particulars which either the Popes autoritie of later time or new Cōpositions or Grants or the like haue altered enioyed by the Churches that yet remaining had portions so anciently giuen them or by the King or his Grantees of impropriated Tithes very many of which had their chiefe originall from those arbitrarie Consecrations which you may well call Appropriations of Tithes and not from the appropriating only of Parish Churches as some out of grosse ignorance with too much confidence deliuer But thereof you may see more in the examples of the next Chapter where for most apparant proofe of the practice of arbitrarie Consecrations in those times Moniments enough are collected This arbitrarie disposition vsed by the Laitie as well de iure as the Positiue Law then receiued and practiced was as de facto is that which Wicclef rememberd in his complaint to the King and Parlament vnder Richard the second His words are A Lord God where this be reason to constrain the poor people to find a worldly Priest sometime vnable both of life and cunning in pompe and pride couetise and enuie glottonie drunkennesse and lecherie in simonie and heresie with fat Horse and iolly and gay Saddles and Bridles ringing by the way and himselfe in costly Clothes and Pelure and to suffer their wiues and children and their poor neighbours perish for hunger thirst and cold and other mischiefes of the world A Lord Iesu Christ sith within few yeeres men payed their Tithes and Offerings at their own will free to good men and able to great worship of God to profit and fairenesse of holy Church fighting in earth Where it were lawfull and needfull that a worldly Priest should destroy this holy and approued custome constraining men to leaue this freedome turning Tithes and Offerings into wicked vses But what hee calls a few yeers will fall out to be about CC. for hee wrote about the yeer M.CCC.XC With him well agrees some passages in our Yeere-bookes of the times before him As in 7. Ed. 3. fol. 5. a. Parning truly affirmes that in auncien temps deuant vn Constitution de nouelle fait per le Pape vn Patron d'un Esglise puit granter Dismes deins mesme le Paroche a vn altre Paroche And Herle there in his answer seemes to admit it cleere So also touching others as well as Patrons Lodlow Iudge of Assise in 44. Ed. 3. fol. 5. b. En auncien temps chescun home purroit graunter les Dismes de sa terre a quel Esglise il voudroit Quod verum est sayes Iudge Brooke in abridging the case But what new Constitution of the Pope is meant there by Parning some later Books tells vs that from the Councell of Lateran the first alteration of that course of arbitrarie disposition came But plainely no Councell of Lateran hath any Canon that alterd the Law in it except that vnder Alexander the third before spoken of in the end of the sixt Chapter may haue place here which indeed the Canonists will not endure vnlesse you restraine it only to ancient Feudall Tithes And they suppose euerie man might haue arbitrarily conueyed before that Councell his Feudall Tithes to what Church he would And so expressely sayes our Lindwood Ante illud Concilium benè potuerunt Laici Decimas in feudum retinere eas alteri Ecclesiae vel Monasterio dare non tamen post tempus dicti Concilij But if those which with vs talk here of the Councell of Lateran meane that vnder Alexvnder the third and apply it generally to arbitrarie Consecrations of new Tithes not feudall I doubt they are much neerer the true meaning of that Councell then any of the Canonists especially while they speake of this Kingdome for arbitrarie Consecrations before about the time of that Councell are found here infinite as presently shall be shewd But of ancient feudall Tithes howeuer they were common in other States scarce any mention at all or tast is with vs. but thereof more in the XIII Chapter And it may be that when from the Canonists some of our Lawiers had learned that feudall Tithes might haue been conueied before that Councell arbitrarily by the owner and saw withall that scarce any signe was of feupall Tithes in this Kingdom yet an abundance of old arbitrarie Consecrations the vse whereof ceased about the time of the Councell in the words of it no regard or mention being had of feudall but only Tithes in generall they concluded who sees enough why they might not that before that Councell euery man might haue arbitrarily disposed of his tithes that is such tithes as were not formerly setled by any ciuill Title But if this will not be allowd for the Law of change of those arbitarie conueiances why may it not first be that Parning by his Constitution de nouelle fait per le Pape meant that of Pope Innocent the third sent to the Archbishop of Canterburie in King Iohns time and perhaps it was soon after receiud into the Prouince of