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Atally stick (or simply atally[1]) was an ancient memory aid used to record and document numbers, quantities, and messages. Tally sticks first appear as animal bones carved with notches during theUpper Palaeolithic; a notable example is theIshango Bone. Historical reference is made byPliny the Elder (AD 23–79) about the best wood to use for tallies, and byMarco Polo (1254–1324) who mentions the use of the tally in China. Tallies have been used for numerous purposes such as messaging and scheduling, and especially in financial and legal transactions, to the point of beingcurrency.
There are two principal forms of tally sticks: the single tally and the split tally. A comparable example of this primitive counting device can be found in various types ofprayer beads.
A number of anthropological artefacts have been conjectured to be tally sticks:
The single tally stick was an elongated piece of bone, ivory, wood, or stone which is marked with a system of notches (see:Tally marks). The single tally stick serves predominantlymnemonic purposes. Related to the single tally concept are messenger sticks (used by, e.g., Inuit tribes), the knotted cords,khipus orquipus, as used by theInca. Greek historianHerodotus (c. 484 – c. 425 BC) reported the use of a knotted cord byDarius I of Persia (r. 522 – 486 BC).
The split tally became a prevalent technique in medieval Europe, a time characterised by a scarcity of coinage and widespread illiteracy, to document bilateral exchanges and debts. Typically fashioned from squaredhazelwood, the stick was inscribed with a series of notches before being split lengthwise. Each party in the transaction retained one half of the marked stick, both pieces bearing identical records. Over the years, this method was refined to the point of becoming virtually impervious to tampering. One such refinement was to make the two halves of the stick of different lengths. The longer part was calledstock and was given to thestock holder,[5] which had advanced money (or other items) to the receiver. The shorter portion of the stick was calledfoil and was given to the party which had received the funds or goods. Using this technique each of the parties had an identifiable record of the transaction. The natural irregularities in the surfaces of the tallies where they were split would mean that only the original two halves would fit back together perfectly, and so would verify that they were matching halves of the same transaction. If one party tried to unilaterally change the value of his half of the tally stick by adding more notches, the absence of those notches would be apparent on the other party's tally stick. The split tally was accepted as legal proof in medieval courts and theNapoleonic Code (1804) still makes reference to the tally stick in Article 1333.[6] Along theDanube and inSwitzerland the tally was still used in the 20th century in rural economies.
The most prominent and best recorded use of the split tally stick or "nick-stick"[7][8] being used as a form of currency[9] was whenHenry I introduced the tally stick system in medieval England in around 1100. The tally sticks recorded a payment of taxes, but soon began to circulate in a secondary discount market, being accepted as payment for goods and services at a discount since they could be later presented to the treasury as proof of taxes paid. Then tally sticks began to be issued in advance, in order to finance war and other royal spending, and circulated as "wooden money".[10][11]
The system of tally marks of the Exchequer is described inThe Dialogue Concerning the Exchequer as follows:
The manner of cutting is as follows. At the top of the tally a cut is made, the thickness of the palm of the hand, to represent a thousand pounds; then a hundred pounds by a cut the breadth of a thumb; twenty pounds, the breadth of the little finger; a single pound, the width of a swollen barleycorn; a shilling rather narrower; then a penny is marked by a single cut without removing any wood.
The cuts were made the full width of the stick so that, after splitting, the portion kept by the issuer (thestock) exactly matched the piece (thefoil) given as a receipt. Each stick had to have the details of the transaction written on it, in ink, to make it a valid record.[12]
Royal tallies (debt of the Crown) also played a role in the formation of theBank of England at the end of the 17th century. In 1697, the bank issued £1 million worth of stock in exchange for £800,000 worth of tallies at par and £200,000 in bank notes. This new stock was said to be "engrafted". The government promised not only to pay the Bank interest on the tallies subscribed but to redeem them over a period of years. The "engrafted" stock was then cancelled simultaneously with the redemption.[13]
The split tally of the Exchequer remained in continuous use in England until 1826, when the conditions required for activation of theReceipt of the Exchequer Act 1783 (23 Geo. 3. c. 82), the death of the last Exchequer Chamberlain, came about.[14] In 1834, following the passing of 4 Will. 4. c .15, tally sticks representing six centuries' worth of financial records were ordered to be burned in two furnaces in theHouses of Parliament.[15] The resulting fire set the chimney ablaze and then spread untilmost of the building was destroyed.[9] This event was described byCharles Dickens in an 1855 article on administrative reform.[16]
Tally sticks feature in the design of the entrance gates toThe National Archives atKew.
Les tailles corrélatives à leurs échantillons font foi entre les personnes qui sont dans l'usage de constater ainsi les fournitures qu'elles font ou reçoivent en détail.
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