Tribute
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- For alternate meanings see Tribute (disambiguation)
A tribute (from Latin tribulum, contribution) is wealth one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often case in historical contests, of submission or allegiance. It also incorporated certain aspects of regulated trade in goods and services between the parties under a contractual relationship formed upon duress, and based upon the potential for threats if specific performance did not occur.
A tributary is a state, colony, region, or people who pay tribute to a more powerful, suzerain state.
Various ancient states, which could be called suzerains, exacted tribute from areas they had conquered or threatened to conquer. In case of alliances, lesser parties gave tribute to the dominant parties as a sign of allegiance and for the purposes of financing the agreed projects - usually raising an army. The term may also be used on religious tax used for maintenance of temples and other sacred places.
Athens received tribute from the other cities of the Delian League. Empires of Babylon, Carthage and Rome exacted tribute from their provinces and subject kingdoms. Roman republic also exacted tribute in the form of equivalent to proportional property taxes for the purpose of waging war.
Chinese practice of tributes as trade regulation
In China the tribute system extended to earliest days to provide both an administrative means to control vassals, as well as a means for which to provide exclusive trading rights to those who paid tribute from foreign regions. Much as one would today gain a trade exclusivity in a particular region for a particular kind of goods, the process of tribute from a foreign nation to China allowed reciprocal trade under both imperial protection and imperial regulation, and barred entry into this trade by those who did not participate. It was an integral part of the Confucian philosophy and was seen as equivalent to the familial relation of younger sons looking after older parents by devoting part of their wealth, assets, or goods to that purpose.
Western European notions of tribute in medieval times
Raiders, like Vikings and Celtic tribes, could also exact tribute instead of raiding the place if the potential targets agreed to pay a agreed-upon amount of valuables.
Tribute was not always money but also valuables and people that were effectively hostages kept in exchange of good behavior.
Various medieval lords required tribute from their vassals or peasants, nominally in exchange of protection to incur the costs of raising armies, or paying for free-lance mercenaries against a hostile neighbouring state. That system evolved into medieval taxation and co-existed as a secular approximation of the churchly tithe upon income.
Tribute in the modern era
Modern elements of tribute are restricted to highly formal and ceremonial rituals: such as formal gifts being given to prove either fealty or loyalty upon the inauguration of a US or other president, a wedding of a president's children while in office; the accession of a member of a royal family, or their marriages; and even in the largely staged show business marriages, where studios, banks, and other stars prove their loyalty through expensive gifts in hope of future benefits, and if are not given will result in loss of business. Thus the element of duress and coercion seen in earlier times is part of this process, particularly in Hollywood.