maletote

English

Alternative forms

• maletolt, maltolte

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English maltode, from Anglo-Norman maltolt (“unjust tax”), from Medieval Latin malatolta, from mala (“evil”) + tolta (“tax”), the latter from tollīta (“raised”), used in Medieval Latin as past participle of Classical Latin tollō.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmæl.təʊt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmæl.toʊt/

• Audio (Southern England)

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Noun

maletote (plural maletotes)

1. (historical, originally derogatory) An arbitrary tax; in particular, a levy imposed by the English monarch on a certain good beyond ordinary customs duties.
   • 1641, William Hakewil[l], The Libertie of the Subject: Against the Pretended Power of Impositions […]‎^[1], page 54:

     Immediately hereupon, even this very yeere, was this complained of in Parliament, and a Petition exibited by the Lords and Cõmons, that it might be enacted, that this Maletolt or Imposition, because it was taken without assent of Parliament, might be taken away, and that a Law might be made, that no such charge might be laid, but by assent of Parliament: […]

   • 1885, Hubert Hall, A History of the Custom-Revenue in England […], volume 2, page 170:

     The occurrence of a Maltolte in history is of necessity limited to a somewhat brief period.

   • 1918, Frederic Richard Barnes, “The Taxation of Wool, 1327–1348”, in George Unwin, editor, Finance and Trade Under Edward III, page 143:

     The king certainly acted illegally in some way or other, for the Parliament of 1339 declared that he was levying a maletote which it had never sanctioned.

   • 2000, R. R. Davies, The First English Empire: Power and Identities in the British Isles, 1093–1343, →ISBN, page 28:

     […] Scots soon learned that the maltolte on wool exports and later the new custom on alien merchants were to apply exactly in their country as in England; […]

   • 2008 [1996], “Staple”, in Charles Arnold-Baker, edited by Henry von Blumenthal, The Companion to British History, 3rd edition, →ISBN, page 1178:

     A heavy (‘New’) custom or maletolt (5 marks per last of leather, 3 marks per sack of wool or 300 wool fells) was levied and the goods were then consigned to a staple at Dordrecht.

Anagrams

• matelote