cyricsceat.

i do not think it necessary to repeat here the arguments which i have used elsewhere[1045], to show that cyricsceat has nothing whatever to do with our modern church-rates, or that these arose from papal usurpation very long after the norman conquest. i can indeed only express my surprise that any churchman should still be found willing to continue a system which exposes the dignity and peace of the church to be disturbed by any schismatic who may see in agitation a cheap step to popularity. but as the question has been put in that light, it may be convenient for the sake of reference to collect the principal passages in the laws and charters which refer to the impost. they are the following:—

“be cyricsceattum. cyricsceattas sýn ágifene be seint martines mæssan. gif hwá ðæt ne gelǽste, sý he scyldig lx scill. and be twelffealdum ágyfe ðone cyricsceat.” ine, § 4; thorpe, i. 104.

“be cyricsceattum. cyricsceat mon sceal ágifan tó ðæm healme and to ðæm heorðe ðe se man on bið tó middum wintra.” ine, § 61; thorpe, i. 140.

“and ic wille eác ðæt míne geréfan gedón ðæt man ágyfe ða cyricsceattas and ða sáwlsceattas tó ðám stowum, ðe hit mid rihte tó gebyrige.” æthelst. i.; thorpe, i. 196.

“be teoðungum and cyricsceattum. teoðunge we bebeódað ǽlcum cristenum men be his cristendóme, and cyricsceat, and ælmesfeoh. gif hit hwá dón nylle, sý he amansumod.” eádm. i. § 2; thorpe, i. 244.

“be cyricsceat. gif hwá ðonne þegna sý, ðe on his bóclande cyrican hæbbe, ðe legerstowe on sý, gesylle he ðonne þriddan dǽl his ágenre teoðunge intó his cyrican. gif hwá cyrican hæbbe,

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ðe legerstow on ne sý, ðonne dó he of ðǽm nygan dǽlum his preost ðæt ðæt he wille. and gá ylc cyricsceat intó ðæm ealdan mynster be ǽlcum frigan (h)eorðe.” eádgár, i. § 1, 2; thorpe, i. 262.

“neádgafol úres drihtnes, ðæt sýn úre teoðunga and cyricsceattas.” eádgár, supp. § 1; thorpe, i. 270.

“and cyricsceat tó martinus mæssan.” æðelr. vi. § 18; thorpe, i. 320.

“and cyricsceat gelǽste man be martinus mæssan, and seðe ðæt ne gelǽste, forgilde hine mid twelffealdan, and ðám cyninge cxx scill.” æðelr. ix. § 11; thorpe, i. 342.

“et præcipimus, ut omnis homo super dilectionem dei et omnium sanctorum det cyricsceattum et rectam decimam suam, sicut in diebus antecessorum nostrorum stetit, quando melius stetit; hoc est, sicut aratrum peragrabit decimam acram.” æðelr. viii. § 4; thorpe, i. 338.

“de ciricsceatto dicit vicecomitatus quod episcopus, de omni terra quæ ad ecclesiam suam pertinet, debet habere, in die festivitatis sancti martini, unam summam annonæ, qualis melior crescit in ipsa terra, de unaquaque hida libera et villana; et si dies ille fractus fuerit, ille qui retinuerit reddet ipsam summam, et undecies persolvat; et ipse episcopus accipiat inde forisfacturam qualem ipse debet habere de terra sua. de ciricsceatto de perscora dicit vicecomitatus quod illa ecclesia de perscora debet habere ipsum ciricsceattum de omnibus ccc hidis, scilicet de unaquaque hida ubi francus homo manet, unam summam annonæ, et si plures habet hidas, sint liberæ; et si dies fractus fuerit, in festivitate sancti martini, ipse qui retinuerit det ipsam summam et undecies persolvat, abbati de perscora; et reddat forisfacturam abbati de westminstre quia sua terra est.” cart. heming. i. 49, 50. “de ciricsceate. dicit vicecomitatus quod de unaquaque hida terræ, libera vel villana, quæ ad ecclesiam de wirecestre pertinet, debet episcopus habere, in die festo sancti martini unam summam annonæ, de meliori quæ ibidem crescit; quod si dies ille non reddita annona transierit, qui retinuit annonam reddat, undecies persolvet, et insuper forisfacturam episcopus accipiet, qualem et sua terra habere debet.” ibid. 1, 308.

