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]