A history of tithes

by Henry William Clarke

King Edgar’s Laws.

Edgar succeeded his brother Edwig, or Edwy, in 959; died 975.

In the following law, Mr. Thorpe takes his text from a collection of two important manuscripts; (1) Corpus Christi MS. 265 (K. 2); (2) Cott. Nero, A. 1, both apparently written in the middle of the 11th century.

“This is the Ordinance[153] that King Edgar, with the counsel of his Witan, ordained, in praise of God and in honour to himself and for the behoof of all his people.”

Act 1. “These then are first, that God’s churches be entitled to every right; and that every tithe be rendered to the old minster to which the district belongs, and that be then so paid, both from a thane’s inland[154] and from geneat-land[155] so as the plough traverses it.”

Act 2. “But if there be any thane who on his bocland has a church at which there is a burial place, let him give the third part of his own tithe to his church. If any one have a church at which there is not a burial-place, then of the nine parts, let him give to his priest what he will; and let every church-scot go to the old minster according to every free hearth; and let plough-alms be paid when it shall be fifteen days over Easter.”

Act 3. “And let a tithe of every young be paid by Pentecost; and of the fruits of the earth by the equinox; and every church-scot by Martinmas on peril of the full wite which the doom-book specifies; and if any one will not then pay the tithe, as we have ordained, let the King’s reeve go thereto, and the bishop’s, and the mass-priest of the minster, and take by force a tenth part for the minster to which it is due; and assign to him the ninth part; and let the eight parts be divided into two; and let the landlord take possession of half, half the bishop; be it a king’s man, be it a thane’s.”[156]

In these laws there is a threefold division of churches. (1) The “old minster,” that is the senior church, which name was anciently given to the monastic or cathedral church. (2) A church with a burial place. (3) A church without a burial place. “The old minster,” says Selden, “was the ancientest church or monastery where he hears God’s service, which I understand not otherwise than of any church or monastery, that is his parish church or monastery. They were in many places the only oratories and auditories that the near inhabitants did their devotions in.”[157]

This is the first English law which expressly appropriates tithes. They were previously appropriated according to custom. In the first mention of tithes which is found in Theodore’s “Penitential,” it is a customary and not a legal appropriation.

CHAPTER IX.
ORIGIN OF OUR MODERN PARISH CHURCHES AND BOUNDARIES.

The church with burial-place, as stated in Art. 2 of King Edgar’s laws, clearly indicates the transition which had been going on from the old minster to the landowner’s church, from which originated our modern parish churches.

There is the old minster or parish church, then the landowner’s church, with burial-place, erected on his private estate for the convenience of his family, tenants, and labourers. This becomes a new parish church within the district of the old minster. Edgar’s laws are the first to mention these churches. But since A.D. 675 chapels of ease had been built, but no district, no parish boundary, was assigned to any of them. The slow and gradual manner in which parochial churches became independent, appears of itself an efficient answer to those who ascribe a great antiquity to the universal payment of tithes.[158]

It is impossible to state precisely when parishes in England were formed. There is no record or evidence to show it. They gradually commenced in the latter quarter of the seventh century and increased very much in the eighth century. It is too late to assign the origin of our modern parish churches to the reign of King Edgar. It would be nearer the truth to say that the modern parish churches gradually grew up from Bede’s account in A.D. 686, but were not then called parishes. It is evident that the two churches recorded by Bede were built for the accommodation of those residing on each of the earls’ estates. So when churches increased, the jurisdiction of the incumbent of each manorial church was limited by the extent of the landowner’s estate. Hence the estate on which the church was built, with burial ground, became the parochial boundary. Some estates were larger than others; hence the parochial areas are very unequal.

The church had a boundary conterminous with the landowner’s estate. And by Edgar’s law the incumbent received one-third of the tithes of the estate on which the church was built, free from all incidental expenses. The old minster received the remaining two-thirds for the purpose of repairing the churches and relieving the poor and strangers.[159] Edgar’s law points out a division of the tithes. But the most important question in reference to Edgar’s appropriation is “Why was one-third specially assigned to the priest of the manorial church?” Because that part was the well-recognised priest’s share of the tithes.

In Domesday we find several churches in possession of only this one-third of the tithes from the manor or township. Let us take the properties of St. Paul’s, London. The Vicar of Cadendon, in Herts, received a third part of the tithe of the demesne; the Vicar of Tillingham, in Essex, assessed at 20 hides in Domesday, had a third part of the great and small tithes of the demesne. The Vicar of Nastock, in Essex, had a third sheaf of the tithe of the demesne; the Vicar of Drayton, in Middlesex, had one-third of the tithe of the demesne; the Vicar of Sutton, which is not in Domesday, had one-third of the tithe. On the other hand, we find vicars on the Chapter estates receiving all the tithes. But the fact existed of Edgar’s one-third appearing in the Domesday Survey, which did not record one-third of the churches which were then on the lands surveyed; and if we had in that survey a complete record of the number of churches, we should find a large number of vicars in receipt of Edgar’s one-third part of the tithes.

We sometimes find the tithes of a portion of land in one parish, paid to the parish priest of the church of another parish, for this detached piece of land may have belonged to the manorial owner, who built the church on his estate and endowed it not only with the tithes of the lands of the manor but also with the tithes of the land which he possessed in other parishes.

