the means provided for the support of the clergy were various at various periods, consisting sometimes merely of voluntary donations on the part of the people, sometimes of grants of lands, or settled endowments, and sometimes of fixed charges upon persons and property, recognized by the state and levied under its authority: and after the secure establishment of a christian church in britain, it is probable that all these several sources of income were combined to supply its ministers with a decent maintenance, if not even an easy competence. the grant of lands whereon to erect a church or a monastery was generally calculated also to furnish arable and pasture for the support of its inmates: for the earliest clergy were in fact cœnobites, and lived in common, even if they were not monks, and subject to the benedictine or some other rule. it is not at all probable that the heathen priesthood should have been without an adequate provision, whether in land or the free oblations of the people, and very likely that their christian successors profited by the custom. as the piety or superstition of the masses increased the landed possessions of the clergy, these not only could depend upon the
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produce of their estates, but upon the rents in kind, in money or in service, which they received from tenants or poor dependents. and from early periods, either custom or positive law had established a right to claim certain contributions at fixed periods of the year, or on particular occasions; such were tithes of fruits of the earth, and young of cattle; cyricsceat or first-fruits of seed, light-money, plough-alms, and sáwlsceat or mortuary fees. the numberless grants of lands recorded in the codex diplomaticus in favour of the clergy, dispense with the necessity of entering at any length upon this head; but some more detailed examination of the other church-dues is desirable, inasmuch as they have been in some degree misunderstood by several writers who have heretofore treated of them. in truth, it was comparatively difficult to deal with these subjects, till the publication of all the anglosaxon laws and a very large body of the charters so greatly increased the number of data upon which alone sound conclusions could be formed.
the subject of tithe is surrounded with difficulty, not only from the obscurity which belongs to its history, but still more from the nature of the discussions to which it has given rise. that from periods so early as to transcend historical record the clergy should have been permitted universally to claim a tenth of all increase, does indeed seem so startling a proposition, that we are little surprised at its having met with angry opposition. it does not seem consonant to the general experience of man that in all nations precisely the same mode
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should be adopted of supporting any class of men; nor is it natural or easy to believe that a missionary body, in constant danger of finding all their efforts vain, should prevail at once to establish so serious a claim against the income of their converts.
still there are various circumstances which tend to explain this process and show how a general consent upon this subject did gradually prevail. from the first moment when the clergy appear as a separate class from the whole body of the faithful, they appear as a body formed upon the plan and guided by the maxims of the jewish hierarchy. while the church was literally performing the command of the saviour,—when those who had anything, sold all they had and gave it to the poor, through the hands of the apostles,—there was no particular necessity to define very closely the functions or the remuneration of the ministers; these gave their services as others did their wealth, as an acceptable sacrifice to the giver of all good things. but when the number of the congregations increased, when compromises were made, and more complicated duties were imposed upon the ministers of the church, it was only reasonable that some arrangement should be made for their support, and some rule imposed for their direction. it was not too much to require that they should devote their whole time and talents to the service of the congregation, and that these in turn should relieve them from the necessity of daily labour for subsistence. when the duty of teaching, as well as visiting the sick, distributing the alms of the faithful,
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and providing for the due celebration of the religious rites, principally devolved upon them, it would have been as impolitic as unjust to have condemned them to uncertainty or anxiety as to their daily bread. at a very early period the voluntary oblations of the faithful were duly apportioned, and a part devoted to the support of the clergy. but no one, i imagine, will consider this to be a perfectly satisfactory mode of providing for the ministers of the church: its inconveniences are daily manifested in our own time, and would now probably not be submitted to at all, had opposition not lent a dignity to the principle, and did the case present any but the actual alternative. it nevertheless seems that for nearly four hundred years this was the only mode of providing not only for the maintenance of the clergy, but for the acts of charity which the christian congregations considered their especial duty[973]; although perhaps here and there
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the wealthier or more pious communicants might have charged their estates with settled payments at
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fixed times; or the liberality of individuals might have presented estates to the church of particular
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districts; or some imperfect system of funding might have been adopted by the managers to equalise the otherwise irregular income of various years.
the growing habit of looking upon the clergy as the successors and representatives of the levites under the old law, may very likely have given the impulse to that claim which they set up to the payment of tithes by the laity. but it is also probable that in course of time tithes had actually been given to them among other oblations, and had so helped to strengthen the application of the levitical law by an apparent legal prescription. there is not the least reason to doubt that payments of a tenth had been in very common use before the introduction of christianity, and among people who have a decimal system of notation, a tenth is not an unlikely portion to be claimed as a royalty, a recognitory service, or a rent. the emperors had royalties of a tenth in mines: the landlords very frequently reserved a tenth in lands which they put out on usufructuary tenure. these rents and royalties, like other property, had been granted to the church. again the piety of the laity had occasionally remitted the tenths due upon
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the lands in the holding of the clergy, which was in fact equivalent to a grant of the tithe[974]. and lastly tithe being paid on some estates to the clergy as landlords, there was a useful analogy, and colourable claim of right: and thus sufficient authority was found in custom itself to corroborate pretensions set up on grounds which could not be very satisfactorily or safely demurred to, in the fourth and fifth centuries.
