The historie of tithes that is, the practice of payment of them, the positiue laws made for them, the opinions touching the right of them : a review of it is also annext, which both confirmes it and directs in the vse of it / by I. Selden.

II.

For arbitrarie Consecrations; the a Laws ordaind in the first of these CCCC. yeers, that speak of Decimationum prouentu•• priori Ecclesiae le∣gitime assignatus, and locus vbi decimae fuerant an∣tiquitus consecratae, and Decimae quae singulis dantur Ecclesijs, and such more point at the vse of them. And although, out of any continuance alone of voluntarie paiment, a kind of Parochiall right (which also by the Laws b of the time euery Re∣ctor should haue enioyed in the Territorie where he dispensed the Sacraments) were created, yet Consecrations of Tithes (not yet established by a ciuill title) made to the Church of another Parish at the Lay-owners choice, were practiced and con∣tinued in force; as may plainly be collected out of an old Law about the beginning of these yeeres made (but not put in execution) for punishment of such consecrations by compulsion of the partie to restore to the Church the quantitie of the Tithe so aliened. Quicunque (are the c words of it) De∣cimam abstrahit de Ecclesia ad quam per iustitiam dari debet, & eam presumptiose, vel propter munera aut amicitiam vel aliam quamlibet occasionem, ad a∣liam

Ecclesiam dederit, à Comite vel a misso nostro distringatur, vel eiusdem Decimae quantitatem cum sua lege restituat. So another was made against parsons, vnder paine of depriuation, that they d should not perswade Parishioners to come to their Churches, & suas decimas sibi dare. With it agrees the complaint made about the same time in the Councell of e Pauia, against such as vsed to giue away their Tithes alijs Ecclesijs pro libitu. And many expresse examples are of such grants made, not otherwise then as of Rents charge arbitrarily created. some shall be here added. But, because since the last chapter printed, the Chartulary of the Church of Vtrecht among many other select mo∣niments to the purpose of this discourse (through the fauor of that right worthy and learned S^r Ro∣bert Cotton, my most honord friend) came to my hands, wherin an obseruable consecration of tithes in the former CCCC. yeers, is preserued; it shall here (not much out of its place) be first rememberd. There, in confirmations to that Bishoprique made by Pipin, Charles the great, and other of the suc∣ceeding Emperors, is expressed that some neer an∣cestors of that Charles (as the elder Pipin, Charles Martell, Carloman) had giuen great endowments to it, and among them, f Omnem Decimam de Man∣cipijs, terris, & telonijs, vel de negotio, vel de omni re; vndecun{que} ad partem regiam fis••us teloneum exi∣gere aut accipere videbatur. it seems it must be re∣straind to what the grantors possessed in the Terri∣torie about Vtrecht, although no such thing ap∣pears

in the diuers Charters there remaining of it. For the following times; in the same Chartularie, is a commemoration of the possessions of the Bi∣shoprique, wherein diuers particular Tenths pos∣sessed by speciall grant are reckond; as Tenths of wreck, of treasure troue, of fishing. and a relation is of promise made to the Bishop by one Gutha to endow a Church, which he gaue to Vtrecht, with the Tithes of diuers Mannors. In Beuorhem (the words are) tradidit Gutha Ecclesiam necdum con∣secratam in ius & dominium Sancti Martini (to that Saint was the church of Vtrecht consecrated) ea videlicet ratione, vt, post consecrationem eiusdem Ecclesiae, Decimae darentur ad supranominatam Ec∣clesiam de villis hijs nominibus vocitatis; Beuorhem, Gisleshem, Hegginghem, Schupildhem. And in the yeer DCCC.LII. Raginer Duke of Lorrain, for the health of his own soule, and the soules of his wife, children, and parents, giues to the Abbey of Vito in Verdun, a whole Town called Longuion with the appurtenances, and all the Tithes of the Land that he had within the bounds and precinct of the same Town. Villam nostram (as the Charter g speaks) quae dicitur Longuion cum omnibus appen∣dicijs suis ac Decimis quas in Banno dictae villae ha∣bebamus. and one of his successors Rigimir, by Charter dated DCCCC.XLVI. for like conside∣ration gaue to another Monasterie, seated vpon Moselle, all the Tithes within the libertie of the Town where it stood, in these words; Imperpetuum omnes Decimas quas habeo in Banno praefati oppidi

