Why were notched sticks so important in medieval times? 

Finally some historically accurate reenactment kit i can actually afford.

So the branch manager, literally looked after branches.

Admitting you're a grown up: watching a 8 minute video about sticks and genuinely being interested in it.

So when they claimed you hadn't paid your taxes, you would stick it to the man by showing him your tallywacker 😏

Parliament: "Burn the records" The records: "Burn Parliament"

"Regional treasury branch-manager" takes on a whole new meaning.

A rudimentary tallystick was accepted in a Canadian court as proof in an employment dispute when I was younger. The owner of the stick used it to keep track of the number of days he worked (he was illiterate). His employer was trying to rip him off for some of his wages claiming the man worked fewer days.

I thought I was rich. Turns out I had the wrong end of the stick.

All I can think of now is in medieval time, when someone wanted to rob a bank. They would shout “nobody move, this is a stick up”.

Westminster destroying historical tax-records led to Westminster nearly being entirely destroyed. >TFW dead taxpayers got the last laugh.

I confess that the question of record-keeping in a largely illiterate society is something I never thought about before - this is brilliant!

Amazing that they're effectively a basic bar code system. Not super different to the EAN/UPC barcodes on your groceries. I always thought it was impressive that they came up with bar codes in the 70's, but hearing that they were in use in mediaeval periods is mind blowing.

Ah, the shame of it. Losing all of those records, kind of like memories on sticks... which we have today, actually! One of the common names for a USB flash drive is "memory stick," and they kind of work in a similar fashion, just "notches" in an electrical field representing numbers... the more things change, the more they stay the same.

This channel never, ever fails to fascinate me on the slightest of everyday things. History is just cracking, isn't it

'Hey Mr. Tallyman, tally me banana, daylight come and I wanna go home'

I had no idea tally sticks were stored so recently in such quantities then disposed of so carelessly. That story was both fascinating and tragic.

There is nothing this channel won't cover about medieval everyday life. Cooking, eating, hand hygiene, animal handling, lighting, the list goes on. It's a delight to see such great information

This is 100 times more interesting that I though it would be. This channel is amazing!

If we were still using tally sticks today to record the paying of our taxes we would need to drag around a entire sequoia tree for proof.

I took my tally stick to the IRS office, but they refused to see me and called security. What's wrong with this people?

These little "mundane" bits of history are my favorite.

This man just talked about literal sticks for 8 minutes and somehow made it interesting and thought provoking. Clearly doing something right on this channel, well done.

Surface area is very important in chemistry and now you know why. I too almost managed to burn down a house like this. Lived in an old house, heated by a wood stove. Since fire wood is expensive and we were poor students, we asked a local carpenter for waste parts. Unfortunately the waste parts were very small and therefore had huge surface area. So they produced much more heat, than a similar amount of logs and overheated the water in the pipes to about 130°C, the whole plumbing was vibrating and we had to cool it with snow...

"...The width of a swollen barleycorn..." "How much over a barleycorn is that?" "One swole."

In the year 3020, history would be like this: "They used notepads to record grocery lists, telephone numbers, and other things. Some had sticky backs so you can stick your note on the wall, or on your desk, thus you would never forget them. Ideally speaking, of course. Lots of people still forgot their notes."

That was the medieval equivalent to your boss asking you to delete a Word file and you throwing away the entire computer.

I've dug, researched, and adored medieval and classical history forever. Somehow I have never come across this information. I had heard about receipts of clay enclosures in more archaic times but never heard of the notched stick. Thanks for this. Fascinating :)

The "swollen barley corn" was probably barley that had been soaked/germinated/dried in preparation for beer making. Speaking of which, do you have any videos on medieval beermaking? Nice work!

I wonder if the origin of the phrase "getting the short end of the stick" is related to the use of the shorter half of a tally stick being used as the receipt? If you got the short end of the stick, you were the one paying money rather than receiving money.

There is actually an old saying in German: "etwas auf dem Kerbholz haben" (Having something (carved) on the tally stick) which means being in debt / having a dark secret / generally being a shady type of person. Its not used much today in everyday life but everyone still recognizes it. I never thought about what it really meant / where the saying originated from! (I even had to consult wikipedia that Kerbholz does indeed translate to tally wood)

Fascinating little glimpse back into how records were kept! Can you imagine if a little kid found one of these receipt sticks in the house and started playing tug with the family dog with it! “No Junior!! What are you doing!!!”

