Legal Definitions - faldage

Definition: Faldage (fahl-dij) is a historical term that refers to a landowner's right to require tenants to graze their sheep in designated temporary folds so that the manure will fertilize the field. It can also refer to a sum of money paid to the landowner by a sheep-owning tenant in lieu of keeping the animals in the landowner's temporary fold.

Example 1: In medieval England, a lord might require his tenants to bring their sheep to a designated fold for a certain period of time each year. This would help to fertilize the lord's fields and improve crop yields.

Example 2: Alternatively, a tenant might pay a faldfee to the lord in order to avoid having to use the temporary fold. This would allow the tenant to keep their sheep on their own land, but would still provide the lord with some compensation for the use of the fold.

These examples illustrate how faldage was used as a way for landowners to improve the productivity of their fields and to extract resources from their tenants. By requiring tenants to use temporary folds or pay faldfees, lords could ensure that their land was being used in the most efficient way possible.