but there is not the slightest proof that tithe of increase was demanded as of right even in the fifth century, in all the churches; although a growing tendency in that direction may be detected in the african and the western establishments. nor does any general council exist containing any regulation on the subject[975], till far later periods. but in 567 the clergy at the synod of tours for the first time positively called upon the faithful to pay tithes[976], and eighteen years later at the council of macon,
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the command was enforced, as a return to a just and goodly custom which had fallen into desuetude, but which had the sanction of “the divine law, specially taking care of the interests of priests and ministers of churches.” the daringly false assertions by which this usurpation was attempted to be justified are recorded in the annexed note, if indeed the acts of this council are genuine[977]: i have only to add that they were subscribed by forty-six bishops, and the representatives of twenty more,—making
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a total of sixty-six prelates, a number quite sufficient in the year 585 to gain currency for any fabrication however impudent. the clergy however still thundered in vain; nor was it till 779 that they succeeded in getting legislative and state authority for their claim through the political interests of the frankish princes. the capitulary of that year enacts that every one shall give tithes, and that these shall be distributed by the direction of the bishop[978].
ten years after the council of macon had thus boldly announced its views with regard to tithe, augustine set out for england.
the question as to the origin of tithes in england, as to its date, and the authority on which the impost rested, has been much discussed, but not altogether satisfactorily. nevertheless when divested of the extraneous difficulties with which polemical zeal, and selfish class-interests have overwhelmed it, it does not seem incapable of a reasonable solution. it is well known that the earliest legislative enactment on the subject in the anglosaxon laws is that of æðelstán, bearing date in the first quarter of the tenth century; and that nearly every subsequent king recognized the right of the clergy to tithe, and made regulations either for the levying or the distribution of it[979]. but although this is the case, i entertain no doubt whatever that the payment of tithe was become very general in england at an earlier period. it is recognised in
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the articles of the treaty of peace between eádweard the elder and guðorm, in a.d. 900 or 901, in such a way as to assume its being a well-known and established due to the church[980], even though no legislative enactment on the subject can be shown in the codes of ælfred, ini or the kentish kings[981]. the well-known tradition of æðelwulf’s granting tithe, throughout at least his kingdom of wessex, carries it back still half a century. but even this falls short of the antiquity which we must assume for the custom, if we believe in the genuineness of the ancient poenitentials and confessionals. in the eighth century theodore determines, in a work especially intended for the instruction of the clergy, “tributum aecclesiae sit, sicut est consuetudo provinciae, id est, ne tantum pauperes in decimis, aut in aliquibus rebus vim patiantur. decimas non est legitimum dare, nisi pauperibus et peregrinis[982].”
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the excerptions of archbishop ecgberht[983] contain a prohibition against subtracting tithes from churches of old foundation, on pretence of giving them to new oratories. and further, the following exhortation respecting this payment[984]: “in lege domini scriptum est: ‘decimas et primitias non tardabis offerre.’ et in levitico: ‘omnes decimae terrae, sive de frugibus, sive de pomis arborum, domini sunt; boves, et oves, et caprae, quae sub pastoris virga transeunt, quicquid decimum venerit, sanctificabitur domino.’ non eligetur nec bonum nec malum, nec alterum commutabitur. augustinus dicit: decimae igitur tributae sunt aecclesiarum et egentium animarum. o homo, inde dominus decimas expetit, unde vivis. de militia, de negotio, de artificio redde decimas; non enim eget dominus noster, non proemia postulat, sed honorem.” the same ancient authority thus also impresses upon priests the duty of collecting and distributing the tithe[985]:—“ut unusquisque sacerdos cunctos sibi pertinentes erudiat, ut sciant qualiter decimas totius facultatis aecclesiis divinis debite offerant. ut ipsi sacerdotes a populis suscipiant decimas, et nomina eorum quicumque dederint scripta habeant, et secundum auctoritatem canonicam coram [deum] timentibus dividant; et ad ornamentum aecclesiae primam eligant partem; secundam autem, ad usum pauperum atque peregrinorum, per eorum manus misericorditer cum
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omni humilitate dispensent; tertiam vero sibimetipsis sacerdotes reservent[986].”
when we consider the growing tendency in the clergy to make payment of tithe compulsory, the repeated exhortations of provincial synods to that
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effect, and the universal ignorance of the people, we shall have little difficulty in acknowledging that the english prelates laid a good foundation for the custom of tithing, long before they succeeded in obtaining any legal right from the state. in the course of three centuries which preceded eádweard’s reign they had ample time and opportunity to threaten or cajole a simple-minded race into the belief that they had a right to impose the levitical obligations upon them: in the seventh century boniface testifies to the payment of tithe in england, nearly a century before the state enacted it in germany: about the same period cædwealha of wessex, though yet nominally a pagan, tithed his spoils taken in war; and i have little doubt that at least prædial tithe was almost universally levied long before the witena gemót made it a legal charge, though i cannot concur with phillips in believing that it was so decreed by offa, or confirmed by æðelwulf[987], for the whole kingdoms of mercia and wessex.
we will now return to æðelwulf’s so-called grant, in which many of our lawyers and historians have been content to see the legal origin of tithing in this country[988]; but which i must confess appears to me to have nothing to do with tithing whatever, in the legal sense of the word. the reports of the later chroniclers need not be taken into account;
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we may confine ourselves to the early and trustworthy sources, whose assertions we are quite as likely to make proper use of as the compilers of the fourteenth century.