York either by imitation or through the power Legatin which the Archbishop of Canterburie commonly exercised through the whole Kingdome to command a Parochiall payment For also by the name of a Constitution newly made by the Pope some such thing rather then a Canon of a generall Councell is perhaps denoted And then why might it not happen that the Decretal of Innocent the third bearing date in the Church of Lateran should be thence denominated and that afterward those which truly vnderstanding it called it therefore a Lateran Constitution gaue cause of mistaking to others that took it for a Constitution of a generall Councell of Lateran especially too because it was about the time of the generall Councell of Lateran held vnder the same Pope that sent it of which more notice hath been taken in our Law then of any other of that name and indeed he that affirms that before the Councell of Lateran Lay owners might haue disposed their Tithes cuicunque Ecclesiae secundum meliorem deuotionem as Dyers words are speaks true enough if his words may receiue this easie interpretation that is that till about that Councell of Lateran they might haue done so not that the Councell vnder Pope Innocent restraind it but that either the next Councell of Lateran before that is vnder Alexand. the III. or the Pope by a Constitution receiued here from Rome and dated in the Church of Lateran about the time of that Councel of the yeer M.CC.XV. ordaind the contrarie so that in this last way the name of the Councell may be a note only of the time about which it was restraind not of the autoritie whence it was forbidden Perhaps those Canons of Pluralities of Exemptions of the three orders and some such more which we receiud from that Councell vnder Innocent were brought into England at once with this Decretall Epistle and if so then also it was no more strange to haue the
desire of the Clergie then in other places where you shal find arbitrarie consecrations by Lay men continuing till about MCC.. For if the Bishop had not had these Tithes payd but had pretended only right in them his bountie to the Monasterie had been to litle purpose So in the Diocese of Oldenburg about MCLX. payment was duely it seems made to the Bishop by all sauing those which had improued the deserts of Wagria which could by no means be brought to it Decimas ex more soluere recusauerunt sayes Krantzius being yet readie to giue a competent part of their encrease And although Gerold the Bishop and Count Adolph ioyned together the one with perswasion wherein he pretended to them Exempla as the same Author writes Ecclesiarum omnium praesertìm proximarum and told them of Diuinum de Decimis praeceptum the other with power to make them tithe their profits yet they vtterly refused and with tumult and clamors made open profession Seruili conditioni nunquam se colla submissuros per quam omne Christicolarum genus Pontificum pressurâ laboret Neither were the Danes in those Ages easier to be brought to the payment of Tithes to the Church Indeed they so much abhorred it that no greater cause was why they barbarously betrayed and murdered their King Knout the fourth then that hee would haue imposed it And about the yeere MCLXXX vnder King Waldemur the first Absalon Bishop of Lunden would haue had them all paid their Tithes and that vnder paine of an Interdict to continue against them but they stoutly refused and answered by publique message to the Clergie That notwithstanding the Interdict they should carefully minister Diuine Seruice and Sacraments or els depart the Countrey if they did neither Non solùm rerum amissionem sed membrorum etiam truncationem demorarentur And it is well noted by Krantzius that the Northern Nations generally were very hardly brought to pay but after continuall and earnest Doctrine of the Church and command of Princes at length many of them yeelded that is as may be coniectured in the first halfe of the yeer MCC Through the frequent vse of those arbitrarie Consecrations and those Appropriations Churches with their Tithes and Tithes of seuerall possessions were in exceeding number established in Monasteries as well of Nunnes as Monkes The Tithes of LX. of LXXX or more Parishes were by those courses annext sometime to one Monasterie which the Head and Couent possessed not as any part or as pretending themselues to be any part of that Clergie which made vp the Euangelicall Priesthood or deserued them by ministring Diuine Seruice and Sacraments to the owners For indeed diuers of these appropriated Tithes were out of such lands as lay so distant from the Monasteries not in other Dioceses only but also in other Kingdomes that the owners neuer saw or knew the Monks or their Cloister nor otherwise heard of them but by their Cellarars or Prouosts that exacted payment