A chiefage, or chevage, according to Henry de Bracton, was a tribute by the head; or a kind of poll-money paid by those who held lands in villeinage, or otherwise, to their lords, in acknowledgement.
The word seems also to have been used for a sum of money annually given to a man of power, for his patronage and protection, as to their chief.
In the first sense, Edward Coke observed, there was still a kind of chevage subsisting in Wales during his time, called amabyr; paid to the Prince of Wales for the marriage of his daughters; anciently by all, and in Coke's time, only by some.
William Lambarde wrote it chivage. Jewish people, when allowed to live in England, paid chevage, or poll-money; viz. three pence per person, paid at Easter.
The word is formed from the French chef, head.
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). "Chiefage". Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1st ed.). James and John Knapton, et al.