under date of the year 855, the saxon chronicle says. “this same year, æðelwulf booked the tenth part of his land throughout his realm, for god’s glory and his own salvation.” asser, who was no question well acquainted with the traditions of æðelwulf’s house, varies the statement: “eodem anno æðhelwulfus praefatus venerabilis rex decimam totius regni sui partem ab omni regali servitio et tributo liberavit, in sempiternoque graphio in cruce christi, pro redemptione animae suae et antecessorum suorum, uni et trino deo immolavit[989].” in this he is followed verbatim by florence of worcester. æðelweard, a direct descendant of æðelwulf, thus records the grant[990]: “in eodem anno decumavit æðulf rex de omni possessione sua in partem domini, et in universo regimine principatus sui sic constituit.”
simeon has:—“quo tempore rex ethelwulfus rex decimavit totum regni sui imperium, pro redemptione animae suae et antecessorum suorum.”
huntingdon:—“æðelwulfus decimo nono anno regni sui totam terram suam ad opus aecclesiarum decumavit, propter amorem dei et redemptionem sui.”
roger of wendover and matthew paris, upon the authority of æðelwulf’s charter of 854, say:—“eodem
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anno rex magnificus athelwulfus decimam regni sui partem deo et beatae mariae et omnibus sanctis contulit, liberam ab omnibus servitiis saecularibus exactionibus et tributis.” and again in 857, speaking of æðelwulf’s will:—“pro utilitate animae suae et salute, per omne regnum suum semper in decem hidis vel mansionibus pauperem unum indigenam, vel peregrinum cibo, potu et operimento, successoribus suis usque in finem saeculi post se pascere praecepit, ita tamen ut si terra illa pecoribus abundaret et ab hominibus coleretur.”
malmesbury, who calls the charter of 854 “scriptum libertatis aecclesiarum quod toti concessit angliae,” thus describes its effect:—“ethelwulfus ... decimam omnium hidarum infra regnum suum christi famulis concessit, liberam ab omnibus functionibus, absolutam ab omnibus inquietudinibus.” and in 857, with reference to æðelwulfs will:—“semperque ad finem saeculi in omni suae haereditatis decima hida pauperem vestiri et cibari praecepit.”
these passages obviously relate to two several transactions, one which took place in the year 854, before æðelwulf’s visit to rome, the second in the year 857, after his return to england: and the codex diplomaticus contains a series of documents referring to them[991]. a portion of these fall under the description of malmesbury, viz. that of “scriptum libertatis aecclesiarum.” and as he cites one
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of them himself by that title, it is certain that these are what he intends. now this document, after the usual proem, recites that æðelwulf with the consent of his witan, not only gave the tenth part of the lands throughout his realm to holy churches, but granted to his ministers, appointed throughout the same, to have in perpetual freedom, so that his donation might remain for ever free from all royal and secular burthens: in consideration of which the bishops agreed to a special service weekly for the king and his nobles[992], every saturday.
another class, and probably the most genuine, comprises the numbers 275 and 1048; in these documents, which are also grants of immunity to the clergy and to laics, the granting words are as follows:—“quamobrem ego æðelwulfus rex occidentalium saxonum cum consilio episcoporum et principum meorum, consilium salubre atque uniforme remedium affirmavi; ut aliquam portionem terrarum haereditariam, antea possidentibus gradibus omnibus,—sive famulis et famulabus dei deo
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servientibus, sive laicis,—semper decimam mansionem, ubi minimum sit, tum decimam partem,—in libertatem perpetuam perdonare diiudicavi; ut sit tuta et munita ab omnibus saecularibus servitutibus, fiscis regalibus, tributis maioribus et minoribus, sive taxationibus quae nos dicimus wíterǽden; sitque libera omnium rerum, pro remissione animarum et peccatorum nostrorum, deo soli ad serviendum, sine expeditione, et pontis instructione et arcis munitione, ut eo diligentius pro nobis ad deum preces sine cessatione fundant, quo eorum servitutem saecularem in aliqua parte levigamus.” in consideration of this alleviation the grateful clergy were to perform on the wednesday in every week the same services as the first class of documents stipulates for the saturday. it is to be observed that the two documents of this particular class, though the authority for them is of the lowest description, and the dates are altogether suspicious, seem to be of a much more genuine character as to the grant itself than the first class: there is a certain satisfactory accuracy about the definition of wíterǽden which is in so far suggestive of an authentic original; and when we translate the very bad latin “sine expeditione,” etc. by the genuine “bútan fyrdfare,” etc., we shall have the following reasonable account to give of the proceedings. æðelwulf, being humbled and terrified by the distresses of wars and the ravages of barbarous and pagan invaders, devised as a useful remedy thus; he determined to liberate from all those various exactions and services which went by the general name
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of wíteræden, the tenth part of the estates which, though hereditary tenure had grown up in them, were still subject to the ancient burthens of folcland, whether they were in the hands of laics or clergy; that where the estate amounted to ten hides, one was to be free; where it was a very small quantity, at all events a tenth was to be so enfranchised: and as the greater part of this land either was in the hands of the clergy, or was very likely ultimately to come there, he granted this charitable act of enfranchisement that on these estates the holders might be the better able to devote themselves to the service of god, all other service being discharged, except indeed the inevitable three. this seems best to accord with asser’s assertion that the king sacrificed to god the services which arose to himself over a tenth part of all his realm. now it is to be observed that this could not apply to booklands which already possessed an exemption, but only to folcland, whether become hereditary or not; nor could regnum possibly mean territory, but royal rights, for æðelwulf had no territory except his private estates; nor could the “trinoda necessitas” be called a “regale servitium et tributum.” these were the dues demandable by the king from folcland, and could only be discharged by consent of the wítan. the expression of simeon appears also to be susceptible of no other translation: when he says the king tithed “totum regni sui imperium,” i can see no territorial division in his words, but only that the king relinquished a
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tenth part of those imperial rights which he had as king.
