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XV.—The Treasury of God and the Birthright of the Poor; or Facts illustrating the origin of “Parsons” and “Vicars” in England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 November 2011

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Extract

The treasury or portion of Grod is a convenient term, based on the language of the seventeenth canon of the Council of Chelsea in 787 and other authorities, to express that portion of a Christian man's income and property which is or ought to be devoted to religious and charitable purposes, the maintenance of the bishop and clergy, the support of the sick and the poor, and the upkeep of the fabric and the necessaries of public worship. The birthright (patrimonium) of the poor, another convenient phrase which comes to us from the thirteenth century, consists of one portion only of the treasury of Grod, the part devoted to the support of the sick and the poor.

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Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1907

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References

page 391 note a Haddan, and Stubbs, , Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents relating to Great Britain and Ireland (Oxford, 1871), iii. 637Google Scholar: “Let all endeavour to pay tithes of all that they possess because it is the Lord God's own (quia speciale Domini Dei esi), and let him live on the fine parts.” Innocent III. in Decret. Lib. III. tit. xxx. c. 33: “God has reserved tithes to himself by a special title in sign of his universal lordship.” Concil. Westminster, a.d. 1127, Can. 9: “We charge tithes as the portion ‘of God to be paid in full.’”

page 392 note a Mark x. 21; Matt. xix. 21; Lube xviii. 22; conf. Luke xii. 33.

page 392 note b Concil. 21 Peckham, a.d. 1281: “The name of religion is by us appropriated to the monastic life.”

page 392 note c Acts v. 4.

page 393 note a Acts, vi. 1.

page 393 note b Apology of Aristides, a.d. 120: “If funds fall short we have a fast of two or three days.”

page 393 note c Selborne's Ancient Facts and Fictions, 30.

page 393 note d Concil. Mogunt, , a.d.841Google Scholar. See Lingard's, Anglo-Saxon Church, ii. 340Google Scholar.

page 393 note c See Baeda, i. 27Google Scholar. Egbert's Excerpt 5, a.d. 740: “That bishops (sacerdotes) themselves receive the tithes from the people …. and divide them in the presence of such as fear God according to canonical authority, and choose the first part for the ornament of the church, and distribute the second part to the use of poor and strangers …. and let the bishops reserve the third part for themselves.” Ælfric, Can. 24, a.d. 957: “That tithes be paid unto God's Church, and that the priest divide them into three parts, one for the repairs of the church, a second to the poor, a third to God's servants who attend the church.”

page 394 note a Concil. Brac. a.d. 563, Can. 7: “That the effects of the Church be divided into three equal parts, one for the bishop, one for the clergy, one for repairs and lights” (the bishop's portion was for the poor). Concil. Emeritan, a.d. 666, Can. 14: “Whatever money is offered to the Church by the faithful should be carefully set aside and presented to the bishop, that it may be divided into three equal parts, one for the bishop, one for the presbyters and deacons to be divided among them, a third to the subdeacons and the rest of the clergy as the precentor thinks fit.

page 394 note b Can. 5, quoted in Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents, iii. 637Google Scholar.

page 395 note a II. ii. 8 in Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents, iii. 191Google Scholar.

page 395 note b Law 4 in Haddan and Stubbs, l.c. iii. 215.

page 395 note c II. xiv. 9 in Haddan and Stubbs, iii. 203.

page 395 note d Law 61, Ibid. iii. 217.

page 396 note a Gratian, Caus. X. Qu. 1. e. 8.

page 396 note b Gratian I. Dist. cxxxii. c. 1.

page 396 note c Edgar's Laws in 958 (Kemble, Saxons in England, ii. 560) speak of the tithes as being in the control of the lord of the manor (bocland lord). The customs of Tidenham in Gloucestershire required the villager (gebur) to bring his contribution to the church shot to the lord's barn (Kemble, l.c.). Hone, The Manor and Manorial Records, p. 204, quotes from the manor rolls of Barkham, in 4 Edward I.: “The reeve answers for 2 shillings and 1 penny yield of 10 cocks and 10 hens from church shot (chirset) sold.” Idem, 227, quotes from the Abbot of Glastonbury's manor rolls of Burton about 1250: “Robert Tac holds 1 virgate of land and pays for tenement rent (gablum) yearly 4 shillings …. and a cock and a hen for church shot (cherset) on St. Martin's Day.”

page 396 note d Concil. Brac. ii. a.d. 572, Can. 2: “Let no bishop making a tour of his minsters (diœceses) take anything else from a church but 2 shillings.” Pelagius ii. a.d. 577–590 ap. Gratian Caus. X. Qu. iii. c. 4. Concil. Tolet. vii. a.d. 646, Can. 4: “That each bishop of the aforesaid province in accordance with the synod of Braga do not call for an annual contribution of more than 2 shillings from each chapel of his minster (per singulas diœcesis suæ basilicas), churches of monasteries being exempt.

page 396 note e So we find in the Hampshire Domesday (Victoria History, p. 452), under Wallop: “There is a church to which belong 1 hide and a moiety of the tithes of the manor and the whole church shot (cirset).” Again (Ibid. p. 456), under Hurstbourn (Esseborne): “Vidal the priest holds the church belonging to this manor with ½ hide; there he has 1 plough with 2 hinds and 1 aero of meadow and the whole church shot (circesset) which is worth 14 shillings.”

page 396 note f Decret. Greg. IX. Lib. I. tit. xxxi. c. 16.

page 397 note a Calendar of Documents in France, 193.

page 397 note b Ibid. 176.

page 397 note c Ibid. 343.

page 397 note d Ibid. 329.

