Exchequer

The Minister of Finance in many countries is known as the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the United Kingdom. The role dates back to the 12th century, when the holder was appointed by Henry III. The Exchequer was a department of state managed by the Treasurer, and its role at the time was to collect and administer royal revenues. The original Chancellor of the Exchequer was the assistant to the Treasurer.

 

The word exchequer referred to the checked tablecloth that was used as a sort of abacus by the finance officials - counters were reckoned up after being placed in the squares. It comes from the Old French word eschequier, meaning chessboard. This French word actually came from the Latin for chessboard, scaccarium, but it was believed in England that the es- of eschequier was the French equivalent of the Latin prefix ex- (just as eschange came from the Latin excambium and esploit was from explicitum). Hence the French eschequier became the English exchequer.