a third class of documents however yet remains to be considered. in these a clear division of lands is intended and is recorded. the first of these in point of time are the nos. 1051 and 1052, which bear the suspicious dates of easter in the year 854, the first indiction, and the palace at wilton: that is, with the exception of the indiction, the dates of the first class of documents. these two charters declare that æðelwulf being determined by the advice of st. swithin to tithe the lands of all the realm that god had given him[993], increased the estate which queen friðogyð had granted to the church at winchester, in taunton, by a certain amount of hides in various places. these are followed by another of the same year, but with the proper indiction, viz. the second, declaring that on the same occasion he gave other lands to winchester[994]; and in the succeeding year 855, we find him giving an estate in kent to dun a minister or thane, “pro decimatione agrorum, quam deo donante, caeteris ministris meis facere decrevi.” i do not very much insist upon giving one sense rather than another
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to this “pro decimatione,” and am ready to admit that it may mean, ‘in respect of the general tithing of lands which i intend to make to yourself as well as the rest of my thanes,’ or that it may be read, ‘in place of that tithing of lands which i intend to make to the rest of my thanes, i give you such and such a particular estate.’ we must not be very fastidious with æðelwulf’s latin, especially as there is much reason to believe that in this case it is a mere translation of what would have been far more intelligible and trustworthy saxon.
trustworthy, however, i can hardly term the last document i have to notice[995], saxon though it be: this appears to be one of a very suspicious series of instruments, prepared for the purpose of corroborating some ancient claim on the part of winchester, to have its hundred hides at chilcombe rated at one hide only. it bears marks of forgery in every line, and seems to have been made up out of some history of æðelwulf’s sojourn in rome, but still is worth citing as evidence of the tradition respecting tithe:—“in the name of him who writeth in the book of life in heaven those who in this life please him well, i æðulf the king in this writ notify concerning the franchise of chilcombe, which kynegils the king, who first of all the kings in wessex became a christian, granted to his baptismal father saint birinus; and which since then all the kings who have succeeded one another in wessex have enfranchised and advanced, although
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it never was reduced to writing until the time of myself, who am the ninth king. also i notify that i established this franchise before saint peter in rome, and the holy pope leo, even so as it was settled between me and all my people, ere i went to rome, that is, that all the land comprised in this franchise shall for ever be acquitted for one hide; because god’s possessions should ever be more free than any worldly possession: and also my son ælfred, who went with me and was there consecrated king, pledged himself to the pope, both to further this franchise himself, and to urge his children to the same, if god should grant him any. i also, before the same pope, tithed all the landed possessions which i had in england, to god, into holy places for myself and for all my people: and in rome with the assistance and by the leave of the pope, i wrought a minster for the honour of god and to the worship of saint mary, his holy mother, and placed therein a company of english, who ever both by night and day shall serve god, for our people: and when i returned home i told all the people what i had done in rome. and they very earnestly thanked both god and me for this, and all this pleased them well, and they said that with their good will it should be so for ever. now i implore, through the holy trinity and saint peter, and all the halidome that i visited in rome, both for myself and my people, that never either king or prince, bishop or ealdorman, thane or reeve diminish what hath been established with such witness: doubtless he that doth so will anger god and saint
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peter, and all the saints that repose in the churches at rome, and miserably earn for himself the punishments of hell. moreover, the aforesaid holy pope leo laid god’s curse and saint peter’s, and all the saints’ and his own, on him that ever violates this; and also all this people both ordained and laic did the like when i returned home and announced this to them.”
if these data then be correct, æðelwulf did three distinct things at different times: he first released from all payments, except the inevitable three, a tenth part of the folclands or unenfranchised lands, whether in the tenancy of the church or of his thanes. in this tenth part of the lands so burthened in his favour he annihilated the royal rights, regnum or imperium; and as the lands receiving this privilege were secured by charter, the chronicle can justly say that the king booked them to the honour of god. a second thing he did, inasmuch as he gave a tenth part of his own private estates of bookland to various thanes or clerical establishments. and lastly, upon every ten hides of his own land he commanded that one poor man, whether native born or stranger, that is, whether of wessex or some other kingdom, should be maintained in food and clothing. it is unnecessary to waste words in showing how utterly different all this really is from any grant of tithe, and how entirely unfounded is the opinion that æðelwulf made the first legal enactment in behalf of tithe in this country. all that it proves is, that æðelwulf made a handsome endowment for the clergy, and
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that a tenth part or a tenth person seemed to him to mark the proper proportion between what he kept and what he gave up. it renders it probable that the claim to tithe had already become familiar, since æðelwulf divided his land by ten; but it also shows that even the levitical tithe itself was misrepresented, if he believed this donation of his to bear any resemblance to it. we may suppose the squire in a country parish to have let the parson a house, and subsequently excused him a tenth of the rent. this might be a very charitable act, and might be done from very pure religious motives; but it would scarcely be called tithe in the proper ecclesiastical sense of that word. this is precisely what æðelwulf did in wessex.