page 397 note e Kemble, , Saxons in England, ii. 560Google Scholar; and Maitland, , Domesday and Beyond, 290, 305, 320.Google Scholar

page 397 note f Ibid. 560.

page 398 note a Haddan, and Stubbs, , Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents, iii. 456, Can. 17.Google Scholar

page 398 note b Saxons in England, ii. 481.Google Scholar

page 398 note c Op. cit. iii. 637.Google Scholar

page 398 note d Law 2.

page 400 note a Edgar's Law 4, a.d. 938.

page 400 note b Edward's Law 11, a.d. 1064.

page 400 note c Cnut's Law 12, a.d. 1017.

page 400 note d An early authority in Grratian, Caus. I. Qu. i. c. 68, writes: “Since all that clerks have belongs to the poor and their houses ought to be open to all, they should be watchful to welcome strangers and guests. Above all they should be careful to provide for monastic houses and guest houses out of tithes and offerings. For it is lawful to give tithes and offerings and penance dues to monks and spiritual men who serve and worship Grod, and to transfer property to their lordship and use, paying less heed to the poor because of their poverty than because of their religion.”

page 401 note a See above, p. 5.

page 401 note b Letter of Archbishop Dunstan in Anecdota Oxoniensia, vii. 106, and Transactions of the Devonshire Association, xxx. 296: “Years ago the West Welsh rose against King Egbert. The king then fared thither and subdued them, and gave a tenth of his land to God in the way that seemed fit to him.”

page 401 note c Hieronymus ap. Gratian, Caus. XVI. Qu. i. c. 65.

page 401 note d Hadrian IV. to Archbishop Thomas in Decret. Lib. III. tit. xxx. c. 4.

page 402 note a Innocent III. in Decret. Lib. III. tit. xxx. c. 26: “Divers laymen are endeavouring to deprive churches and clergy of their rights. Some assert that the seed and expenses incurred in tillage should be first deducted and tithe paid on the residue. Others setting aside the tithe from the portion of the fruits paid by their tenants, give it to their chapels or their clergy or even to the poor, or at will apply it to their own uses. Some even objecting to the clergy's manner of life do not hesitate to withhold it altogether.”

page 402 note b Thus we find the tithe of peas grown in the open field assigned to the parson, whilst the tithe of peas grown in the garden went to the chaplain or vicar. On 3rd December, 1269, Bishop Bronescombe of Exeter assigned to the vicar of Littleham Abbot all the altalage except the tithe of fish and of peas and beans growing in the fields (in campis crescentium) (Exeter Registers, 151). But in the same year, 13th August, 1269, he assigned for the support of the vicar of Padstow (Ibid. 161) all the altalage excepting the tithe of fish and mills and the tithe of all farm produce raised in the open field (agriculturæ in campis exculte). On the other, on 5th June, 1270, he assigned to the vicar of St. Graran (Ibid. 172) all manner of small tithes and of peas and beans growing in gardens. So likewise the vicar of St. Siltsney was endowed with the tithes of peas growing in gardens (Ibid. p. 178).

page 402 note c Edward's Laws 8, 9, a.d. 1064.

page 402 note d Apost. Const, vii. 29.

page 403 note a Gratian, Caus. XVI. Qu. i. c. 66.

page 403 note b Decret. Lib. III. tit. xxx. c. 26.

page 403 note c Decret. Lib. III. tit. xxx. c. 15.

page 404 note a Calendar of Documents in France, 124.

page 404 note b Ibid. 235; Transactions of the Devonshire Association, xxxvi. 363.

page 404 note c Ibid. 510.

page 404 note d Ibid. 405.

page 404 note e Ibid. 536.

page 405 note a Innocent III. in Decret. Lib. III. tit. xxx. c. 31: “If a layman in making a gift of a church uses words such as, I give you such a church, nothing more is understood to be granted save a right of patronage.”

page 405 note b Concil. 15 Peckham, a.d. 1281: That churches be not farmed but to holy and reputable ecclesiastical persons whom the bishop may freely coerce.” Reichels, Complete Manual of Canon Law, i. 324.Google Scholar

page 406 note a Mansi, xxi. 282.Google Scholar

page 406 note b Mansi, xxi. 528.Google Scholar

page 406 note c Mansi, xxii. 226Google Scholar; Decret. Lib. III. tit. xxx. c. 19.

page 406 note d Concl. 49 Langton, a.d. 1222, in Lyndwood, p. 151: “We ordain that no churches belonging to responsible persons (certæ personæ) be let to farm but for a just causo and to one in orders of whom it may be presumed that he will apply the fruits to good uses.” Const. 15 Peckham, a.d. 1281. quoted 15 n. b.

page 406 note e Thus in October, 1283, Bishop Quivil of Exeter granted a licence to Nicolas de Gatecumbe, parson of Ashwater, to study at Oxford for one year. He was to pay 1 mark to the Preaching Friars, 1 mark to the Franciscans, and 1 mark to the poor (Bronescombe Exeter Registers, 313). The value of the benefice was then returned as £12 (Ibid. 459). Again on 15th November, 1286, a licence was granted to the same to study theology or canon law (decreta) at Oxford and to put out his. benefice to farm to the chaplain of the place (Ibid. 313).

page 407 note a Can. 9, a.d. 1127.

page 408 note a The term is, however, met with in Canon 2 of the 9th Council of Toledo, 655, which directs that builders of churches may present (offerre) to their bishops suitable rectors to be ordained in the same churches.

page 409 note a Bronescombe Registers, 155.

page 409 note b Ibid. 164.

page 409 note c Ibid. 185.

page 409 note d Ibid. 185.

page 409 note e Ibid. 174.

page 409 note f Ibid. 124.

page 409 note g Ibid. 173.

page 409 note h Ibid. 155.