[Appendix F] contains a summary by counties of the rent charges of England and Wales, taken from the return of 1887.
[Appendix G] is an analysis of the Tithe Commutation Return as regards (1) the number of old parishes; (2) parishes appropriated and their vicars; (3) parishes which had not been appropriated. Nearly one-half (or 3,864) in England were appropriated. It was worse in Wales, for of 834 old parishes, 468 were appropriated. When we add the sinecure rectories, pluralities and non-residence of incumbents, we can form a correct conclusion as regards the cause of the present position of the Church of England in Wales.
In addition to the above, I have also given the number of parishes in receipt of lands and money payments in lieu of tithes by numerous Inclosure Acts.
But the most important statistics are given at [page 257] as regards the gross aggregate amount of the “Revenues of the Church of England.” Hitherto, very small and misleading amounts of these revenues have been given. But the Parliamentary Return, made up in the office of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and just published, has now given the public, for the first time, a generally correct idea of the gross annual amount, from permanent sources, of these revenues, and also the number of benefices and parsonage houses with their rateable value, which is much less than their actual value.
The Return is defective; (1) because it is framed on values in 1886, and (2) it omits the large fluctuating income—about a million a year—from fees, pew-rents, and Easter offerings. Correctly, the gross income in 1890, was £6,825,730. But the permanent income capitalized equals £140,000,000.
My best thanks are due to Walter de Gray Birch, Esq., of the MSS. Department of the British Museum, for his kind assistance and courtesy; also to the officials connected with the Library.
Henry William Clarke.
CONTENTS.
| Introduction, [pages xvii.-xxiv.] | |
| Difficulties in writing a true history of tithes, [xvii]. No tithes paid forcenturies after the Christian Era, [xviii]. Canons passed for their payment, [xviii].Papal interference in the British Church, [xix]. Custom of paying tithes ineighth century, [xix]. Population of England then, [xx]. Norman monksinitiated appropriations, [xx]. Infeudations condemned by Lateran Councils,[xx]. Monastic lands granted by Henry VIII. and his children, [xxi]. Changesmade by Ecclesiastical Commission, [xxi]., [xxii]. No physical transfer of Endowmentsat the Reformation, [xxiii]. Present trustees of Church Endowmentshave only a Parliamentary Title, [xxiii]. A Roman Catholic Bishop’s views onpresent movements in Church of England, [xxiii]., [xxiv]. | |
| CHAPTER I. Before the Christian Era, [pages 1-3]. | |
| Abraham the first recorded payer of tithes, [1]. Old Testament passages forpayment of tithes, [1]. When tithes ceased to be paid by Jews, [2]. Heathennations paid tithes, [2]. Story about Adam having paid tithes, [3]. | |
| CHAPTER II. From the Christian Era to the Council of Masçon, [pages 4-12]. | |
| Maintenance of ministers in Apostolic times, [4], [7]. Alleged “ApostolicConstitutions,” by Pope Clement I., [5]. Anglican divines supporting claim totithes on such constitutions, [6]. Emperor Constantine’s edict, [7]. Divisions ofofferings and oblations, [7]. Are Christians justified in adopting the MosaicLaw for the payment of tithes? [7], [8]. Tithes first given as voluntary offerings,as alms, [8]. Fiction and facts mixed in “Englishman’s Brief,” [9]. Earliestsupposed council which ordained payment of tithes, [10]. Spurious, [10]. | |
| CHAPTER III. The Roman Mission to England, [pages 13-19]. | |