The modern parish system has been erroneously traced back by some[160] to Archbishop Honorius in A.D. 630. Mr. Selden refutes this opinion.[161]

“Honorius primus provinciam in parochias divisit,” meant that Honorius was the first to divide his province into bishoprics and not into parishes. The error originated out of a confusion of the original and subsequent meanings of the word “parochia.” Originally, “parochia” meant a diocese and also a parish. But in Edgar’s reign the words “diocese” and “parish” had two distinct and separate meanings. The distinction had not originated in his reign, but previously and gradually. The germ of the modern parish appeared in A.D. 686.[162]

It is important to observe that in speaking of a clergyman’s sphere of duty the word “provincia” and not “parochia” was used; e.g., “Quicunque enim presbiter in propria provincia aut in aliena,” etc.[163]

Selden makes some weighty remarks on Edgar’s law. “But as the first part,” he says, “of his law that gives all tithes to the mother Church of every parish, meant in them a parochial right to incumbent; so also the second part, that permits a third portion of the founder’s tithes to be settled in a church new built, whereto the right of sepulture is annexed, makes a dispensation for a parishioner that would build such a church in his bocland.... I doubt not that such new erections within old parishes bred also new divisions, which afterwards became whole parishes, and by connivance of the time took (for so much as was in the territory of that bocland) the former parochial right that the elder and mother Church was possessed of. For that right of sepulture was, and regularly is, a character of a parish church, and as commonly distinguished from a capella.”[164]

Edgar’s law was of great importance. If it were carried out at the present day, the several daughter Churches which have burial grounds would receive a share of the parochial tithes. These district or daughter Churches relieve the mother or parish Church of a large part of the spiritual duties without receiving any part of the spiritual endowments. At no time was this neglected condition so keenly felt as before the creation of the Ecclesiastical Commission. Some private patrons were, and are still reluctant to divide a portion of the parochial tithes among the incumbents of the daughter Churches. But public patrons do so. At the present time, when some well-endowed parishes become vacant, public patrons and some private patrons also, redistribute the tithe endowments among the poorer incumbents of the same parish. But these commendable changes have been brought about by Acts of Parliament and Orders in Council.

In reference to the one-third to the priest of the manorial church, Bishop Kennett says: “Another fair pretext of the religious to regain appropriations, was to desire no more than two parts of the tithe and profits, leaving a third to the free and quiet enjoyment of the parish priest, whom at the same time they eased from the burthen of repairing the church and relieving the poor, and took that charge upon themselves. This again was a colour that looked well, for it was but a returning to the old institution of dividing the profits of a parish into three parts: one to the priest, one to the church, and a third to the poor. The one-third was called the church’s part, and was expressly excepted as belonging to the priest, and was frequently described as a portion separate from the share of the monks and pertaining to the parish church. It was on this account that the patron’s charter of consenting to an appropriation, did sometimes expressly reserve a third part to the bishop, and for the same reason the bishops of Man had their Tertiana, or third part of all churches, in that island. The bishops provided perpetual vicars, who enjoyed a full third of the tithes, and in addition he had oblations and perquisites, which all made his portion often equal to, if not exceeding that of the convent.”[165] These are the words of a bishop of the Church of England. He fully admits the existence of “the old institution of dividing the profits of a parish into three parts,” etc. This old division was not questioned until fifty-eight years ago by Archdeacon Hale, of London, and recently revived by Lord Selborne. I shall presently deal with the opinions of these two writers.

Bishop Kennett further adds, that although there was a threefold division of tithes and oblations in England, yet the whole product of tithes and offerings was the bank of each parish church, and the minister was the sole trustee and dispenser of them according to the stated rules of piety and charity. This is a most remarkable and vital observation, because in course of time this sole trustee kept all the tithes and oblations to his own personal use, in the same manner as the monks acted in respect to all the profits of the churches appropriated to them after the Norman Conquest.

It may be observed that at one time lay patrons had kept to themselves the two parts for the poor and repairs of the churches, and gave the priest the remaining one-third. This arrangement led to great disorders, because they kept the two parts to their own use and had them infeoffed in them and their heirs, leaving the altarage or small tithes to the parish priest. By conscientious scruples, however, they restored in course of time the two parts to the parochial priests, or religious houses, for distribution to the poor and for repairing the churches.

Canons Enacted under King Edgar.[166]

Canon 55. “And we enjoin that the priest so distribute the people’s alms, that they do both give pleasure to God and accustom the people to alms.”

The following is a gloss on this canon:—“And it is right that one part be delivered to the priest, a second part for the need of the church, and a third part for the poor.”

The text is taken from MS. 201 in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The gloss is taken, by Mr. Thorpe, from a Bodleian MS., Junius 121, fol. 25b, which he calls “X” in a page between his Preface and Table of Contents. He says the Bodleian MS. is of the tenth century. Mr. Thorpe’s commanding position as an Anglo-Saxon scholar is generally admitted; yet Lord Selborne questions his opinion as to the date of the Bodleian MS. He says it must have been written in the eleventh century, and was copied from the Church Grith; thus dating the MS. a century later than Mr. Thorpe.[167] That could not have been, for the Church Grith law deals only with the tithe, but Edgar’s canon deals with all alms, including tithe. And as to the date of the MS., I should prefer the opinion of a disinterested Anglo-Saxon scholar and expert like Mr. Thorpe.

It is probable that the Cambridge MS. is a late copy made in Cnute’s reign, and that the Bodleian MS. was a gloss made in the tenth century on the original copy of the canons. The force of the gloss is that the priest was entitled only to one-third part of the people’s alms, which included the tithe. The Church Grith law deals only with the tithe, of which a third part was the priest’s. The gloss gives the general custom of all the churches of giving the priest only one-third part of all alms, oblations, tithes, etc., and not ALL the alms and oblations in addition to one-third part of the tithes. In principle, the words of the gloss do not differ from the wording of Ethelred’s law.

Canon 56. “And we enjoin that priests sing psalms when they distribute the alms, and that they earnestly desire the poor to pray for the people.” Why pray for the people? Because they gave alms to them.