in addition to leohtsceat, or money paid to supply lights, sulhælmysse or plough-alms, and sáwlsceat, a present made to the church where a testator desired to rest, in consideration of religious services to be performed for the good of his soul, there was a due commonly known under the name of cyricsceat. it is not clear what was the nature of this impost, and its amount is uncertain, as well as the persons who were liable to its payment. but in all probability it was at first a recognitory rent paid to the particular churches from estates leased by them; not so much in the nature of a fair equivalent for the use of such lands, but as a token of beneficiary tenure, in the spirit of the following words:—“solventes inde censum per singulos annos missis rectorum praedicti monasterii, iv denarios in festivitate sancti remigii confessoris, ne
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videamur eas ex proprio, sed iure beneficiario possidere[996].” it is therefore not unusual to find this impost particularly mentioned in church-leases, under the names of cyricsceat, census aecclesiasticus, cyriclád, aecclesiae munus, and similar terms. the true character of the payment appears from two very clear examples which i shall quote at length. “that in truth may say the thane ælfsige hunláfing in respect to his obtaining this land free from every burthen, to himself and his heirs, except burhbót, bridge-work, and military service, remembering to his landlord, cyricsceat, sáwlsceat and his tithes[997].” this landlord was a bishop, in all probability, but he is not named.
in the year 902, denewulf bishop of winchester leased fifteen hides of land to beornwulf and his heirs, reserving a rent of forty-five shillings yearly. “and every year let him assist in the bót of the church[998] which that land belongeth to, in the same proportion as the other folk do, each by the measure of his land; and let him justly pay his cyricsceat, and perform his military service and bridge
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and fortress work, as they do throughout all the folk[999].”
between the years 879 and 909, the same bishop gave forty hides to ælfred, for his life. upon these he reserved a rent of three pounds, cyricsceats, cyricsceat-work, and the services of ælfred’s men when required at the bishop’s hunting and reaping[1000]. in like manner oswald reserved, in all the grants he made out of the church property at worcester, the church rights, that is to say, cyricsceat, toll, tax and pannage, and also the services of the tenants at his hunting[1001]. lastly between the years 871 and 877, bishop ealhfrið granting eight hides for three lives to duke cúðred, reserved bridge-work, military service, eight cyricsceats, the mass-priest’s rights and soulsceats[1002].
this cyricsceat then appears to have been originally a recognitory service due to the lord from the tenant on church-lands. but it is very clear that in process of time a new character was assumed for it, and it was claimed of all men alike, as a due to the clergy. here, again, the levitical legislation was taken to be applicable to the christian ministry. the jews had been commanded to give first-fruits[1003], as well as tithes; and if tithes belonged to the clergy by virtue of god’s commandment, so did first-fruits also. these appear
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also to have been called cyricsceat, and after a time became an established charge upon the land of the freeman as well as the unfree. the earliest legislation which we can discover, bearing unquestionably upon this point, is that of eádmund toward the middle of the tenth century[1004]; he strictly commands payment of tithe, cyricsceat, and almsfee, and declares that he who will not do it shall be excommunicated. by the time of eádgár however the matter seems to have been quite settled, and cyricsceat is directed to be paid from the hearth of every freeman to the old minster,—most likely to prevent a course similar to the arbitrary consecration of tithes. and this remained a fixed charge upon the land till the time of the conquest, when it ceased to be generally paid, as we may judge from the expressions of fleta and other jurists[1005]; it
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had passed in some cases into the hands of secular lords, with lands alienated by the clergy, or taken from them. but in the time of cnut it was still paid as primitiae seminum, and it is not probable that his successors altered his arrangements in this respect.
the liberality of the anglosaxons was by no means confined to the grants of land which they conferred upon the several churches, although it is impossible to deny that these were most extravagant[1006]. at the same time it is to be borne in mind that the clergy were always certain to command a more than adequate supply of free and unfree labour; and that, if their landed possessions thus increased their wealth to an extraordinary degree, they also were the greatest contributors to
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the general well-being through the superior excellence of their cultivation. but the piety or the fears of the laity did not stop short at gifts of land and serfs: jewels, cups, rings, crosses and caskets, money, tapestry, and vestments, annual foundations of bread, wine, beer, honey, and flesh, sometimes to enormous amounts, were devised by the will of wealthy and penitent sinners: houses and curtilages, tolls and markets, forests, harbours, fisheries, mines, commons of pasture and mast, flocks and herds of swine, horses and oxen, testified to the liberality of ealdormen and kings. nor was the opportunity of investing their surplus profitably always wanting: more than one mortgage is recorded, on terms sufficiently favourable to the mortgagors; and loans on excellent security, show that if the nobles knew where to find capitalists in their need, the capitalist also knew very well how to turn his facilities to good account. the necessity of providing out of these large funds for the proper maintenance of the churches and the due celebration of religious rites, can hardly be looked upon as a great hardship; and although the demands of charity and the duties of hospitality, may have seemed a heavy charge to the avaricious or the selfish, we cannot but conclude, that no class of the community occupied so dignified or so easy a position as the anglosaxon clergy. the state, fully aware of the value of their services, was not niggardly in rewarding them. there was a ready acquiescence on the part of the laity in the claims of the clergy to respect and trust; and,
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while these continued to maintain a decent conformity to the duties of their calling, we find a perfectly harmonious co-operation of all classes in the church. nor, amongst all the writings which the clergy—the only writers—have left us, do we find any of those complaints and grievances, which are apt to be made prominent enough when the members of that powerful body believe their pretensions to be treated with less than due consideration. the devoted partizan of rome might choose to declare the english church subject to such bondage as no other suffered; but, except from quarrels of their own, the clergy never were exposed here to those inconveniences which are unavoidable, upon any attempt on their part to separate themselves from their fellow-members in the christian communion.