| Landing of Augustine in England, [13]. Cordial reception by King of Kent,[17]. Christianity established in his kingdom, [14]. Creation of Archbishopricof Canterbury, and Bishoprics of London and Rochester, [15]. Augustine’squestions to Pope Gregory and his reply, [16], [17]. How Bishops and theirClergy were at first maintained in England, [17]. Brewer’s and Dibdin’s translationof “portiones,” [17]. Quadripartite division, [17]. Blackstone’s opinion,[18]. Bishops’ churches, and chapels of ease, [18]. Did Augustine preach paymentof tithes? [19]. King Ethelbert’s grant of tithes a fiction, [19]. Fuller’smisleading statements in “Our Title Deeds,” [19]. | |
| CHAPTER IV. The First Documentary Statement of Tithes in England, [pages 20-28]. | |
| Theodore’s “Penitential,” by “Discipulus Umbrensium,” [20]. Its genuineness,[20]. Bede’s silence about it, [21]. Bede in evidence as to the commonlaw right of the poor to a share of the tithes, [21]. Landowners’ churches,their origin, [23], [24]. The parish bank, [24]. Edgar’s law of giving one-thirdof tithes to Manorial Church, [26]. Domesday’s testimony as to the one-third,[26]. Mother churches had remaining two-thirds, [26]. Church seats free, [27].No pew rents, [27]. Tithes first voluntary, afterwards compulsory, [28]. The“Confessional” and its power to get tithes, [28]. | |
| CHAPTER V. Archbishop Egbert’s Works, [pages 29-32]. | |
| His “Penitential,” [29]. His “Confessional” and “Excerptions,” [29]. The“Excerptions” not Egbert’s, [30]. Effect of this on Roman Catholic Church,[30]. Selden’s opinions on the “Excerptions,” [30-32]. | |
| CHAPTER VI. The First Public Lay Law for the Payment of Tithes, [pages 33-52]. | |
| Law of A.D. 779, by King of France, [34]. Milman’s observations on theworking of this law, [34], [35]. Quarrel between Augustine and the BritishBishops, [35], [36]. Gloomy aspect of Roman mission, [36]. Arbitrary assumptionof Papal authority over Anglo-Saxon Church, [37]. King Oswy’s decisionabout keeping Easter, [37], [38], [39]. How Theodore was appointed Archbishop,[39]. The Pope’s supremacy over Church of England dates from A.D. 668, p. [40].Early instance of endowed bishops neglecting their flocks, [40]. King Offa andPope Adrian I., [40], [41]. Lichfield an Archbishopric, [41]. First legatinecouncil in England, A.D. 787, p. [42]. Councils at Colchyth (Chelsea) and inNorthumbria, [43]. Twenty injunctions passed, [43]. The 17th referred to thepayment of tithes, [44]. Selden’s opinions on these injunctions, [43]. Firstsupposed civil law in England for payment of tithes, [44]. Opinions of LordSelborne, Bishop Stubbs, and Selden on 17th injunction, [45]. Offa’s supposedlaw of tithes in A.D. 794, p. [47]. Dean Prideaux’s opinion on it, andwrong quotations, [47], [48]. Lord Selborne and Kemble on Bromton, [49].Who was Polydore Vergil? [48], [49]. First mention of tithes in Englishwritings, [51]. Position of the Christian poor, [51]. | |
| CHAPTER VII. King Ethelwulf’s Alleged Grant of Tithes, [pages 53-66]. | |
| Dean Prideaux on this grant and on Selden’s “History of Tithes,” [53].Selden’s erroneous view on this grant, [53]. Opinions of Saxon Chroniclers onit, [54]. Folcland and Bocland defined, [56], [57]. Kemble’s six canons to testgenuineness of charters, [59]. Ethelwulf’s charters thus tested, [59], [60]. TheMalmesbury Cartulary, [60]. Ethelwulf’s second charter of grants, [62]. Kemble’sopinion on Ethelwulf’s first and second grants, [64], [65]. Charter C, anabridgment of William of Malmesbury’s charter, [65]. Selden’s conclusion onEthelwulf’s charter, [65], [66]. | |
| CHAPTER VIII. Tithe Laws Made by Anglo-Saxon Kings, [pages 67-80]. | |
| Lord Selborne’s denial that tithes are referred to in the laws of Alfred, [68].Fuller’s errors about the tithe laws of King of Kent, [68]. Edward and GuthrumII. passed a tithe law, [69]. Athelstan’s law on tithes, [70]. This is thefirst general law in England for payment of predial and mixed tithes, [71].Opinion of Lord Selborne and Dr. Lingard on Athelstan’s law, [71]. Kemble,Stubbs, and Prideaux express a contrary opinion, and Mr. Thorpe by implication,[71], [72]. What constituted a Witenagemót? [73]. Kentishmen’s letter toKing Athelstan, [75]. Lingard and Freeman on this letter, [75]. Definition oftithe, [76]. Tithe laws of King Edmund, [77]. Church-scot, [78]. King Edgar’slaws, [79]. Threefold division of churches, [80]. First English law expressly appropriatingtithes, [80]. | |
