was severely damaged by thesubinfeudation and the noble’s illegal occupation of lands. Faced with this situation, Henry IIlevied scutage in1159. The scutage, a temporary measure to substitute money for service atthe beginning, developed into a fixed institution in the reign of John and was cancelled byEdward I.A series of significant incidents related to the scutage had an impact on the transition ofEngland from feudal society to modern society. First of all, the disputes between the king andthe barons over some critical problems such as the right of taxation prompted the birth ofMagna Carta, which provided legal support for the parliament to obtain the right of taxation.Secondly, the scutage enabled the king to employ a large number of mercenaries frommainland, which promoted the transition from feudal military service system to mercenarysystem in England. In consequence, the idea that knights should be loyal to the king wasweakened and some knights exempting from military service invested in industry and thuschanged their occupation and social identity, which led to the decline of feudalism.