Whereupon it was in time of our Edward the third affirmed in a petition in Parliament That Aliens which by reason of appropriations made to their Houses beyond the Seas or to their Priories or Cells in this Kingdome or the like did so deuoure the Salaries due to Parish Curats and so neglect the Diuine Seruice which they should haue taken care for in euery Parish that they did more hurt to holy Church then all the Iewes and Saracens of the world Which might haue been well applicable to some kind of Non-residence of Denizens also But the religious persons iustified their consuming this Ecclesiastique reuenue by reason only of their Prayers their Tears their Psalmes their Almes and the like exercises of Deuotion beside their maintenance of Curats with arbitrarie Salaries in the Parish-Churches appropriated to them Which is at large seene in an Epistle of Peter Abbot of Clugny to S. Bernard Abbot of the Cistercian Order at Clareuaulx about the Monks of Clugny their possessing of a large number of Parochiall Tithes The Cistercians had made diuers complaints against them and one was vpon this verie point in these words Ecclesiarum Parochialium primitiarum Decimarum possessiones quae ratio vobis contulit Cum haec omnia non ad Monachos sed ad Clericos Canonica Sanctione pertineant illis quippe quorum officij est baptizare praedicare reliqua quae ad animarum pertinent salutem gerere haec concessa sunt vt non sit eis necesse implicari saecularibus negotijs sed quia in Ecclesia laborant in Ecclesia viuant Hereto among diuers other imputations the Abbot of Clugny answers and giues his reason for their enioying of Tithes thus Quia Monachi ex maxima parte fidelium saluti inuigilant licet Sacramenta minime ministrant estimamus ipsorum primitias Decimas Oblationes quaeque beneficia eos dignè posse suscipere quoniam reliqua populo Christiano à Presbyteris that is by the Curats which they maintaind faciunt exhiberi And another of great note before this Abbots time pretends speciall charitie towards the poor for sufficient reason why Monasteries and Hermitages had Tithes giuen them Vt copiosiora saith he alimenta proficiant dantur in Monasterijs Eremis Decimae quorunque prouentuum non modo pecorum sed ornicum pariter ouorum The same reasons hold in iustifying of Appropriations to Nunneries where the persons are not capable of the Ministerie And among Examples of the Age take this one for some confirmation in these elder times of the right which Monks pretended to them In the yeere MLIX a great controuersie fell between Meginher Abbot of Herfeildi and Burchard Bishop of Halberstadt about Tithes of large Territories in Saxonie appropriated to the Abbey The Abbot stood vpon the Appropriation the Bishop vpon his Episcopall right which by the Canon Law is and anciently was the same with parochiall in places not limited to any certain Parishes The Bishops greatnesse with the Iudges of both Lawes made the Abbot so despaire of successe in the Suit that he prosecuted no further but withall summoned the Bishop to appeare before the Almightie in his Iudgement-seat within some few daies there to answer in the same Action and verie soon after departed this life Not many daies interceded but the Bishop riding towards the Court where this Suit had depended to dispatch some proceedings touching it suddainly fell from his Horse very sick and being carried into his Inne gaue most strict charge as one diuinely moued that the Abbey should haue restitution and quiet possession of those Tithes for euer and admonisht them all that were by That who euer had been parties with him in that oppression against the Abbey should by the like Iudgement from Heauen suffer as he did confessing to the two Bishops of Magdeburg and Hildenesheim then visiting him that he was now called according to the Abbots summons to answere his exaction of
draw it to a different sense and oppose it against the right of all feudall Tithes being ancienter then the Councell and since passed ouer into Lay hands And whereas they commonly suppose that all these ancient feudall Tithes were at first spirituall and transferred from Church-men at the request of Princes into Lay hands and since wrongfully detained surely it is an error neither is there any ancient warrant sufficient for it many of them were doubtlesse created by Lay mens Grants as Rents-charge Estouers Turbaries and the like are Who can doubt of it that obserues but alone this Canon Prohibemus Whence also may be strongly inferd that the greater number of Infeudations were through Grants made by Lay men to Lay men as Consecrations were at their pleasure made to Churches for what is there only forbidden by the Councell may be thought the greatest and most preiudiciall practice of the time against the profit of the Clergie Neither