| CHAPTER IX. Origin of our Modern Parish Churches and Boundaries, [pages 81-93]. | |
| The old minster, [81]. Chapels of ease, [81]. Landlords’ churches, [81].Church boundaries conterminous with landowners’ estates, [82]. ManorialChurches in Domesday with one-third of tithes, [82]. Errors created by confoundingoriginal meaning of “parochia,” with subsequent meaning, [83]. Seldenon Edgar’s law, [84]. Bishop Kennett on Manorial Churches, [85]. The parishbank, [83]. Lay patrons had taken two-thirds of tithes for poor and repairingChurches, [86]. Edgar’s canons and gloss to same, [86], [87]. Origin of hiscanons, [88]. Population of England in Anglo-Saxon times, [91]. Populationwhen tithes were first given, [92]. Populations in A.D. 787, A.D. 927, and A.D.960, respectively, [92], [93]. Number of Bishops in England in A.D. 705, p. [93].Number at Conquest, [93]. | |
| CHAPTER X. The Laws of Ethelred II., [pages 94-124]. | |
| His nine laws, by Thorpe, [94], [95]. Church Grith law, A.D. 1014, p. [95].Art. 6 enacts the tripartite division of tithes, [95]. Bishop Stubbs’s views in hishistory on the tripartite division, [96], [97]. His views in private letters, [97].Origin of Sir Robert Cotton’s library, [98]. His death, [100]. Catalogue oflibrary, [100]. First printed catalogue, [100]. Library vested in trustees, [100].Second catalogue, [100]. History of the “Worcester” volume, Nero, A. 1,p. [101]. Lord Selborne’s object is to upset the Act of A.D. 1014, pp. [101],[102]. Selden and Spelman never saw the Church Grith law, [103], [104]. Lambarde,Wheelock, and John Johnson, never saw it, [104]. Thorpe’s opinion ofWilkins’s “Concilia,” [106]. Price’s evidence is worthless, [107], [108]. Freeman’shistory, like Stubbs’s, is in favour of the genuineness of Church Grithlaw, but contradicts himself in his private letters on same subject, [108], [109],[110], [111]. Old Latin Translators of the Anglo-Saxon laws omit fifteen Anglo-Saxonlaws, [112]. Dr. Lingard accepts this law as genuine, [116]. Contentsof Worcester volume, Nero, A. 1 stated, [117]. Brewer, supported, but Dibdendenies, the tripartite division, [119], [120]. Mr. Thorpe in favour of thegenuineness of this law, [121]. Canute’s laws in three branches, [121]. Hemodelled his laws on Edgar’s and Ethelred’s, [121]. Thirty-six of the forty-fourarticles in the Church Grith law are incorporated in Canute’s, [121]. HowLord Selborne disposes of the other eight, [121]. When Poor Law Act waspassed, why did not Parliament claim a portion of the tithe for the poor?This is answered, [123]. | |
| CHAPTER XI. The First Poor Law Act, [pages 125-132]. | |
| First Poor Law Act, [125]. Total annual revenue of all the monastic estates,[125]. Cromwell’s advice to the King, among whom to divide the monasticproperties, [121]. Owners of monastic lands to maintain hospitality, [126].Blackstone on the support of the poor prior to 27 Henry VIII., [127].Blackstone quotes the “Mirror” in support of the common law claim of thepoor to a part of the tithes, [127]. Lord Selborne’s argument answered, thatthe part allotted to the poor out of tithes would now be insufficient for theirmaintenance, [127]. Sir Simon Degge says: “The poor have a share in thetithes.” Lord Selborne’s criticism on this statement, [129]. Who AnthonyHarmer was, [129]. Sir Simon Degge’s legal position and antecedents, [130].Lord Selborne quotes from a garbled edition of the “Parson’s Counsellor,”[130], [131]. The Acts which gave poor a portion of the tithes, [131]. Elizabeth’sAct, [131]. How rectors closed upon all the tithes, [132]. | |
| CHAPTER XII. Canons for Payment of Tithes, [pages 133-145]. | |
