Butlerage was a

duty A duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; , past participle of ; , whence "debt") is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may arise from a system of ethics or morality, e ...

of two

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...

s on every ton of

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

imported into

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

by foreign merchants.''Dictionary of Political Economy, Volume I'' (Macmillan and Co, London, 1894), p. 196 It was so called because it was paid to the king's butler for the king. The tax was levied from 1302 to 1809, representing a commutation of the crown's right of prisage (also called the prise of wine, or ''recta prisa''). Butlerage was initially only applied to merchants from

Aquitaine Aquitaine (, ; ; ; ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne (), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former Regions of France, administrative region. Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the administ ...

, which included the key wine exporting port of

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

, but was then extended to all foreign merchants in 1303. A similar commutation was offered to English merchants, but they refused, since many were exempt from prisage. The most detailed study of prisage and butlerage is that provided by Margaret Condon. She has also published a detailed annotated transcription of a sixteenth-century account for prisage and butlerage from

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, which explains how both were collected. The earliest tracts on prisage and butlerage, their history and collection, were written in the 17th century by the English jurist Matthew Hale. These were republished in the late 18th century when the duties still applied. Prisage and butlerage were both abolished in 1809.

References

Further reading