is any prouision there made against the other kind of Infeudations which passe Tithes from Church-men And although the words Ecclesiae non reddiderit in the Canon and in the bodie of the same Councell in Roger of Houeden seeme to suppose as if it had been made for such Tithes as had been taken from the Church yet indeed the truer reading is tradiderit as appears in the bodie of that Councell first fully publisht out of the Vatican in the last Tome of the Generall Councells printed at Rome by command of the present Pope Paul the fift wherewith agrees other Editions but of lesse authoritie And perhaps also some old Infeodations were made by Lay Patrons in the vacancie of their Churches by the same challenged right as they alone made Appropriations For as by our common Law the Patron and the Bishop may in the time of vacancie dispose of the Endowments as by the Canon Law also if the Chapters consent or the Popes be had so in those elder times vpon equall reason when the Patron had the only disposition and interest of the Church as is alreadie shewd he alone sometimes granted any part at his choise it seems to Lay or Clergie men Why not any part as well as all And that Patrons granted whole Churches into Lay hands appears by diuers passages in Flodoards Rhemish historie by that before cited out of Damian and by the generall Councell of Lateran vnder Innocent the second where it is ordained that they should be restored from the Lay men to the disposition of the Bishops And an example is extant among the Records of the Monasterie of Egmond in Holland wherein Charles King of France who is commonly therein taken for Charles the Bald but Douza thinks it to be rather Charles the Simple and made about D.CCCC. and is thereto perswaded by Synchronisme the best triall of such truths recites that Hagano one of his Nobles humbly requested of him for Thierry the first Earle of Holland quasdam res Ecclesiam videlicet Hecmunde cum omnibus ad eam iure pertinentibus à loco qui dicitur Zwtherdes Haghe vsque ad Fortrapa Kinnâ—m c. Which by patent hee grants him in fee vt libere haec omnia teneat atque possideat habeat que de his potestatem iuxta libitum suum ordinandi seu saciendi If the Church it selfe of Egmund the Parish Church for it was then no Abbey but afterward made one by that Thierry passed not by this patent into Lay hands I sufficiently vnderstand it not neither is it spoken of but as what might according to the vse of that time be cleerly made a Lay fee. Through these kind of Grants practiced both by Lay Clergie men Princes and priuat persons the ancient Infeodations of Tithes had their originall as well as by Leases from the Church and not by imposition of Tenths by Princes as some haue ignorantly coniectured although also it be certaine that Princes sometimes ioyned with the Bishops to bring in the payment of Tithes that thereby themselues might haue beneficiall Infeodations of them from the Church But as Princes made Infeodations out of their owne Demesnes or their owne Churches so other priuat Lay Persons And the Clergie sometimes of Tithes alreadie vested in them and sometimes it seems out of their Demesnes And perhaps especially religious persons exempted from payment by Bulls made some out of their owne Demesnes as may be coniectured out of a Decree of Pope Alexander the fourth that speaks particularly of Infeodations made à religiosis exemptis alijs And for example of Tithes alreadie possessed and thus granted by the Church you may specially see that of Engelbert Count of Goritz who had an Infeodation anciently from the Church of Trieste in the Patriarchat of Aquilegia and Henrie Count of Ratzenbourg had an Infeodation of all the Tithes which were paid to the Church in his Territorie from the Bishop of Oldenbourg so one Hildeward had one in the Diocese of Hamborough and surrenderd it to Baldwin Archbishop there about M.C.LXXIV But examples of them were very many the dissike whereof was one speciall cause pretended by those of the Deserts of Wagria in Holst about M.C.LXX. why they would pay no Tithes Praeterea sayes Krantzius hoc adiecerunt non multùm a veritate aberrantes quòd omnes paenè Decimae in luxus cesserint hominum saecularium To these testimonies of Lay mens arbitrarie detaining disposing or receiuing of Tithes in those elder ages you may adde Bernardus Morlanensis an English Monke of Clugny about King Stephen his complaint of non-payment to the Clergie thus speaks he in his affected forme of Verses Rusticus hordea mittit in horrea farra recondit Horrea grandia vasa capacia multaque condit Nec pecus aut sata dante Deo data vult Decimare Nec sacra portio nec Decimatio redditur arae V. The like libertie as Lay men had enioied in not subiecting themselues to the payment of Tithes according to the Laws of