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the only instance that i can find of this impost being noticed in the ecclesiastical laws, or recommendations of the bishops and clergy, is in the canons attributed to eádgár:—

“and we enjoin, that the priests remind the people of what they ought to do to god for dues, in tithes and in other things; first plough-alms, xv days after easter; and tithe of young, by pentecost; and of fruits of the earth, by all saints; and róm-feoh (peter-pence) by st. peter’s mass; and cyricsceat by martinmass[1046].”

“nunc igitur praecipio 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 romæ 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[1047].”

oswald’s grants often contain this clause: “sit autem terra ista libera omni regi nisi aecclesiastici censi.” see codex dipl. nos. 494, 498, 515, 540, 552, 558, 649, 680, 681, 682. but sometimes the amount is more closely defined: thus in no. 498, two bushels of wheat. in no. 511 we have this strong expression: “free from all worldly service (weoruldcund þeówet), except three things, one is cyricsceat, and that he (work) with all his might, twice in the year, once at mowing, once at reaping.” and in no. 625 he repeats this, making the land granted free, “ab omni mundialium servitute tributorum, exceptis sanctae dei aecclesiae necessitatibus atque utilitatibus.” again, “et semper possessor terrae illius reddat tributum aecclesiasticum, quod ciricsceat dicitur, tó pirigtúne; et omni anno unus ager inde aretur tó pirigtúne, et iterum metatur.”—cod. dipl. no. 661. “sit autem hoc praedictum rus liberum ab omni mundiali servitio, ... excepta sanctae dei basilicae suppeditatione ac ministratione.”—ibid. no. 666.

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the customs of dyddanham[1048] impose upon the gebúr the duty of finding the cyricsceat to the lord’s barn, but whether because the lord was an ecclesiastic does not clearly appear.

the important provisions of denewulf’s and ealhfrið’s charters have been sufficiently illustrated in the text.

after the conquest, chirset or chircettum, as it is called, was very irregularly levied: it appears to have been granted occasionally by the lords to the church, but no longer to have been a general impost: and nothing is more common than to find it considered as a set-off against other forms of rent-paying, on lay as well as ecclesiastical land. if the tenant gave work, he usually paid no chircet: if he paid chircet, his amount of labour-rent was diminished: a strong evidence, if any more were wanted, that cyricsceat has nothing whatever to do with church-rate.

1036. ann. de noyon, t. ii. p. 805.

turbulenta conjuratio facta communionis (epistolæ ivonis carnotensis episcopi, apud script. rer. franc., t. xv. p. 105).

cum primùm communia acquisita fuit, omnes viromandiæ pares, et omnes clerici, salvo ordine suo, omnesque milites, salvâ fidelitate comitis, firmiter tenendam juraverunt. (recueil des ordonnances des rois de france, t. xi. p. 270.)

1037. “forum rerum venalium lundenwíc.” vit. bonif. pertz, mon. ii. 338.

1038. he clearly considers the northern branch of the humber, which we now call the ouse, to be the continuation of the river.

1039. vit. ælfr. an. 867.

1040. vit. ælfr. an. 878.

1041. probably in 926.

1042. the author of the gesta stephani, a contemporary of malmesbury, declares that the city was “vetustissimo cæsarum opere murata:” and that its castle was “muro inexpugnabili obseptum, turribus cæsarianis incisili calce confectis firmatum,” p. 21.

1043. will. malm. gest. reg. lib. ii. § 134 (hardy’s ed. vol. i. p. 214); see also gest. pontif. lib. ii. § 95 (hamilton’s ed. p. 201).

1044. chron. sax. 1003.

1045. a few historical remarks upon the supposed antiquity of church-rates. ridgway, 1836.

1046. thorpe, ii. 256.

1047. epist. cnut. flor. wig. an. 1031.

1048. now tidenham in gloucestershire, near the point where the wye falls into the severn, nearly 2° 36´ west longitude from greenwich.