CONTENTS.

Introduction, pages xvii.-xxiv.
Difficulties in writing a true history of tithes, xvii. No tithes paid for centuries after the Christian Era, xviii. Canons passed for their payment, xviii. Papal interference in the British Church, xix. Custom of paying tithes in eighth century, xix. Population of England then, xx. Norman monks initiated appropriations, xx. Infeudations condemned by Lateran Councils, xx. Monastic lands granted by Henry VIII. and his children, xxi. Changes made by Ecclesiastical Commission, xxi., xxii. No physical transfer of Endowments at the Reformation, xxiii. Present trustees of Church Endowments have only a Parliamentary Title, xxiii. A Roman Catholic Bishop’s views on present 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 for payment of tithes, 1. When tithes ceased to be paid by Jews, 2. Heathen nations 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 “Apostolic Constitutions,” by Pope Clement I., 5. Anglican divines supporting claim to tithes on such constitutions, 6. Emperor Constantine’s edict, 7. Divisions of offerings and oblations, 7. Are Christians justified in adopting the Mosaic Law 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. Earliest supposed 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 Archbishopric of Canterbury, and Bishoprics of London and Rochester, 15. Augustine’s questions to Pope Gregory and his reply, 16, 17. How Bishops and their Clergy were at first maintained in England, 17. Brewer’s and Dibdin’s translation of “portiones,” 17. Quadripartite division, 17. Blackstone’s opinion, 18. Bishops’ churches, and chapels of ease, 18. Did Augustine preach payment of tithes? 19. King Ethelbert’s grant of tithes a fiction, 19. Fuller’s misleading 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 common law 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-third of 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 the working of this law, 34, 35. Quarrel between Augustine and the British Bishops, 35, 36. Gloomy aspect of Roman mission, 36. Arbitrary assumption of Papal authority over Anglo-Saxon Church, 37. King Oswy’s decision about 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 and Pope Adrian I., 40, 41. Lichfield an Archbishopric, 41. First legatine council in England, A.D. 787, p. 42. Councils at Colchyth (Chelsea) and in Northumbria, 43. Twenty injunctions passed, 43. The 17th referred to the payment of tithes, 44. Selden’s opinions on these injunctions, 43. First supposed civil law in England for payment of tithes, 44. Opinions of Lord Selborne, Bishop Stubbs, and Selden on 17th injunction, 45. Offa’s supposed law of tithes in A.D. 794, p. 47. Dean Prideaux’s opinion on it, and wrong quotations, 47, 48. Lord Selborne and Kemble on Bromton, 49. Who was Polydore Vergil? 48, 49. First mention of tithes in English writings, 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 on it, 54. Folcland and Bocland defined, 56, 57. Kemble’s six canons to test genuineness of charters, 59. Ethelwulf’s charters thus tested, 59, 60. The Malmesbury Cartulary, 60. Ethelwulf’s second charter of grants, 62. Kemble’s opinion on Ethelwulf’s first and second grants, 64, 65. Charter C, an abridgment of William of Malmesbury’s charter, 65. Selden’s conclusion on Ethelwulf’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 Guthrum II. passed a tithe law, 69. Athelstan’s law on tithes, 70. This is the first 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 to King Athelstan, 75. Lingard and Freeman on this letter, 75. Definition of tithe, 76. Tithe laws of King Edmund, 77. Church-scot, 78. King Edgar’s laws, 79. Threefold division of churches, 80. First English law expressly appropriating tithes, 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. Manorial Churches in Domesday with one-third of tithes, 82. Errors created by confounding original meaning of “parochia,” with subsequent meaning, 83. Selden on Edgar’s law, 84. Bishop Kennett on Manorial Churches, 85. The parish bank, 83. Lay patrons had taken two-thirds of tithes for poor and repairing Churches, 86. Edgar’s canons and gloss to same, 86, 87. Origin of his canons, 88. Population of England in Anglo-Saxon times, 91. Population when 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 his history on the tripartite division, 96, 97. His views in private letters, 97. Origin of Sir Robert Cotton’s library, 98. His death, 100. Catalogue of library, 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 of Wilkins’s “Concilia,” 106. Price’s evidence is worthless, 107, 108. Freeman’s history, like Stubbs’s, is in favour of the genuineness of Church Grith law, 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-Saxon laws, 112. Dr. Lingard accepts this law as genuine, 116. Contents of Worcester volume, Nero, A. 1 stated, 117. Brewer, supported, but Dibden denies, the tripartite division, 119, 120. Mr. Thorpe in favour of the genuineness of this law, 121. Canute’s laws in three branches, 121. He modelled his laws on Edgar’s and Ethelred’s, 121. Thirty-six of the forty-four articles in the Church Grith law are incorporated in Canute’s, 121. How Lord Selborne disposes of the other eight, 121. When Poor Law Act was passed, 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 monastic properties, 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 the poor to a part of the tithes, 127. Lord Selborne’s argument answered, that the part allotted to the poor out of tithes would now be insufficient for their maintenance, 127. Sir Simon Degge says: “The poor have a share in the tithes.” Lord Selborne’s criticism on this statement, 129. Who Anthony Harmer 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’s Act, 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 people to 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 burial fees, 135. 