the Church but bestowing or retaining them at their own wills in most places euen from the beginning of Christianitie vntill about the yeer M.CC. was another way purchased for some time by religious houses so to discharge themselues of censure of the Canons and that by Exemptions or Papall priuilege For howeuer the Laitie iustified themselues by their secular right admitting of Canons that toucht their estates but as they saw cause in their own iudgments yet Religious persons who were alwayes of the Pontificiall side and reckond in the Catalogue of the Clergie and possessed diuers large Territories durst not so oppose what was ordaind either by decree at Rome or in Synods Generall or Prouinciall Therefore when from the beginning of this Age both Doctrine and Canons of which more presently had made the dutie of Tithes of a known right among the Clergie Clergie men became somwhat strict obseruers of the payment as you see plainly in that before
censuris ne simplices inficiant mordaciter feriantur Sic vnanimes in vera doctrina Ecclesiae permaneamus vt ad eum tendere valeamus de quo canit Propheta Quaerite Dominum confirmamini quaerite faciem eius semper sic laetetur cor quaerentium Dominum hic in via quatenus ipsum quaerentibus dignetur esse merces in patria Amen They were me thinks somwhat vehement and very confident in the point Neither haue I elswhere seen so great autoritie against Russell If Russell were therefore an Heretique doubtlesse he hath had and now hath many fellow-Heretiques for thus many nay the most of such as most curiously inquire herein and diuers Canonists also that are for the morall right of prediall and mixt Tithes denie that personall are otherwise due regularly then as custom or Law positiue which is subiect to custom directs But iudge you of it Reader I only relate it and return to their prosecution against Russell at length news came that he was at Rome whither presently the Conuocation sent agents to whom they allowd for an honorarie salarie a farthing out of euery pound of Church liuings that might there question him before the Bishop of Rome a delegation of the Conisance of the cause was made to a Cardinall who adiudged him to perpetuall imprisonment vnlesse he recanted the Frier afterward brake prison and ran home again where at Pauls Crosse when nothing els could satisfie the secular part of the Clergie he solemnly abiured his heresie as they calld it and to preuent the like in the doctrin of other Minorits Chicheley the Archbishop enioind them all that in their publique Sermons they should teach personall Tithes to be due by the Laws of God and the Church Of later time others haue writen for the diuine right and generall dutie of Tithes you may see Albertus Pius Carpensis against Erasmus Baronius his digression touching them others but especially the diuers Treatises writen to that purpose of late by our Countrie men which are read in euerie hand I purposely abstain from particular mention of their names But neither haue only single autors been lately of that side for prediall and mixt whole Synods also of this age haue in expres words been for them through whose autoritie this ancienter before rememberd they might haue fortified their Conclusions with far greater names then by citing some one or two late single men as they vsually do To omit the Councell of Mentz held in the yeer M.D.XLIX where it is deliuered that Decimae debentur iure Diuino and some other are to that purpose in the Decreta Ecclesiae Gallicanae collected by Bochell In an Edict of Henrie the second of France in M.D.XLII relation is of a remonstrance made to him by the Bishop Dean Canons Chapter and Clergie of Paris wherein they take it cleer that tithes and first fruits were introduitees instituees de droit diuin partant deussent estre payes Loyauement sans fraude The like of the Clergie of the Diocese of Troyes is mentioned in an edict of Charles the ninth in M.D.LXII in the same words and in the yeer before by a Generall Synod of all the Clergie of France at Poissy a complaint was made with that pretence in it the words of the Edict best shew it Charles c. à tous ceux qui ces presentes lettres Verront salut De la part de nos chers bien amies consiellers les Archeuesques Euesques de nostre Royaume et des deputez des Clergez qui ont este n'aguerez assembleza Poissy par nostre commandement nous à este remonstre que combien que les Diximes Primices qui sont leur principall reuenu soient introduitees instituees de droict diuin partant deussent esâ—re payees loyaument sans fraude ce neantmoins plusieurs Agricoles proprietarees c. with these may be reckond that of the Clergies petition in the parliament of 50. Ed. 3. wherein they begin with Licit Decima siluae presertim caeduae de iure diuino ecclesiastico Deo et ecclesiae