medieval-atlas/economic-development/299

Transcription

Taxation in medieval Scotland Direct taxation was rare in medieval Scotland. In the main the crown was expected to support itself from its own revenues. In the twelfth century occasional taxation was agreed between the king, clergy, barons and burghs on the basis of a lump sum from each estate; each probably divided up by agreement amongst themselves. This was the system readopted on the rare occasions that taxation was levied in the later fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Apart from taxation of the clergy, almost nothing is known about taxation in the thirteenth century. But from fourteenth-century references it is apparent that, as in England, taxes based on the detailed assessment of saleable goods and revenues supplanted the older system of tallage in the thirteenth century. After a period of fossilisation around old assessments, a national system of income assessment was reintroduced to pay for the ransom of David 1I. The earliest surviving assessments of lay and ecclesiastical estates are known from summaries by sheriffdom that were presented to the Scottish parliament in 1366, when they were compared with current valuations. Tax legislation of the 1320s states £s per mile of sheriffdoms 4.00 and over 3.00 -3.99 H~~ 2.00 -2.99 1.00 -1.99 that the assessment of estates then in use dated from the reign of Alexander 1II (1249-1286). For most areas, surviving summary tax returns of the 1320s are broadly consistent with the old valuations recorded in 1366. But returns from the border sheriffdoms, which by the 1360s were partly occupied by the English, were much higher. These higher valuations are reflected in the map below. Various other changes may also be inferred. The sheriff of Inverness was responsible for tax collection throughout northern Scotland. His jurisdiction had earlier also extended to the Hebrides, but in 1366 the mainland and Inner Hebridean estates of the Lord of the Isles were separately recorded within Argyll. Argyll seems to have had a very loosely defined status. In 1366 it is recorded as a series of fiefs, which may earlier have been divided between other sheriffdoms. Various estates of the 'Lord Steward of Scotland' were listed separately within Argyll. His principal Lowland estate, the barony of Renfrew, seems to have been included within the sheriffdom of Dunbarton, although previously part of Lanarkshire. Under 1.00 Tax assessments of lay and ecclesiastical estates, before 1286 ASt 299

  Transcribers who have contributed to this page.

None