973. “till toward the end of the first four hundred [years] no payment of them [i. e. tithes] can be proved to have been in use. some opinion is of their being due, and constitutions also, but such as are of no credit. for the first, ’tis best declared by showing the course of the church-maintenance in that time. so liberal in the beginning of christianity was the devotion of the believers, that their bounty to the evangelical priesthood far exceeded what the tenth could have been. for if you look to the first of the apostles’ times, then the unity of heart among them about jerusalem, was such that all was in common and none wanted, ‘and as many as were possessors of lands or houses, sold them and brought the price of the things that were sold, and laid it down at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed unto every man, according as he had need[a].’and the whole church, both lay and clergy, then lived in common as the monks did afterward about the end of the first four hundred years as st. chrysostome notes[b] οὕτως, says he, οἱ ἐν τοῖς μοναστηρίοις ζῶσι νῦν ὥσπερ τότε οἱ πιστοὶ, that is, ‘so they live now in monasteries as then the believers lived.’ but this kind of having all things in common scarce at all continued. for we see not long after in the church of antiochia (where christianity was first of all by that name professed) every one of the disciples had a special ability or estate of his own[c]. so in galatia and in corinth where st. paul ordained that weekly offerings for the saints should be given by every man as he had thrived in his estate[d]. by example of these, the course of monthly offerings succeeded in the next ages. these monthly offerings given by devout and able christians, the bishops or officers appointed in the church received[e]; and carefully and charitably disposed them on christian worship, the maintenance of the clergy, feeding, clothing, and burying their poor brethren, widows, orphans, persons tyrannically condemned to the mines, to prison, or punished by deportation into isles. they were called stipes (which is a word borrowed from the use of the heathens in their collections made for their temples and deities), neither were they exacted by canon or otherwise, but arbitrarily given; as by testimony of most learned tertullian[f], that lived about cc years after christ, is apparent: ‘neque pretio (are his words) ulla res dei constat. etiam si quod arcae genus est, non de oneraria summa quasi redemptae religionis congregatur, modicam unusquisque stipem, menstruâ die, vel cum velit, et si modo velit, et si modo possit, apponit. nam nemo compellitur, sed sponte confert. haec quasi deposita pietatis sunt.’ and then he shewes the employment of them in those charitable uses. some authority is[g], that about this time lands began also to be given to the church. if they were so, out of the profits of them, and this kind of offerings, was made a treasure; and out of that, which was increased so monthly, was a monthly pay given to the priests and ministers of the gospel (as a salarie for their service), and that either by the hand or care of the bishop, or of some elders appointed as oeconomi or wardens. these monthly pays they called mensurnae divisiones, as you may see in st. cyprian[h], who wrote, being bishop of carthage, about the year ccl, and, speaking familiarly of this use, calls the brethren that cast in their monthly offerings, fratres sportulantes, understanding the offerings under the word sportulae, which at first in rome denoted a kind of running banquets distributed at great men’s houses to such as visited for salutation, which being ofttimes also given in money, the word came at length to signify both those salaries, wages or fees which either judges[i] or ministers of courts of justice received as due to their places, as also to denote the oblations given to make a treasure for the salaries and maintenance of the ministers of the church in this primitive age, and to this purpose was it also used in later times[j]. but because that passage of st. cyprian, where he uses this phrase, well shows also the course of the maintenance of the church in his time, take it here transcribed: but first know the drift of his epistle to be a reprehension of geminius faustinus a priest his being troubled with the care of a wardship, whereas such as take that dignity upon them, should, he says, be free from all secular troubles like the levites, who were provided for in tithes. ‘ut qui (as he writes[k]) operationibus divinis insistebant, in nulla re avocarentur, nec cogitare aut agere saecularia cogerentur.’ and then he adds: ‘quae nunc ratio et forma in clero tenetur, ut qui in ecclesia domini ad ordinationem clericalem promoventur, nullo modo ab administratione divina avocentur, sed in honore sportulantium fratrum, tanquam decimas ex fructibus accipientes, ab altari et sacrificiis non recedant, et die ac nocte coelestibus rebus et spiritualibus serviant;’ which plainly agrees with that course of monthly pay, made out of the oblations brought into the treasury; which kind of means he compares to that of the levites, as being proportionable. but hence also ’tis manifest, that no payment of tithes was in st. cyprian’s time in use, although some, too rashly, from this very place would infer so much, those words tanquam decimas accipientes (which continues the comparing of ministers of the gospel with the levites) plainly exclude them. and elsewhere also the same father, finding fault with a coldness of devotion that then possest many, in regard of what was in use in the apostles’ times, and seeing that the oblations given were less than usually before, expresses[l] their neglect to the church with, ‘ac nunc de patrimonio nec decimas damus:’ whence, as you may gather, that no usual payment was of them, so withall observe in his expression, that the liberality formerly used had been such, that, in respect thereof, tenths were but a small part: understand it as if he had said, ‘but now we give not so much as any part worth speaking of.’ neither for aught appears in old monuments of credit, till near the end of this first four hundred years, was any payment to the church of any tenth part, as a tenth, at all in use.” selden on tithes, cap. iv. p. 35 seq..