sit soluenda c. VI. But Although by this Opinion and that of the Canonists Tithes be generally due by the diuine Law and so not subiect if with them you take it for the diuine morall or naturall Law to Ciuill Exceptions as Customes and Prescriptions of discharges or of paiment of lesse or such more whence also reall compositions haue been condemned quia Decimae cum temporalibus non sunt commutandae as the words of an old Pope were to the Bishop of Cusa yet the practised Common Law for by that name as common is distinguished from sacred are the Ciuill or Municipall Laws of all Nations to be stiled hath neuer giuen way herein to the Canons but hath allowd customes and made them subiect to all ciuill titles Infeodations discharges compositions and the like Of Compositions no more shall be spoken seeing they consist rather in indiuiduals then of any generall course we only remember them here as one kind of discharge among other that haue been allowd by common Laws and where Customes and Infeodations hold no man can doubt of the lawfulnesse of Compositions But of Customes in the Edicts made by those Kings of France vpon those remonstrances it appears that what euer the Clergie supposed by their Dixmes introduitees and instituees de droict diuin they complain of abuse only in due paiment of Tithes out of lands suiets redeuables aux dits dixmes c. that is subiect and liable to the paiment of Tithes neither in other words do the Edicts and their verifications giue them remedie And notwithstanding that it were once according to sundrie Canons of that Church thus commanded by an old Law of the yeer M.CC.XXXVIII made by S. Lewes Decimae quibus fuit longo tempore ecclesia per malitiam inhabitantium defraudata Statuimus ordinamus quod restituantur citius amplius laici decimas non detineant sed eas habere clericis permittant yet in that state against the whole course of the Cannon Law in this kind they haue what by reason of ancient Infeodations still continuing what through customs allowed diuers lands to be not at all subiect to any Tithes payable to the Church For their Infeodations although none can be there new created such as were made before that Canon prohibemus of the Councell of Lateran held vnder Alexander the third are to this day remaining and are conueied and discend as other lay inheritances excepting only such as being discharged of feudall seruice haue been giuen in to the Church For their Lawiers with the common opinion but erroneously suppose that all such Infeodations came from the Church and therefore they agree if any feudall Tithes be conueied into the Church freely by themselues not as annexed to other fiefs as castles or mannors nor subiect to tenures reserued that then they are in the Church
according to this haue some of our greatest and most learned Writers related But I doubt much how it can at all stand with truth For if Parochiae be here meant only for such as were assigned Limits for those which were sent arbitrarily from the Bishop out of the number of his Chaplains or his Clerus residing for the most part in those elder times with him at his Bishoprique then cleerely Honorius was not the first that made diuision of them Such kind of Parochiae are euen neere as ancient as Bishopriques and questionlesse in Augustines time how could otherwise Gods Seruice be orderly had in the Infancie of the Church And when euer seuerall Churches for Christian Seruice or other places for holy Assemblies began then began such Parochiae And that Churches were built here before Honorius his time is before manifested If on the other side Parochiae be taken for what it's vsually vnderstood that is for such Limits as now make Parishes bounded as well in regard of the profits receiud from the Parishioners due only to the Minister of that Church as of the Incumbents function and residence how will that stand with the communitie of Ecclesiastique profits and the Bishops and his Clergies liuing together that may be without much difficultie discouered out of Bede to haue continued after Honorius also But where euer that testimonie of his diuiding Parishes was first found I doubt it was mis-vnderstood through the various signification of Parochia For in those ancient times Parochia vsually denoted as well a Bishoprique or Diocese or bisceope scyre as the Saxons called it as a lesse Parish That signification is very obuious in the old Councells of both Tongues as it is also specially obserued by the learned Filesacus in his Paroecia and in the moniments of this Kingdome For it is related of King Cenwalch that he diuided Prouinciam in duas Parochias when he made a new Bishoprique at Winchester that was taken out of the Diocese of Dorchester And in the Councell of Hertford held vnder Theodore Archbishop of Canterburie one