True or False: Some vassals paid money rather than serving in person in war.

The story behind the answer

In the feudal system, the military service owed by vassals could be commuted into a cash payment called scutage (“shield money”). Especially from the 12th century, rulers like England’s Henry II preferred money over short, unreliable service terms, using it to hire professional mercenaries who could campaign longer and more effectively. This practice fit a growing cash economy and more centralized royal administration.

Scutage wasn’t just financial convenience—it reshaped power. It increased royal revenues but angered some nobles when levied heavily or without consent. The Magna Carta (1215) famously addressed this, requiring that scutage be taken only with the “common counsel” of the realm, highlighting how a technical military commutation became a political flashpoint.