a. acts iv. 34.
b. hom. 11. in acta.
c. acts xi. 29.
d. 1 cor. xvi. 2. ockam, in oper. xc dierum, cap. 107.
e. synod. gangr. can. lxvi.
f. apologetic. cap. 39, 42.
g. urban, i. in epist. c. 12, q. 1, c. 16, i. sed et vide euseb. eccles. hist. lib. 9. cap. 9. edict. maximin. et lib. 10. cap. 5. edict. constant. et in lib. 2. de vita constantini, cap. 39.
h. cyprian, epist. 27, 34: et vide epist. 36, editione pammeliana.
i. papinian. de decurion. l 6. § 1. et c. tit. de sportulis. et vid. glossar. græc. iuris in σπορτουλα.
j. concil. chalced. a.d. 451. in libell. samuelis et al. contra iban. et videsis tom. 3. concil. fol. 231. cap. 31. edit. binii penultima.
k. epist. 266. ed. pammel.
l. de unitate ecclesiae, § 23.
974. one of the clearest examples that occur to me at present is from a capitulary of the merwingian chlotachari in 560. “agraria, pascuaria, vel decimas porcorum, aecclesiae, pro fidei nostrae devotione, concedimus, ita ut actor aut decimator in rebus aecclesiae nullus accedat: aecclesiae vel clericis nullam requirant agentes publici functionem qui avi vel genitoris aut germani nostri immunitatem meruerunt.” pertz, iii. 3. this is clearly a remission of tithe due to the king from lands held by the clergy, and bears some resemblance to æðelwulf’s celebrated release.
975. the earliest is the council of lateran, held by calixtus ii. in 1123. the council of lateran, a.d. 1179, commanded that those who at the peril of their souls retained property in tithes, should not, under any pretence, transfer it to lay hands. but no general council assumes the payment of tithes to be due of common right to the parochial rector, before the council of lateran held by innocent iii. in 1215.
976. epist. episc. prov. turon. ad plebem missa; labbe. v. 868. eichhorn, §186. vol. i. 779 seq.
977. conc. matiscon. 585. can. 5. “omnes igitur reliquas fidei causas, quas temporis longitudine cognovimus deterioratas fuisse, oportet nos ad statum pristinum revocare, ne nobis simus adversarii, dum ea quae cognoscimus ad nostri ordinis qualitatem pertinere, aut non corrigimus, aut, quod nefas est, silentio praeterimus. leges itaque divinae, consulentes sacerdotibus ac ministris aecclesiarum, pro haereditatis portione omni populo praeceperunt decimas fructuum suorum locis sacris praestare, ut nullo labore impediti, horis legitimis spiritualibus possent vacare ministeriis. quas leges christianorum congeries longis temporibus custodivit intemeratas; nunc autem paulatim praevaricatores legum poene christiani omnes ostenduntur, dum ea quae divinitus sancita sunt, adimplere negligunt. unde statuimus et decernimus, ut mos antiquus a fidelibus reparetur, et decimas aecclesiasticis famulantibus caeremoniis populus omnis inferat, quas sacerdotes aut in pauperum usum, aut in captivorum redemptionem praerogantes, suis orationibus pacem populo et salutem impetrent. si quis autem contumax nostris statutis saluberrimis fuerit, a membris aecclesiae omni tempore separetur.” it must be confessed that selden has thrown very great doubts upon the authenticity of this canon of the council of macon, and that it is of very questionable authority. see his history of tithes, cap. 5. p. 65. it is hardly consistent with what agobard of lyons, who shortly after was bishop of the see itself in which macon lies, declares: “iam vero de donandis rebus et ordinandis aecclesiis nihil unquam in synodis constitutum est, nihil a sanctis patribus publice praedicatum. nulla enim compulit necessitas, fervente ubique religiosa devotione, et amore illustrandi aecclesias ultro aestuante,” etc. agob. lugdun. de dispensatione, etc. p. 276. (ed. masson. parisiis.) but as eichhorn, who has deeply investigated this subject, appears to differ here from selden, i have cited this council on his responsibility, and with the more readiness, that it rather opposes than confirms my own opinion.
978. “de decimis, ut unusquisque decimam donet, atque per iussionem pontificis dispensentur.” capit. 779, cap. 7. pertz, iii.
979. see appendix to this volume.
980. “if any one withhold tithes, let him pay lahslít among the danes, wíte among the english.” eád. gúð. §6. thorpe, i. 170.
981. brompton says that offa granted it, as far as mercia was concerned, p. 772. certainly, in general, brompton’s authority is not very great; but i think that in this case he has probability on his side, if we restrict the grant to offa’s demesne lands, or to a release of a tenth of the dues payable to the king on folcland. a general enactment, comprising the whole kingdom, would scarcely have been omitted in any subsequent collection of laws. the law of offa is indeed lost, but some of its provisions probably survive in the legislation of later kings. see ælfr. proem. thorpe, i. 58. the absence of all mention of tithe by ælfred is not conclusive: he takes just as little notice of cyricsceat, leohtsceat, sáwlsceat, and other payments which were unquestionably claimed by the church. eádweard’s treaty with gúðorm, though it does not define the parties from whom tithe was demandable, treats subtraction of it as an offence punishable at law.