I am going to utilize this in my next D&D game the Dm, loves this kind of bits of middle ages history that are forgotten in most conversation to be found and used in the game maybe it will give me the edge in some disputes of payment to a Wiley beholder I'm endeavoured to suffer with in the group as a cleric. Huzzah!

"Andy, where did you put my receipts?" "You mean those firewood?"

I'd heard of keeping a tally, but didn't realize that it meant a physical piece of wood with markings.

I always wondered where my dad got the "quit playing with your tally wacker" saying. Never knew that there was actually a stick used to tally or keep records of things. It has a different meaning in the States.

Thank you for the peace that watching this video brings tonight. I hope you and yours are all well.

The Greco-Roman world was, indeed, quite familiar with the tally stick: there's actually a hypothesis that the strange figures we call, "Roman numerals" started out as the kind of marks used on tally sticks!

"Honey, the tax man is here, he wants the receipt for when we paid our taxes last week, where did you put our stick?" "I accidentally used it as kindling for last nights fire." 😬

This is so engaging, a small piece of information that in the end has a large impact

I guess this counts as duel-entry bookkeeping, or the precursor to it at any rate. That's awesome.

The disposal of the tally sticks story is both sad and hilarious at the same time... though more sad than funny...

I'm a very unemployed accountant, and I've had a lot of time to pursue my historical study passion. A few days ago my head was hurting trying to imagine what kind of internal controls existed in medieval times. The existence of these tally sticks in fact confirms that rudimentary (but critical) controls did exist, and actually the importance of this cannot be understated. This is the type of behind-the-scenes thing that made countless advances possible. Confidence in the financial system is critical to any advanced economy!

A "swollen barleycorn" might be a barley seed which swells up with moisture just before it germinates. Barley sprouts are roasted in the malting process to make beer, so swollen barleycorn would have been a very common sight in Medieval British households and communities.

Interesting to learn something new. Honestly never heard of the tally stick prior to now, and to think they played such an important part in our history.

Archaeologically, we also find tally sticks made from animal bone such as elephant or camel. They are rarely found on antler or even ivory. That they were used until 200 years ago is rather surprising.

Interesting the etymology for things like "foil" and "stocks". Also puts some light on the phrase, "getting the short end of the stick". This is why I love this channel.

Sorry if I'm the only one geeking out on this, haha, but the scenery is just stunning! The flowers in the first scene were absolutely gorgeous

The right angle shape of the notches in the museum pieces is probably due to a basic woodcarving technique. First a "stop cut" is made straight into the media (wood, wax, soap, etc) and then a relief cut is made from a short distance away and the blade tends to stop traveling at or near the stop cut. Continue making relief cuts to make the notch longer and/or deeper.

Most people had tally sticks, Ancient CVS, here's your tally tree.

In Germany there is a saying that goes: "etwas auf dem Kerbholz haben" translating to "having something on the tally" originally meaning having depts unpaid, because when you paid your dept the tally would be destroyed.

Foil and counterfoil are also terms used in literature. I never knew this is where they originated, though. Very interesting!

So glad I watched this, I almost didn't but I did and now I can't tally how much happier I am for it.

Never heard of tally sticks before. I've learned more about history from youtubers like you than from the university, thanks.

Dude you are a great teacher. You have a wonderful way of telling a story and providing good information

Im thinking like my step dad. As soon as you mentioned they were stored all over in different rooms, my first thought was it sounds like a fire hazard.

Absolutely "top notch!" A cut above! Your charming presentation was fun and informative, According to my sturdy little stick, you, sir, have scored very high marks!

Here in Finland we still use the expression ”päivä on pulkassa,” lit. ”the day is in the pulkka,” (an abbreviated form of the more archaic world ’pulikka’ which is our name for the tally stick) to say that ’the day is done.’ 😊

Brilliant and simple concept since every single piece of wood that has EVER existed is unique.

I’m a contracts lawyer and I’m in awe right now. The agreement recording device self-verifies authenticity!

So is this where "The short end of the stick" came from?

The interesting and thematic presentation of info really makes it stick!

Absolutely brilliant video, I just love learning of things like this, you sir are jem of this community.

This has been used all over the world in just about every culture. My Great-uncle Woodrow, who was an ayuni (memory-keeper among the Cherokee), kept this tradition relevant to our culture. We never paid taxes, of course, but kept records of goods traded, food gathered or distributed, and treaties negotiated.

That was an amazing video on a little known topic that in their time must have been as important as any contract today.

