that scutage was first introduced in 1156 or on the occasion of Henry II.’s expedition against Toulouse in 1159; but it is now recognized that the institution existed already under Henry I. and Stephen, when it occurs as scutagium, scuagium or escuagium. Its introduction was probably hastened by the creation of fractions of knights’ fees, the holders of which could only discharge their obligation in this fashion. The increasing use of mercenaries in the 12th century would also make a money payment of greater use to the crown. Levies of scutage were distinguished by the names of the campaigns for which they were raised, as “the scutage of Toulouse” (or “great scutage”), “the scutage of Ireland” and so forth. The amount demanded from the fee was a marc (13s. 4d.), a pound or two marcs, but anything above a pound was deemed abnormal till John’s reign, when levies of two marcs were made in most years without even the excuse of a war. The irritation caused by these ex actions reached a climax in 1214, when three marcs were demanded, and this was prominent among the causes that led the barons to insist on the Great Charter (1215). By its provisions the crown was prohibited from levying any scutage save by “the common counsel of our realm.” In the reissue of the Charter in 1217 it was provided, instead of this, that scutages should be levied as they had been under Henry II. In practice, however, under Henry III., scutages were usually of three marcs, but the assent of the barons was deemed requisite, and they were only levied on adequate occasions.
Meanwhile, a practice had arisen, possibly as early as Richard I.’s reign, of accepting from great barons special “fines” for permission not to serve in a campaign. This practice appears to have been based on the crown’s right to decide whether personal service should be exacted or scutage accepted in lieu of it. A system of special composition thus arose which largely replaced the old one of scutage. As between the tenants-in-chief, however, and their under-tenants, the payment of scutage continued and was often stereotyped by the terms of charters of subinfeudation, which specified the quota of scutage due rather than the proportion of a knight’s fee granted. For the purpose of recouping themselves by levying from their under tenants the tenant-in-chief received from the crown writs de scutagio habendo. Under Edward I. the new system was so completely developed that the six levies of the reign, each as high as two pounds on the fee, applied only in practice to the under-tenants, their lords compounding with the crown by the payment of large sums, though their nominal assessment, somewhat mysteriously became much lower (see Knight Service). Scutage was rapidly becoming obsolescent as a source of revenue, Edward II. and Edward III. only imposing one levy each and relying on other modes of taxation, more uniform and direct. Its rapid decay was also hastened by the lengths to which subinfeudation had been carried, which led to constant dispute and litigation as to which of the holders in the descending chain of tenure was liable for the payment. Apart from its financial aspect it had possessed a legal importance as the test, according to Bracton, of tenure by knight-service, its payment, on however small a scale, proving the tenure to be “military” with all the consequences involved.
The best monograph on the subject (though not wholly free from error) is J. F. Baldwin’s The Scutage and Knight Service in England (1897), a dissertation printed at the University of Chicago Press. Madox’s History of the Exchequer was the standard authority formerly, and is still of use. The view now held was first set forth by J. H. Round in Feudal England (1895). In 1896 appeared the Red Book of the Exchequer (Rolls series), which, with the Testa de Nevill (Record Commission) and the Pipe Rolls (pulblished by the Record Commision and the Pipe Roll Society, is the chief record authority on the subject; but many of the scutages are wrongly dated by the editor, whose conclusions have been severely criticized by J. H. Round in his Studies on the Red Book of the Exchequer (privately issued) and his Commune of London and other Studies (1899). Pollock and Maitland’s History of English Law (1895) should be consulted. M‘Kechnie’s Magna Carta (1905) is of value; and Scargill Bird’s “Scutage and Marshal’s Rolls” in Genealogist (1834), vol. i., is important for the later records. (J. H. R.)