tam in blado, quam in vino, ac alijs rebus. where Bannus or Bannum is vsed for the continent with∣in the vtmost precinct of the Town; in which sense Banleuca, as also leuga circumiacens, occurs in the moniments of this Kingdom, as h Banleuca de A∣rundell, for all comprehended within the limits or land adioyning, and so belonging to the Castle or Town, which are both as one to this purpose. So the Monks of Clugny in Burgundie, founded by William Count of Auuergne in the yeer DCCCCX. had Tithes of diuers possessions giuen them; which the phrase of the time stiled i Decimas indo∣minicatas, in a Charter to them made by Lewes the fourth of France, in the yeer DCCCC.XXXIX. and those Tithes were often confirmed to them by Pontificiall autoritie: as by k Agapetus the second, l Lucius the second, and afterward by Vrban m the third, in the yeer M.C.LXXXV. in whose Bull, a recitall and confirmation also is of an instrument of Adhemar Bishop of Xantoigne made to this Monasterie, that hath these words in it. Damus & concedimus vobis Decimas quas à Laicis acquisistis vel acquirere poteritis, with a command that Lai∣men in the precinct of their Abbey, should not conuey their Tithes to any other Churches. And when the Abbey of Vendosme was founded about the yeer M.L. by Godfrey Martell Earle of Aniou, the Tithes n of the Salt-pits in som part of Poictou, were consecrated to it. the like had the same Mo∣nasterie in some Salt-pits possessed by the Bishop of Xantoigne, which although it had enioied for

threescore yeers, yet the Bishop began to denie a∣ny more paiment, and for his owne gaine, would haue maintaind this opinion, That no church-lands were to pay Tithes to any Church. But Godfrey Ab∣bot of Vendosme about the yeer M.C.XX. sharply corrects him in an Epistle▪ and shews that the opi∣nion of all France and Italie, then was, that al∣though lands charged to any Church with the pai∣ment of Tithes, were possessed by another Church or Monasterie, yet the Tithes were still paiable Parochially from the one Church to the other. That Abbots words are obseruable, because also they shew a generall practice of paiment Parochi∣ally by Churches to Churches.

Nobis dictum est (saith o he) quia dicitis, quòd Ecclesia non debet Decimam dare. Hoc verum est, vbi Eccle∣sia nihil habet in Paroecia alterius Ecclesiae, vbi verò Ecclesia, in alterius Ecclesiae Paroecia, pos∣sessionem aliquam habet, vel quippiam quòd De∣cimari debeat, ibi Ecclesia Ecclesiae p Decimam reddere debet, si illud iustè possidere desiderat. Hoc tenet Italia, hoc tenet Gall••a; Ibi enim no∣uimus Ecclesias Ecclesijs Decimas reddere, & maiores minoribus, & minores maioribus, vbi altera earum possessionem obtinet in iure alteri∣us. hoc facimus Ecclesijs, hoc Ecclesiae fecerunt nobis.

and according to this had he a Decree for the Monasterie from Pope Calixtus the second. This, by the way here, for paiment among the Clergie. But for more arbitrarie consecrations by Lay men; in the yeer M.C.XXIV. Ansellus de