| Pope Alexander III.’s influence over English bishops to induce the peopleto pay the tithes, [133]. Provincial Synod held in 1175 at Westminster, [133].A similar synod in North of England in 1195 for the payment of tithes, [133].The most important English canon for the payment of tithes, 1295 (23 Ed. I.),[134]. Personal tithes by this canon, [134]. Mortuary fees the origin of burialfees, [135]. 2 and 3 Edw. VI., c. 13, modified personal tithes, [135]. Timbertithable by canon in 1344, p. [135]. Canon of 1344 led to bitter strife, [136].First victory of the young House of Commons as regards tithes, [136]. Statuteof Mortmain, [136]. How evaded by the monks, [137]. Act of 1531 againstland being willed to religious houses for more than 21 years, [137]. Action ofHouse of Commons against canons for the payment of tithes without theassent of Commons, [137]. Some views in the “Brief” combated. Church ofEngland holds her endowments by a Parliamentary title, [140]. Amountreceived by parochial incumbents from the Common Fund, [141]. Four-fifthsof the Common Fund has come from national properly granted to the Church,[142]. From A.D. 1215, appropriating parochial tithes to monasteries abolished,[144]. Three objects of original donors of Church endowments, [144]. Dr.Howley, of Canterbury and Dr. Sumner, of Winchester at loggerheads in the“Lords,” [144]. | |
| CHAPTER XIII. Appropriation of Tithes to Monasteries, [pages 146-158]. | |
| Impetus to the building of monasteries, [146]. Lay-owners arbitrarily appropriatedtheir tithes and churches to whom they wished, [147]. The monksinitiated the practice of appropriating parochial tithes, [146]. Bishops, chapters,and nuns followed their example, [147]. Form of conveyance used, [147]. Theincumbent not originally a freeholder proved from one of the Acts of ThirdLateran Council, A.D. 1180, p. [148]. This Council gave a death-blow toarbitrary lay appropriations, [148]. Its decrees opposed by English lay-owners,[148]. A national assembly at Westminster, A.D. 1125, condemned lay appropriations,[149]. They gradually ceased in the reigns of Richard I. and John,[149]. Fourth Lateran Council, A.D. 1215, gave parsons the parochial rightsto tithes for the future, [150]. Monasteries and chapters had to show their titleto tithes by grants or by prescriptions, [151]. Monastic tithes were of twokinds, [151]. 15 Richard II., c. 6 (1391), provides for the poor and the vicar,[153]. Lord Selborne on this Act, [153]. His remarks open to grave objections,[154]. This Act failed, [154]. So the Act 4 Henry IV., c. 12 (1403), was passed,[154]. Vicar perpetual endowed by the bishop and not the monastery, [154].His three functions, [155]. He was to provide for the poor out of his endowments,[155]. A list of the small tithes given to vicars, [155]. Various changesin shifting the persons who were to repair churches, [156].Archbishop Stratford’s 4th canon made in a provincial council, A.D. 1342,for the maintenance of the poor, [157]. The poor had a claim on the tithes fromthis canon and the Act of 1391, p. [157]. The Act of 1403 gives the vicar apermanent position, [158], [159]. | |
| CHAPTER XIV. Infeudations—Exemptions from Payment of Tithes, [pages 159-162]. | |
| Infeudations defined, [159]. Third Lateran Council first forbid them, [159].Lay impropriations commenced after the dissolution of monasteries, [159]. Thevalue of this property then and now, [159]. The present position of owners ofmonastic estates, [159], [160]. The four privileged orders paid no tithes, [161].Purchasing bills of exemption put a stop to by 2 Henry IV., c. 4 (1400), p.[161]. The Statute of Premunire, 16 Rich. II., c. 5 (1393), pp. [161], [162].Such lands still exempt by 31 Henry VIII., c. 13, p. [162]. | |
| CHAPTER XV. Monasteries, [pages 163-176]. | |