SCUTARI (Turkish, Uskudar, anc. Chrysopolis), a town of
Turkey in Asia, on the E. shore of the Bosporus, opposite
Constantinople
of which it forms the 9th Cercle Municipale. Its
painted wooden houses and white minarets piled upon the slopes
of the shore and backed by the cypresses of the great cemetery
farther inland present a very picturesque appearance from the
sea. The town contains eight mosques, one of them, the Valideh
Iami, built in 1547, of considerable beauty. Other remarkable
buildings are the vast barracks of Selim III. and a hospital used
during the Crimean War (see Nightingale, Florence). The
chief industry of Scutari is the manufacture of silk, muslin and
cotton stuffs. The population is estimated at 105,500, of which
two-thirds are Mahommedan. The most striking feature of
Scutari is its immense cemetery, the largest and most beautiful
of all the cemeteries in and around Constantinople; it extends
over more than 3 m. of undulating plain behind the town.
Between Scutari and Haidar Pasha the English army lay encamped
during the Crimean War, and in a cemetery on the
Bosporus are buried the 8000 English who died in hospital.
At Haidar Pasha is the terminus of the Angora, Konia and
Smyrna railways. Chrysopolis (“Golden city”), the ancient
name of Scutari, most probably has reference to the fact that
there the Persian tribute was collected, as at a later date the
Athenians levied there a tenth on the ships passing from the
Euxine. Scutari was formerly the post station for Asiatic
couriers (Uskudar = courier), as also down to the introduction
of steam the terminus of the caravan routes from Syria and
Asia.
SCUTARI (anc. Scodra, Slav. Skadar, Albanian Shkóder, or with the definite article Shkódr-a), the capital of the vilayet of Scutari and principal city of Albania, European Turkey; on the south-eastern shore of Lake Scutari, near the confluence of the Drin and Boyana rivers, and 14 m. inland from the Adriatic Sea. Pop. (1905) about 32,000. The plain in which Scutari is built extends southwards to Alessio and northwards to the Montenegrin frontier. It is enclosed by lofty mountains, on every side except where it adjoins the lake., It is very liable to be flooded, and this liability was greatly increased towards the close of the 19th century by the defection of the Drin and its junction with the Boyana. Its bazaar and mosques give Scutari an oriental appearance, but the finest of its buildings are Italian—an old Venetian citadel on a high, crag, and a Roman Catholic cathedral. The city is the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop and a Jesuit college and seminary, which are subsidized by the Austrian government. The trade of Scutari tends to decline and to be diverted to Salonica and other ports connected with the main European railways. Grain, wool, hides and skins, tobacco and sumach are exported; arms and cotton stuffs are manufactured; and textiles, metals, provisions and hardware are imported. Large quantities of a kind of sardine, called scoranze by the Italians and seraga by the Albanians, are caught in the Boyana and cured for export or home consumption. The Boyana is navigable by small seagoing vessels as far as Oboti, 12 m. from its mouth; cargoes for Scutari are then trans hipped into light river craft. The steamers of the Anglo-Montenegrin trading company ply on the lake.
Livy relates that Scodra was chosen as capital by the Illyrian king Gentius, who was here besieged in 168 B.C., and carried captive to Rome. In the 7th century Scutari fell into the hands of the Servians, from whom it was wrested by. the Venetians, and finally, in 1479, the Turks acquired it by treaty.
Lake Scutari is almost bisected by the line of the Montenegrin frontier. It occupies one of the depressions, known as polyes, which are common throughout the Illyrian Karst region. Its generally even margin is broken by the estuary of the river Moratcha, and by a long, narrow inlet which stretches towards the North Albanian Alps. The lake measures 135 sq. m.; its maximum depth was long considered to be no more than 23 ft. But a series of soundings taken in 1901 by Dr Jovan Cvijić revealed the existence of a series of deep holes near the south-western shore, one of which attains a depth of 144 ft. The surface is 20 ft. above sea-level. The principal affluent of Lake Scutari is the Moratcha, which enters it, after forming two small lakes, near the Montenegrin port of Plavmtza. It is drained by the Boyana, which issues from its south-eastern extremity and flows to the Adriatic. Lake Scutari abounds in aquatic birds and fish; its brilliantly clear water, its archipelago