Garlanda, in his foundation of the Abbey of Saint Mary of Gornay in France, among other possessi∣ons giues it q Decimam de Berchorellis, and Duas partes Decimae de Ber••herijs, and totam Decimam de Ponteuz, and apud Terciacum medietatem Deci∣mae. Many like examples might be added, but one more only shall suffice, in which the frequencie of the practice may be easily ghest at. that is found in a Bull, of confirmation, made by Pope Innocent the III. of the possessions of the Abbey of the Holy Crosse, and S. Leufrid, in the Diocese of Roan; a∣mong which r diuers appropriated Churches are with their Tithes (and so expressed: Ecclesia N. cum decimis) but beside them also many Tithes se∣uerally granted by diuers Barons and Gentlemen to the Abbey, out of such or such lands, without a∣ny Churches, are confirmed, as Decimam de feudo Hugonis de Sensei apud Neufuillam. Decimam Wil∣lielmi de Maudit apud Luderuillam de feudo Williel∣mi Pelet apud Amercort. Decimam de feudo Matthaei de Gamichijs apud Maneuillam. Duas partes Deci∣marum de feudo Pagani de S. Luciano, & de feudo Orselli, & de feudo Flooldi, and Decimam de Hen∣dicruilla, & de Sesseuilla in feudo Autulij. Decimam de Boelio in feudo Roberti filij Williellmi. Decimam de Mesuilla in feudo Hugonis de Lace. & Decimam de Buison in feudo Hugonis Bigot &c. If one Abbey had so many arbitrary Consecrations, who can doubt of the most common vse of them? But if you desire more examples, look in the places s noted in the margin, but especially wher anon we haue the

practice of our own t Nation by it selfe declared. Out of them all (being but few in regard of what questionlesse might be had in the Records of chur∣ches, and Monasteries, yet remayning in other States) you may find a vse of that arbitrarie dispo∣sition till about the yeer M.CC. when the distri∣bution of Tenths also to the Poore according to the owners free will (which I take to be consecra∣tions, or grants to Monasteries; for the Monks were vsually called Pauperes, and were so indeed by their vow) was expresly complained against, as a great fault of the time by Pope Innocent the III. For he then preaching of u Zache's charitie, that consisted aswell in making restitution of what was due to others, as inerogation of almes to the poor, obserus that he gaue of his own, and paid what was other mens. Dedit proprium & reddidit alienum. Grauiter ergo peccant (saies he) qui Decimas & pri∣mitias non reddunt Sacerdotibus, sed eas pro volunta∣te sua distribuunt indigentibus. But as great a fault as it was, it was a common one; and being commit∣ted by the Laitie was vsually allowd in fact by the Pope and the Ordinaries; whateuer they thought of it in right. And of such autoritie was this vse, that an opinion was bred from it among very great men of the Clergie, that, as arbitrarie Consecrati∣on was a cause of the right of Tithes in a Church whereto they were conueid, so continuall paiment of many yeers (which being by diuers, of the more deuout, faithfully performed, those Clergie men tooke as equiualent to a personall consecration of

the Tenths of their increase, whereuer it were re∣ceiud) had so setled the perpetuall right of the Tithes of any Familie, that whither soeuer it trans∣planted it selfe, it must still send its Tenths to the place where before it paid them; as if this continu∣all paiment had foreuer so bound it, that it might not pay them otherwise. This was the opinion of diuers Bishops in the Patriarchat of Grado, as you may see by the same Pope Innocent his x reprehen∣sion of them, and y of others elswhere also. Neither were these grants alwaies free consecrations, but oft times were made for valuable consideration gi∣uen by the Church, which is exprest in the phrase z Redimere Decimas, vsed in the Synodall and Im∣periall Laws, of this time, made De Decimis quas porulus dare non vult nisi quolibet modo, or munere ab eo redim••at••r. For, howsoeuer Hincmar Bishop of Rheims, in reprehending a the Monks of S. De∣nis, because they were about to take mony of a Par∣son for a right of Tithe, aduised them with absit vt Laici audiant, quod nemo etiam peccatis publicis im∣plicatus in mea Parochia facere audet. as if it had been almost vnheard of in that age (he liud about DCCC.LX.) that any man had euer tooke mony for a grant of his Tithes▪ yet plainly the autoritie of those Laws shew, it was no such raritie. nor was it out of practice about the end of this CCCC. yeers, as may be collected out of a question dispu∣ted in b Alexander Hales touching Tithes held by Lay men, In territorio alterius Ecclesiae quae non po∣testeas redimere. although perhaps his meaning was

only of feudall Tithes. But neither did the Laitie thus only c dispose Tithes not alreadie consecra∣ted, but in som kind also (by Appropriations) such as were before established to Parochial Churches.