Amazing that such a basic and primitive piece of technology was used for so long through our history.

Tax collector: where’s your stick? Me: honestly, my dog ate it.

This is brilliant. It's the first time I have seen someone explain tally sticks. If been to lot of museums, but I never before understood or noticed these sticks.

Very informative. This vid brings to mind story-poles. Going back to the Stone Age, wooden poles were used as long "yardsticks" when building houses. A storypole would have a mark for every measurement needed to build the house. In some cases,they are still used today.

"The kings guard are looking for the person who keeps whacking people with his tally stick. He goes by the pseudonym Tallywhacker"

I was today years old when I figered out what " hey mister tally man, tally me bananas " means lol

Imagine someone in 2020 thinking about someone 1000 years from now being interested in their tax returns.

I just discovered you. This medieval history is much more interesting than what we learned in school and college.

As I begin to watch this with my dinner in front of me, I sincerely hope those sticks werent used for poop stuff Edit: This man making me realize I never really thought about how taxes were paid and information was documented in the medieval ages

I want to see that old timer in the 1800's getting mad that he can't use his tally sticks, and complaining about he needs some fancy paper or parchment to pay his taxes now.

Yet another example of how RU-vid has better shows than cable TV. Modern History TV > History Channel Liked this video and already subscribed earlier today.

Twenty five years ago I ordered a custom made flintlock musket from a small semi custom shop. It was going to take seven weeks to arrive. I had an interesting stick chewed clean of bark by feeding beavers. I made a tally stick of weeks. I made neat half circle cuts and put dark dye in notches to stand out. Ended up with a tally of ten weeks and a beautiful French flintlock musket. Funny how it came to me so naturally to cut notches on a stick as a way to measure. Thanks for making this video. Subscribed.

As someone who has to fill-out paperwork with multiple carbon copies for work: Oh God, this is historical paperwork

In the Netherlands we have a saying “ hij heeft iets op zijn kerfstok “ = ‘he has something on his notch-stick’ for someone who did something wrong. Originally it said ‘he didnt pay his bill at the inn’.

IIRC Classical Greek armies used small sticks as dog tags for soldiers. One half would be kept in camp, the other would be found with the body, so the army could keep a good tally on what happened to their servicemen: missing, accounted for, wounded or fallen. Pretty cool!

this is freaking ingenious, we need something like this more commonly!

Where is “Muley”!? I’m so intrigued by the mule!!! 🐎

I’m sitting here thinking that there’s no way this man can make me listen to how a stick was used. I was wrong.

Just discovered this channel recently but I’m really loving the content actually learning what life was like during the Mid evil period that we only really learn about in history is fascinating.

What a rich history lesson! So many things all tied together. Thanks!

Oh, different sized sticks. The taxpayer was quite literally given _the short end of the stick._ Wow.

Exchequer's servant: Oooh great! there's plenty of firewood and kindling here! Exchequer: ...WHAT!?

I really appreciate your videos. Short and to the point and jam packed with interesting information

That is fascinating - I had never heard about the burning of the tally stick archive, nor the disastrous (and one might say, karma-appropriate) result of taking the building down with it!

Never thought I'd find the history of sticks so fascinating!

I remember about hearing in history classes that ancient Greeks used such sticks when they made deals or loans. But to know they used the very same method for so long is fascinating. And if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. They had to prove somehow they payed their taxes, or completed their end of a bargain even in those times. Mass production of paper didn't existed yet and I can imagine pergamen made from animal hide was too expensive to use for such minor things, but they had massive forests with lots of sticks. Not to mention the fact that most of the population was illiterate, so it was easier for them to learn and understand the different cuts on a stick than the alphabet.

This reminds me of (and could easily be made into) the Connections series by James Burke. Loved it.

Thanks for this little snippet from history.. it’s a real privilege learning new interesting things like this. X

-Me never knowing notched sticks were important to them: hm, yes, good question.

The next time I'm audited by the IRS I'm showing up with a bunch of sticks

My god that story about the sticks burning everything down is so interesting. Thanks man.

Aren't we lucky that you just decided to film this videos? This is such a beautiful storytelling! From the precambrian to the Big Ben! Thank you so much!

It's so interesting how terms like tally, foil (counterfoil), and stock are still used in banking today.

So that's where "the short end of the stick" came from. Good video, new subscription!

I'm here for the tallywacker knowledge

Reminds me of the books (scrolls) lost in the burning of the library at Alexandria.