The Scutage and Knight Service in England

"The Scutage and Knight Service in England" examines how medieval English kings managed the crucial obligation of military service. James Fosdick Baldwin traces the development of scutage—the money payment made in place of serving as a knight—and shows how this system reshaped the relationship between crown, nobility, and the wider machinery of war. By following the legal, fiscal, and political logic behind knight service, the book reveals how decisions on who fought, who paid, and how authority was enforced affected not only campaigns, but also the evolution of governance itself. The Scutage and Knight Service in England is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1897.