c1155 Royal Charter: Henry II to Citizens of London in S. Reynolds et al. (1988) II. 70 Omnes sint quieti de brudtoll..et de jeresgieve et de scotale, ita quod vicecomes meus Lund' vel aliquis alius ballivus scotale non faciat.
1190 Charter of Richard I in W. Stubbs (1895) 266 Quod omnes sint quieti de jeresgieve et de scotteshale, ita quod si vicecomes noster vel aliquis alius baillivus scotthale faciat.
1217 Charter of Forest vii, in W. Stubbs (1895) 349 Nullus forestarius vel bedellus de cetero faciat scotale, vel [etc.]
?a1325 in H. T. Riley (1860) II. 351 Scotale, ut extorqueant pecuniam a sequentibus Hundredorum et eorum subditis.
c1450 (1900) 61 (MED) Alle forsterys, bedelys, & baylyes þat makyn scottalys or gaderyn schevys or ony swyche gadryng makyn be colour of here offyce.
1474–5 in H. J. F. Swayne (1896) 19 (MED) Scotalis with Gifts to the grete Belle: Item, of the gaderyng of Robert Parche and Xtofer Flemynge, xxxiij s. ij d.
?1592 J. Manwood 216 A Scottal or Scottale is, where any officer of the Forest doth keepe an Ale-house..and by color of his office doth cause men to come to his house, and there to spend their Money, for feare of hauing his displeasure.
1660 W. Somner 29 It seems to be the same with what was afterwards called Scot-ale, whereof you may read in Matth. Paris, the Charter of the Forest, Bracton, the Mirroir, and elsewhere.
1693 (Royal Soc.) 17 691 He ends this Treatise with an Enumeration of the Quit-rents formerly paid out of the Weald, as Gavel-swine, Scot-ale, Pannage, Gate-penny.
a1725 J. Johnson (1728) II. vii. 351 Scot-Ales and Whitsun-Ales..were in Truth merry Clubs; and Meetings held in the Church.
1874 W. Stubbs (1897) I. xiii. 672 Next to this the ‘scot-ale’ seems to have been the most burdensome local custom. The nature of this exaction is very obscure. It was however levied by the sheriff for his own emolument, probably as a reward for his services in maintaining the peace.
1882 W. W. Skeat at Bridal There were leet-ales, scot-ales, church-ales, clerk-ales, bed-ales, and bride-ales.
1950 W. Durant iv. xxx. 841 Merrie England had ‘scot-ales’, or money-raising bazaars at which ale flowed fast but not free.
1992 134 24 Other scot-ales placed greater emphasis on the contributory meaning of ‘scot’, collecting money only to cover the costs of the festival itself.
2003 I. S. Hornsey vi. 345 The Scot-ale..had little, or no, pretence to be associated with anything religious or humanitarian. They were ‘booze-ups’, pure and simple.