982. capitula et fragm. theod. thorpe, ii. 65.
983. excerpt. ecgberhti, no. 24. thorpe, ii. 100.
984. excerpt. ecgberhti, nos. 101, 102. thorpe, ii. 111, 112.
985. excerpt. ecgberhti, nos. 4, 5. thorpe, ii. 98.
986. the custom of the romish church, as is well known, divided every oblation, or gain that accrued to the church from the contributions of the faithful, into four parts,—one for the bishop, one for the poor, one for the clergy, and one for the repairs of the fabric. othlon, who wrote the life of st. boniface in the twelfth century, thus appeals to the universal custom of the church: “quando quidem iuxta sanctorum canonum decreta decimas in quatuor portiones dividentes, unam, sibi [i. e. the bishops], alteram clericis, tertiam pauperibus, quartam restaurandis aecclesiis tradiderunt? numquid avaritiae suae tantummodo consulentes, in distributione decimarum obliti sunt pauperum, restaurationisque aecclesiarum, sicut modo, pro dolor! cernimus agi? canones enim sancti, ex quorum auctoritate exiguntur decimae, non solum decimas dari, sed etiam inter varios aecclesiae usus distribui; ut in urbibus quibuslibet et vicis xenodochia habeantur, ubi pauperes et peregrini alantur. sed tam sanctum et tam necessarium praeceptum in pluribus locis non solum minime curatur, sed etiam poene ignoratur. nam solummodo illud legitur, quod epicopis decimae sint tribuendae; quid vero exinde agendum sit, vel si quidquam aliud curandum sit circa monasteria, tam a clericis—miserabile dictu—quam a laicis destructa, citraque iudicia religionis christianae subversa, oblivioni seu ignorantiae commendatur.” pertz, ii. 358. in the commencement of the seventh century, gregory, in his rules for the government of the newly-planted english church, directed augustine to make not four but three portions, inasmuch as he being a monk could have no separate share of his own. he says: “mos autem sedis apostolicae est ordinatis episcopis praecepta tradere, ut in omni stipendio, quod accedit, quatuor debeant fieri portiones: una videlicet episcopo et familiae propter hospitalitatem atque susceptionem, alia clero, tertia pauperibus, quarta aecclesiis reparandis. sed quia tua fraternitas monasterii regulis erudita, seorsum fieri non debet a clericis suis in aecclesia anglorum quae, auctore deo, nuper adhuc ad fidem adducta est, hanc debet conversationem instituere, quae initio nascentis aecclesiae fuit patribus nostris; in quibus nullus eorum ex his, quae possidebant, aliquid suum esse dicebat, sed erant eis omnia communia.” beda, h. e. i. 27. the original canon is in gratian. caus. 12. q. ii. c. 30. ed. pithæi. fol. paris, 1687, i. 240. hence the directions of the anglosaxon prelates, and the regulation of æðelred, as to a threefold division.
987. angelsäch. recht. p. 251. he appeals only to brompton, whose authority is by no means conclusive.
988. this is selden’s view, and hume’s, and has been generally followed.
989. in anno 855.
990. chronic. lib. iii.
991. cod. dipl. nos. 270, 271, 275, 276, 1048, 1050, 1051, 1052, 1053, 1054, 1057.
992. the actual words are these:—“ut decimam partem terrarum per regnum nostrum, non solum sanctis aecclesiis darem verumetiam et ministris nostris in eodem constitutis, in perpetuam libertatem habere concessimus, ita ut talis donatio fixa incommutabilisque permaneat ab omni regali servitio et omnium saecularium absoluta servitute.” these are the expressions of nos. 270, 271, 1050, 1054; which are respectively dated at wilton on the 22nd of april, 854, and convey grants of separate lands to the thane wigferð, to malmesbury church, to glastonbury, and to the thane hunsige, as appears by the statements in the body of the charters, as well as by the endorsements, which are to this effect:—no. 270. “ista est libertas quam æðelwulf rex suo ministro wiferðe in perpetuam haereditatem habere concessit, unum cassatum in loco qui dicitur heregearding hiwisc:” endorsed, “ðis seondan æs landes bêc ðe æðelwulf cyning wiferðe his þegne salde.”
993. “totius regni mihi a deo collati decimans rura.” nos. 1051, 1052.
994. “quando decimam partem terrarum per omne regnum meum sanctis aecclesiis dare decrevi,” etc. no. 1053. the saxon version, whether it were the original or only a translation, gives us the true sense of this assertion: it runs thus:—“ðá ðá he teoðode gynd eall his cynerice, ðone teoðan dǽl ealra his landa, mid his witena geþeahte, into hálgum stowum,”—‘when throughout all his realm, he tithed the tenth of all his lands into holy places, by the counsel of his witan.’ there was nothing to prevent æðelwulf from giving a tenth or a half of all his own lands to whom he pleased.
995. cod. dipl. no. 1057.
996. schannat. tradit. fuldens. no. 452. so also in the worcester domesday, hemm. 500, 501. “de eodem manerio tenet hugo de grentesmaisnil dimidiam hidam ad lapeuuerte, et baldewinus de eo; et fuit et est de soca episcopi. de hac terra per singulos annos redduntur viii denarii ad ecclesiam de wirecestre, pro circette et recognitione terre.”
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.