| A sketch of the origin and progress of monasteries in England, [163]. Danesdestroyed the monasteries, [164]. This gave an impetus to building manorialchurches, [165]. King Edgar rebuilt them, [165]. His leading church ideas,[165], [166]. The English monks passed through three reformations, [166]. TheNorman bishops divided the properties of the cathedral church, [168]. Tableshowing the monasteries built from William I. to Henry VI., [169]. Alienmonasteries, [170]. Main indications of a religious revolutionary wave passingover England, [170]. The preaching of Franciscans, Dominicans, and JohnWickliffe that tithes were only alms, [170-172]. Wickliffe’s opinions pronouncedheretical, [171]. Cathedral Act of 1840 [3 & 4 Vict., c. 113] passed tosweep away Church abuses, [172]. Beneficial effect of the Act, [173]. Theobject of owners in appropriating tithes to monasteries, [175]. Charter of theEarl of Chester to the Monastery of Chester, [176]. | |
| CHAPTER XVI. Dissolution of Monasteries, [pages 177-185]. | |
| Eight cases to guide Henry VIII. in dissolving monasteries, [177]. Hisown action in dissolving them, [179]. Most objectionable appointments tocollege livings, [178]. Henry VIII. made “Supreme head of the Church ofEngland,” [179]. Political expediency swept away the monasteries, [180].Monasteries with less than £200 a year dissolved by 27 Henry VIII., c. 28,p. [180]. Property obtained £32,000 per annum, and personal effects£100,000, p. [180]. The conditions upon which Parliament granted HenryVIII., and by him to others, such vast estates, [180]. He created six newbishoprics; he intended to create twenty-one, [181]. The manors and palacessurrendered by Cranmer to the King, [182]. The Act 1 Eliz., c. 19, p. [183].Houses dissolved by 31 Henry VIII., c. 13, p. [183]. Three abbots executed,[184]. Over 653 monasteries dissolved, [184]. In 1546, 90 colleges, 110 hospitals,and 2,347 chantries suppressed by 1 Edward VI., c. 14, p. [185]. Thepreamble ran, “For erecting grammar schools, augmenting universities, and abetter provision for the poor and needy.” This object completely failed, [185].An Act in Henry VIII.’s reign for payment of tithes, [185]. Lands exemptfrom paying, [185]. | |
| CHAPTER XVII. Tithes in the City and Liberties of London, [pages 186-200]. | |
| How the London citizens, in early times, supported their clergy andchurches, [186]. Bishop Rogers’ Constitution, [186]. Archbishop Arundel’sadditional elevenpenny tax, [187]. Constant quarrels by the citizens with theclergy about this extra charge, [187]. In 1403 the Pope sided against the citizensand for the 11d., yet they considered it a cheat and fraud, [187]. By 27Henry VIII., c. 21, the citizens were to pay their tithes at 2s. 9d. in the pound,[188]. Another change in the payment by 37 Henry VIII., c. 12, p. [188]. TheFire Act of 1670 (22 & 23 Charles II., c. 15) regulating payments in lieu oftithes to 86 parishes, [188], [189]. These annual payments increased by 44 Geo.III., c. 89 (1804), [190]. Name of each church given, with the amount paid in1670, 1804 and 1890 to each, 190-192. Churches consolidated in the cityand liberties, [192]. Amounts paid to other churches not included in the FireAct, [194-200]. | |
| CHAPTER XVIII. The Commutation Act of 1836, [pages 201-215]. | |
| Tithe a tax on industry, [201]. Paley’s and Adam Smith’s views on tithes,[201]. Lord Althorp failed to solve the tithe problem, [202]. Sir R. Peel’sscheme, [202]. Lord Russell’s Commutation Bill, [202], [203]. The principle ofthe Commutation Act, [203]. Lord Russell said, “Tithes were the property ofthe nation,” [203]. Formula for finding the tithe-rent charge for any year,[204]. The wording of the 80th section, by which the landlord is to pay thetithe, [204], [205]. But generally the tenant contracted himself out of this section,[205]. The injustice of tithe-rent charges on one kind of property, [206]. A re-valuationwould be unjust and impracticable, [207], [208]. The repeal of theCorn Laws an injustice to the tithe-owners, [208]. Difference in amount betweentithe and tithe-rent charge, [207]. | |
