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WonderAccounting technology fact

Medieval England's royal treasury kept accounts on tally sticks: notches cut into a piece of wood recorded a sum, then the stick was split lengthwise. Each side kept one half, and because only the true pair fitted perfectly, the two halves proved the debt.

Tally stick

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The story behind the card

The larger the notch, the larger the sum. Because wood never splits the same way twice, a forged half would not match, so the stick served as both receipt and proof. The English royal treasury, the Exchequer, used tallies from the twelfth century until they were abolished in 1826. In October 1834 workers burned the old sticks in the stoves beneath the House of Lords; the flues overheated and the fire that followed destroyed most of the medieval Palace of Westminster. The building that stands there today, with the clock tower that holds Big Ben, was built to replace it. Notched sticks for keeping count were also used in many other places, from village shops to farms.

Türkçe oku
Orta Çağ İngiltere'sinde kraliyet hazinesi hesaplarını çetele çubuklarıyla tutardı: bir tahta parçasına açılan çentikler tutarı gösterir, sonra çubuk boyuna ikiye yarılırdı. Her taraf bir yarıyı saklardı; yalnızca gerçek eşler birbirine tam oturduğu için iki parça borcu kanıtlardı.

Çentik ne kadar büyükse tutar da o kadar büyüktü. Tahta hiçbir zaman aynı biçimde yarılmadığı için sahte bir yarım eşine uymazdı; bu yüzden çubuk hem makbuz hem kanıt işi görürdü. İngiltere'nin kraliyet hazinesi Exchequer, çeteleleri 12. yüzyıldan 1826'da kaldırılana kadar kullandı. Ekim 1834'te eski çubuklar Lordlar Kamarası'nın altındaki sobalarda yakılırken bacalar aşırı ısındı; çıkan yangın Orta Çağ'dan kalma Westminster Sarayı'nın büyük bölümünü yok etti. Bugün orada duran ve Big Ben'in saat kulesini de barındıran bina, yerine yapıldı. Çentikli sayı çubukları başka pek çok yerde de kullanıldı; Türkçedeki “çetele tutmak” deyimi de bu alışkanlıktan kalmadır.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Tally stick
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