[997]. Cod. Dipl. No. 433.
[998]. Hardly the repairs of the church, which were thus to be attended to yearly; although in religious as in secular tenures, there can be no doubt that the tenant was liable to be called upon to assist in the repairs of the lord’s buildings. The distinction between “ðæt óðer folc,” that is the other tenants, and “eal folc,” that is everybody throughout the realm, is clear.
[999]. “And eác ǽlce geare fultumien tó ðǽre cyrican bote ðe ðet land tó hyrð be ðém dæle ðe ðet óðer folc dó ǽlc be his landes meðe and ða cyricsceáttes mid rihte ágyfe and fyrde and brycge and festergeweorc hewe swá mon ofer eall folc dó.” Cod. Dipl. No. 1079.
[1000]. Cod. Dipl. No. 1086.
[1001]. See vol. i. p. 518. App. E.
[1002]. Cod. Dipl. No. 1062.
[1003]. Deut. xviii. 4.
[1004]. Leg. Eádm. i. § 2. Thorpe, i. 244. The earlier notices are Leg. Ini, § 4, 61. Æðelst. i. Thorpe, i. 104, 140, 196. But these are not at all conclusive, and would be equally applicable to the case of the liability to this impost being confined to the tenants of the church. Ini’s law only regulates the time at which the impost is to be paid, and the particular estate from which it is due. Æðelstán confines himself to commanding that his officers shall see the cyricsceat paid at the proper times and to the proper places.
[1005]. “Churchesed certam mensuram bladi tritici signat, quam quilibet olim sanctae Ecclesiae die sancti Martini, tempore tam Britonum quam Anglorum, contribuerunt. Plures tamen magnates post Normannorum adventum in Angliam, illam contributionem secundum veterem legem Moysi, nomine Primitiarum dabant; prout in brevi regis Knuti ad summum Pontificem transmisso continetur, in quibus illam contributionem appellant Churchsed, quasi semen ecclesiae.” Fleta, i. 47, § 28. “Chichesed, al. chircheomer, al. chircheambre:—un certein de blé batu ke checun home devoit au tens de Bretuns e de engleis a le eglise le iur seint Martin mes pus le venue de Normans si le priserent a lur vs plusur seinourages, e le donerunt solum la veile lei Moysi, et nomine primiciarum sicum lem troue en le lettres cnikt ke il envea a rome, e est dit chirchesed quasi semen ecclesiae.” MS. Soc. Ant. lx. fol. 228, b. This writ of Cnut to the Pope is not known to me, but we have a letter addressed by him to his Witan from Rome, to which Fleta probably alludes. “Nunc igitur præcipio et obtestor omnes meos episcopos et regni praepositos, per fidem quam Deo et mihi debetis, quatenus faciatis, ut antequam ego Angliam veniam, omnia debita, quae Deo secundum legem antiquam debemus, sint soluta, scilicet eleemosynae pro aratris, et decimae animalium ipsius anni procreatorum, et denarii quos Romae ad sanctum Petrum debemus, sive ex urbibus sive ex villis, et mediante Augusto decimae frugum, et in festivitate sancti Martini primitiae seminum ad ecclesiam sub cuius parochia quisque est, quae Anglice Circesceat nominantur.” Flor. Wigorn. ad. an. 1031.
[1006]. The estate of Chilcombe alone, belonging to Winchester, is reckoned at one hundred hides, or at least three thousand acres, which they succeeded in getting rated to the public burthens at one hide only. Cod. Dipl. No. 642. But the whole of their estates in Hampshire appear from the same document to have comprised no less than five hundred and seventy-eight hides, which at my very low estimate of the hide amount to seventeen thousand, three hundred and forty acres,—a very pretty provision for one Chapter. The amount of lands and chattels devised by various prelates almost exceeds belief.