Notes

• a

  Concil. M••g. 16. q. 1. c. 42. Metens. circae ann. 890. cap. 2. M••g▪ circa a d▪ 846 Benedictus L••∣uita lib. 5. c. 46.
• b

  Leo 4. in c. 16. q. 1 de Monachis c. 45 &c. 56. & saepe in Capitularibus.
• c

  Leg. Lo••gobard. lib. 3. tit. 3. cap▪ 7. Hlothari•• Imp & in Addit. q. ad Ca∣pitular. cap 73.
• d

  Benedict Leui∣tae, lib. 7. c. 141.
• e

  Synod. T••cin••ns· c 16 q. 1. ••. in s••cri•• Canonibus 56.
• f

  Videsis, ante alia, diplomae ibid. dat▪ 2. I••do••i••i 1. Imperatoris. in quo, quae superio∣res concesserant, recensentur.
• g

  Diplomat. ••7. & 35 in Stemmat. ••otharingiae apud Francisc. de Rosicres
• h

  In placi••. de iu∣rat. & assis. apud Cicestr. 47. Hen. 3. R••t. 44.
• i

  Biblioth. Cl••••ia∣cens. pag. 265.
• k

  A. D. 948.
• l

  A. D. 1144.
• m

  Biblioth. Clu••i∣a••. pag. 1447.
• n

  Ex Tabular Mo∣nasterij a••ud Iae∣cob. irmondum in G. Vindoc••••ens. pag. 66.
• o

  Goffrid. Vindo∣ci••ens lib. 3. E∣p••st. 41.
• p

  Ita etiam Pe∣trus Cluniac. lib. 1. Epist. 33. & 36.
• q

  In Diplomat. Ludouici Crass•• a∣pud Andream Quercetan n No∣ti•• ad Petrum Abe∣lardum, pag. 1174.
• r

  Innocent. 3. E∣pist. Decretal. lib. 2. pag. 435. edit. Co∣loniensi.
• s

  Vide, si placet, Chartam Galfr••d•• Viceconitis Mo∣nasterio S. Dioni∣sij datam apud Andr. Qu••r••etan. in notis ad Bibl. Cluniac. pag. 14. Chartam W. Co∣mitis Niuern. apud eundem pag. 174. Adelardi Cast••i∣gunterij Dom. apud la••. Sirmondum in notis ad Goffr. Vindoc. pag. 95. Gottefredi Bullo••••i. apud Aubert. Mi∣raum in lib. de Canonicis Colle∣gijs c 91 Innoc. 3. Epist. Decret. l. lib. 1. pag▪ 160.
• t

  Cap. 11.
• u

  In serm. ••. de Dedication•• Templi pag. 83. Tom. 1. nec vigo••em e∣iusmodi donatio∣nes obt••nere san∣••••uit ille, extr. tit. de De•• c 7 cum. Apostolica.
• x

  Decr••ral. Epist. lib. 1 pag. 83.
• y

  Extr. de Paroch. cap. 5 si••nificauit.
• z

  B••nedict. Leui••a Capitular. lib. 5. cap▪ 46. Conc. Me∣gunt. c. 16 q. 7. c. 7. Leg••s Longobard. lib. 3. tit. 3 cap. 8.
• a

  Apud Fl••d••ar∣d••m in hist. Eccle∣sia Rhemensis, lib. 3. cap▪ 25.
• b

  Summa part. 3. qu••st. 51. memb. 6. art. 4.
• c

  Vide etiam quae in proxima secti∣one de Danis. Tu∣ringis, alijs item adferuntur.