A history of tithes

by Henry William Clarke

Athelstan’s Law on Tithes.

Athelstan succeeded his father in A.D. 924, and in 927 published the following Ordinance:—

“I, Athelstan the king, with the counsel of Wulfhelm, archbishop, and of my other bishops, make known to the reeves at each burgh, and beseech you in God’s name, and by all His saints, and also by my friendship, that ye first of my own goods render the tithes both of live stock and of the year’s earthly fruits, so as they may most rightly be either meted or told or weighed out; and let the bishops then do the like from their own goods, and my ealdormen and my reeves the same. And I will that the bishops and the reeves command it to all those who ought to obey them, that it be done at the right term. Let us bear in mind how Jacob the patriarch spake, ‘Decimas et hostias pacificas offeram tibi’; and how Moses spake in God’s law, ‘Decimas et primitias non turdabis offerre Domino.’ It is for us to think how awfully it is declared in the books: if we will not render the tithes to God, that He will take from us the nine parts when we least expect; and moreover we have the sin in addition thereto.”[127]

This is unquestionably the first general law in England for the payment of predial and mixed tithes. I admit, and have stated, that tithes were paid by Edward’s treaty with Guthrum, and that clause in the treaty implied that they were paid previously, but there was no public law recorded like Athelstan’s, which set forth the payment of predial and mixed tithes.

Now, Lord Selborne states that Athelstan’s ordinance is not in form a public legislative Act, but merely a royal message addressed to his reeves, bishops, and ealdormen.[128] Against this opinion, I place the opinions of Selden, Kemble, Bishop Stubbs, and Dean Prideaux.

(1) Selden says: “King Athelstan, about the year 930, by the advice and consent of the bishops of the land made a general law for predial and mixed tithes.”[129]

(2) Kemble says: “It is well known that the earliest legislative enactment on the subject of tithes in the Anglo-Saxon laws is that of Athelstan, bearing date in the first quarter of the tenth century.”[130]

Kemble further adds: “The tithes mentioned by Athelstan is the predial tithe, or that of the increase of the fruits of the earth, and increase of the young of cattle. The nature of the sanction of tithes is obvious; it is the old, unjustifiable application of the Jewish practice, which fraud or ignorance had made general current in Europe.”[131]

(3) Bishop Stubbs says: “The formula by which the co-operation of the Witenagemót was expressed is definite and distinct. Alfred issues his code with the counsel and consent of his Witan; Athelstan writes to the reeves with the counsel of the bishops.”[132]

Here Bishop Stubbs includes Athelstan’s law among the examples he gives as regards the definite and distinct formula used to indicate the co-operation of the Witenagemót. And the Bishop’s opinion is the most important because Lord Selborne’s objection is founded on a technical point, viz., the formula used. But the Bishop admits that the formula used in this case was an indication of the co-operation of the Witenagemót.

(4) Dean Prideaux says, “This law was passed in a Parliament of all England, assembled at Grately, about the year 928, etc.”[133]

Dr. Lingard calls the law a “Circular letter which the king sent to his officers. From the tenour of this circular it seems probable that numerous pleas of exemption had been set up in favour of the lands belonging to the Crown, the bishops and the ealdormen, and also of lands held under them by others.”[134]

Lord Selborne then agrees with Dr. Lingard; the former calls it “a royal message to his reeves,” the latter, “a circular letter from the king to his officers.” If so, why should the Parliamentary formula have been used?

(5) Mr. Thorpe may also be added to the four. He clearly lays down the rule by which he was guided in classifying and separating the Laws from the Monumenta Ecclesiastica. “All ordinances,” he says, “proceeding from the king and Witenagemót, whether of a secular or ecclesiastical character, are considered as Laws. Those without such sanction, and of a nature strictly ecclesiastical, are placed among the Monumenta Ecclesiastica.”[135] He placed it among the Laws.

The question here is, What constitutes a Witenagemót? The word means a meeting of the Witan or wise men. It was a counsel of wise men. Our information is indeed very vague as to its constitution. There is no law extant prescribing or defining the constitution of the Witenagemót. A synod with the king present would constitute a Witenagemót. There is no trace whatever that it was representative or elective, or that there was a property qualification. It is on record that the king named the members who were to attend.[136] But the members were the leading men of the country, viz., the archbishops, bishops, abbots, presbyters and even deacons (the priests and deacons doubtless attended on the bishops), princes, ealdormen and thanes.

The formula used in this law is, “The king, with the council of his archbishops and other bishops.” This was a council of wise men presided over by the king. And whether it was called a synod or a council, the laws passed by such a meeting formed the general laws of the kingdom. The objections raised by some writers to the formula used in making Anglo-Saxon laws, and to the words Ordinance, Council and Synod, are groundless and have no force. Mr. Fuller in “Our Title-Deeds” is conspicuous for this sort of objections. He says, “It was not an act of the Witan, but was an Ordinance made at a council or synod only, at the council of Greatanlea,” etc.[137]

Let us examine the formula used in other laws generally admitted to be laws.

(1) “The Laws of King Edward.” “Edward’s Ordinances,” “King Edward commands all his reeves,” etc.[138] There is not a word here about the Witan, archbishop, bishop, etc., yet they are admitted as laws.

Athelstan’s secular ordinances passed at the council of Greatanlea,[139] had been enacted by the same Witan which enacted the King’s Ordinance to his reeves as regards tithes. If one is a “Royal message” or “Circular letter,” so are the secular Ordinances. But the latter are admitted to be laws, so therefore are the former.

To carp about the words “council” and “synod,” shows ignorance of the Latin translation of Witenagemót, viz., concilium, conventus, synodus, etc.

“Although synods,” says Kemble, “might more properly be confined to ecclesiastical conventions, the Saxons do not appear to have made any distinction, probably because ecclesiastical and secular regulations were made by the same body, and at the same time.

“But it is very probable that the Frankish system of separate houses for the clergy and laity prevailed here also, and that merely ecclesiastical affairs were decided by the king and clergy alone. There are some Acts in which the signatures are those of clergymen only; others in which the clerical signatures are followed by those of the laity; and in one remarkable case of this kind, the king signs at the head of each list, as if he had in fact affixed his mark successively in the two houses as president of each. This is in Codex Diplomaticus, No. 116.”[140]