chevage
chevage (chee-vij). [fr. French chef “head”] Hist. An annual tribute payment from a villein to a lord. • Chevage was commonly exacted from villeins for permission to marry or permission to work outside a lord’s domain. — Also spelled chivage; chiefage. “Chevage, (chevagium) commeth of the French (chef. i. caput). It signifieth with us, a […]