2 and 3 Edw. VI., c. 13, modified personal tithes, 135. Timber tithable 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. Statute of Mortmain, 136. How evaded by the monks, 137. Act of 1531 against land being willed to religious houses for more than 21 years, 137. Action of House of Commons against canons for the payment of tithes without the assent of Commons, 137. Some views in the “Brief” combated. Church of England holds her endowments by a Parliamentary title, 140. Amount received by parochial incumbents from the Common Fund, 141. Four-fifths of 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 appropriated their tithes and churches to whom they wished, 147. The monks initiated the practice of appropriating parochial tithes, 146. Bishops, chapters, and nuns followed their example, 147. Form of conveyance used, 147. The incumbent not originally a freeholder proved from one of the Acts of Third Lateran Council, A.D. 1180, p. 148. This Council gave a death-blow to arbitrary 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 rights to tithes for the future, 150. Monasteries and chapters had to show their title to tithes by grants or by prescriptions, 151. Monastic tithes were of two kinds, 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 changes in 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 from this canon and the Act of 1391, p. 157. The Act of 1403 gives the vicar a permanent 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. The value of this property then and now, 159. The present position of owners of monastic 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. Danes destroyed the monasteries, 164. This gave an impetus to building manorial churches, 165. King Edgar rebuilt them, 165. His leading church ideas, 165, 166. The English monks passed through three reformations, 166. The Norman bishops divided the properties of the cathedral church, 168. Table showing the monasteries built from William I. to Henry VI., 169. Alien monasteries, 170. Main indications of a religious revolutionary wave passing over England, 170. The preaching of Franciscans, Dominicans, and John Wickliffe that tithes were only alms, 170-172. Wickliffe’s opinions pronounced heretical, 171. Cathedral Act of 1840 [3 & 4 Vict., c. 113] passed to sweep away Church abuses, 172. Beneficial effect of the Act, 173. The object of owners in appropriating tithes to monasteries, 175. Charter of the Earl 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. His own action in dissolving them, 179. Most objectionable appointments to college livings, 178. Henry VIII. made “Supreme head of the Church of England,” 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 Henry VIII., and by him to others, such vast estates, 180. He created six new bishoprics; he intended to create twenty-one, 181. The manors and palaces surrendered 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. The preamble ran, “For erecting grammar schools, augmenting universities, and a better provision for the poor and needy.” This object completely failed, 185. An Act in Henry VIII.’s reign for payment of tithes, 185. Lands exempt from 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 and churches, 186. Bishop Rogers’ Constitution, 186. Archbishop Arundel’s additional elevenpenny tax, 187. Constant quarrels by the citizens with the clergy about this extra charge, 187. In 1403 the Pope sided against the citizens and for the 11d., yet they considered it a cheat and fraud, 187. By 27 Henry 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. The Fire Act of 1670 (22 & 23 Charles II., c. 15) regulating payments in lieu of tithes 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 in 1670, 1804 and 1890 to each, 190-192. Churches consolidated in the city and liberties, 192. Amounts paid to other churches not included in the Fire Act, 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’s scheme, 202. Lord Russell’s Commutation Bill, 202, 203. The principle of the Commutation Act, 203. Lord Russell said, “Tithes were the property of the 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 the tithe, 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-valuation would be unjust and impracticable, 207, 208. The repeal of the Corn Laws an injustice to the tithe-owners, 208. Difference in amount between tithe 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 start from “par value” or “current value?” 209. £100 commuted value should not be sold for less than £2,000, and reasons given, 210. Gross value of the tithe-rent charge of England and Wales, 210.
Extraordinary Tithe-rent Charge. The Middlesex market-gardeners influenced Lord Russell to introduce the above in his Bill, 211. The tax is against the principle of the Commutation Act, 211. Duty on hops repealed in 1862, p. 213. Market Gardens Act of 1873 and its origin, 213. The Act of 1886, no new extraordinary charge to be made, 213. And to redeem such charges that were made under previous Acts, 213. An annual rent-charge free 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 in 1836, p. 216. The same in 1890, p. 217. The clerical appropriations in Bangor, Llandaff, St. Asaph and St. David’s, 217-221. The Vicars-choral of St. Asaph, 219. The amount of tithe-rent charge in possession of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in each of the thirteen counties in 1890, p. 223. Amount still outstanding on leases, p. 223. The annual payments of the Common Fund to the Welsh bishops, chapters, Archdeacon Lampeter, and parochial incumbents, p. 223. The net income derived from Wales, 224. The total 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-rent charge through county court, 227. 3. Rules, 229. 4. Lands occupied rent free, 230. 5. Restrictions as to costs, 231. 6. Rating of owner of tithe-rent charge, 231. 7. Power of appeal, 232. 8. Remission of tithe-rent charge 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 new machine, removing friction between tithe-owner and tithe-payer, 239. The tithe-payer cannot be imprisoned for non-payment, 240. Provision made to prevent collision between landowner and tithe-payer, 240. Section 4 upsets the main principle of the Act. 241. The tithe-owner must pay all rates, 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, and Prebendaries, 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, ending 1890, 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 number appropriated to monasteries, etc., 254, 255.
Explanation of this Analysis, 255, 256.
H. Lands and money payments made in lieu of tithes by the Inclosure Acts, 257.
I. Gross annual amount of Church Revenues, and number of Benefices and Parsonage Houses, 258.
Index, pages 259-268.