| Redemption of Tithe-rent Charges. The difficulty in dealing with this question,[209]. Everything turns on the word “value,” [209]. Are we to startfrom “par value” or “current value?” [209]. £100 commuted value shouldnot be sold for less than £2,000, and reasons given, [210]. Gross value of thetithe-rent charge of England and Wales, [210]. | |
| Extraordinary Tithe-rent Charge. The Middlesex market-gardeners influencedLord Russell to introduce the above in his Bill, [211]. The tax isagainst the principle of the Commutation Act, [211]. Duty on hops repealedin 1862, p. [213]. Market Gardens Act of 1873 and its origin, [213]. The Actof 1886, no new extraordinary charge to be made, [213]. And to redeem suchcharges that were made under previous Acts, [213]. An annual rent-chargefree from rates on the redemption money in lieu of the extraordinary charge,[213], [214]. | |
| CHAPTER XIX. Tithes of Church in Wales, [pages 216-224]. | |
| The gross commuted value of the Tithes in the four Welsh dioceses in1836, p. [216]. The same in 1890, p. [217]. The clerical appropriations inBangor, Llandaff, St. Asaph and St. David’s, [217-221]. The Vicars-choralof St. Asaph, [219]. The amount of tithe-rent charge in possession of theEcclesiastical Commissioners in each of the thirteen counties in 1890, p.[223]. Amount still outstanding on leases, p. [223]. The annual payments ofthe Common Fund to the Welsh bishops, chapters, Archdeacon Lampeter, andparochial incumbents, p. [223]. The net income derived from Wales, [224]. Thetotal gross revenues of the four Welsh dioceses from all sources, [224].Population of Church people and of Dissenters in the four dioceses, [224]. | |
| CHAPTER XX. Tithe Act, 1891, [pages 225-242]. | |
| 1. Liability of owner to pay tithe-rent charge, [226]. 2. Recovery of tithe-rentcharge through county court, [227]. 3. Rules, [229]. 4. Lands occupiedrent free, [230]. 5. Restrictions as to costs, [231]. 6. Rating of owner of tithe-rentcharge, [231]. 7. Power of appeal, [232]. 8. Remission of tithe-rentcharge when exceeding two-thirds annual value of land, [233]. 9. Definitions,[235]. 10. Commencement and application of Act, [236]. 11. Repeal, [237].12. Extent of Act and short title, [237]. 13. Schedule of fees, [238]. | |
| Remarks upon the Act. | |
| One of the main objects in passing this Act, [238]. County court, a newmachine, removing friction between tithe-owner and tithe-payer, [239]. Thetithe-payer cannot be imprisoned for non-payment, [240]. Provision madeto prevent collision between landowner and tithe-payer, [240]. Section 4upsets the main principle of the Act. [241]. The tithe-owner must pay allrates, etc., [241]. The Relief clause quite a misnomer, [242]. | |
| Appendices, [pages 243-258]. | |
| Tithe-rent charges in 1836 of— | |
| A. | Archbishops and Bishops, [243]. |
| B. | Chapters, [244]. |
| C. | Separate estates of Deans, Precentors, Chancellors, Treasurers, andPrebendaries, Vicars Choral and Archdeacons, [245], [246]. |
| Summary of A, B, and C, [246]. | |
| D. | Universities, public schools, hospitals, charities, etc., [247], [248]. |
| Summary of D, [248]. | |
| Beneficial operations of the Ecclesiastical Commission, [249], [250]. | |
| Unsatisfactory results of extension of Local Claims in the Act, 1860,[250], [251]. | |
| E. | Septennial averages of wheat, barley, and oats for 55 years, ending1890, p. [252]. |
| F. | Summary by Counties of Tithe-rent charge in England and Wales, [253]. |
| G. | Analysis of F, showing the number of old parishes, and the numberappropriated to monasteries, etc., [254], [255]. |
| Explanation of this Analysis, [255], [256]. | |
| H. | Lands and money payments made in lieu of tithes by the InclosureActs, [257]. |
| I. | Gross annual amount of Church Revenues, and number of Beneficesand Parsonage Houses, [258]. |
| Index, [pages 259-268]. | |