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MONETAGIUM. 101be identified with that of Normandy, it is necessary toexamine what we know of the tax in Normandy,of itsuse, its object, its institution and its result.Du Cange we have quoted above ;he says withoutambiguity that it was a tax paid every third year tothe lord on condition that he should not be allowedadd from theto change the money. To this we mayCoutume de Normandie 1 ":Monetagium autem estquoddam auxilium pecuniae in tertio anno Duci Normanniaepersolvendum, *ne species monetarum in Normanniadecurrentium in alias faciat permutari. Undesciendum est quod duo anni remanent liberi ;et in tertioanno universaliter ab omnibus persolvetur qui [sc. habent]mobile vel residentiam interris, in quibus monetagiumsolet reddi . . .(list of exemptions)." Here againitis described as an "aid" payable to the duke everythird year in order that he may not change the moneycurrent in Normandy ; thus two years are to be leftfree of taxation, and in the third a general paymentis to be made by all property owners in lands wherethe monetagiumis levied. To the notes of this editionof the Consuetudo Normanniae is added the quotationfrom Hale,8 "But this payment was never admittedin England. Indeed it was taken for a time, but itwas ousted by the first law of Henry I as an usurpation."In both these cases the meaning of monetagiumand its use in Normandy are quite clear ;it is a taxlevied triennially on condition of the duke ceasing tochange the coinage, and in both cases it is assumed,7ed. Gruchy, 1881, p. 43.8From Sir Matthew Hale's Common Law of England. He quotesthe Norman tax as a payment taken by the duke in order that heshould not change his money, payable every third year.