Canon is Vt nullus Episcoporum Parochiam alterius inuadat sed contentus sit gubernatione creditae sibi plebis So in Florence of Worcester vnder the yeere D. C.LXXX Merciorum Prouincia in quinque Parochias est diuisa that is into fiue Bishopriques And the truth is that it may be said properly enough that Honorius was the first vnder whom his Prouince was diuided into such Parochiae or Bishopriques that is No other Bishopriques except Canterburie London and Rochester were in his Prouince vntill his time those three being almost of one antiquitie But vnder him Byrinus was made first Bishop of the West-Saxons and had his See or Bisceop setle as they calld it at Dorchester and Foelix the Burgugnone was likewise ordaind first Bishop of the East-Angles at Dunwich Which two Ordinations in regard the like had not been in this Prouince of Canterburie from Augustines time till this Honorius were perhaps the cause why it might be related that Honorius primus Prouinciam suam in Parochias diuisit Which although it were to be conceiud of such Parishes as at this day wee call by that name yet could not extend to all his Prouince For not till long after his time was Christianitie receiud in the Kingdome of Sussex which was first conuerted by Wilfrid first Bishop of Selsey in the yeere D. C.LXXIX Hitherto then for aught can out of ancient Moniments be proued no Limits Parochiall in regard of the profits to be receiud from the Parishioners and spent by this or that Minister only were assigned But the ancient course of a kind of communitie of all profits of the Diocese with the Bishop and his Clergie remaind still in vse Neither was the interest of many Churches it seems as yet here in any Lay-founders But the Bishops as I thinke had both the interest and gouernance of the Churches built by the King and tooke care for building new in their owne endowments and hallowing old ones that had been either prophaned since Christian Seruice vsed in them among the Britons or formerly consecrated only to Heathenisme So may you vnderstand that of Byrinus first Bishop of Dorchester Factis dedicatisque Ecclesijs multisque ad Dominum pro eius labore populis aduocatis migrauit ad Dominum as Bedes words are in the Saxon of which it is exprest that the Ciricean Æ¿orhte gehalgode that is made Churches and hallowed them IV. But afterward when deuotion grew firmer and most Lay men of faire estate desired the Countrey-residence of some Chaplains that might be alwaies readie for Christian instruction among them their Families and adioyning Tenants Oratories and Churches began to be built by them also and being hallowed by the Bishops were endowed with peculiar maintenance from the Founders for the Incumbents that should there only reside Which maintenance with all other Ecclesiastique profits that came to the hands of euery such seuerall Incumbent in regard that now the Lay-founder had according to the Territorie of his Demesnes Tenancies or neighbouring Possessions made and assigned both the Limits within which the holy Function was to be exercised and appointed the persons that should repaire to the Church and offer there as also prouided a speciall Salarie for the performance was afterward also restraind from that common Treasurie of the Diocese and made the only reuenue which became perpetually annext to the Church of that Clerk who receiued it Neither was it wonder that the Bishops should giue way to such restraint for had they denied that to Lay founders they had giuen no small cause also of restraining their deuotion Euery man questionlesse would haue been the vnwillinger to haue specially endowd the Church founded for the holy vse chiefely of him his Familie and Tenants if withall he might not haue had the libertie to haue giuen his Incumbent there resident a speciall and seuerall maintenance which could not haue been had the former communitie of the Clergies reuenue still remained Out of these Lay foundations chiefely doubtlesse came those kind of Parishes which at this day are in euery Diocese their differences in quantitie being originally out of the difference of the seuerall Circuits of the Demesnes or Territories possessed by the Founders And after such time as vpon Lay foundations Churches had their profits so limited to their Incumbents no doubt can be but that the Bishops in their Prebends or Aduowsons of Parishes both in Cities and in the Countrey formerly limited only in regard of the Ministers Function restraind also the profits of euery of their seuerall Churches to the Incumbents that so a vniformitie might be receiued in that innouation of Parochiall right At what time these Lay foundations began to be frequent plainly enough appears not But some mention is of them about the yeer D.CC. as you may see in Bede where he speaks of one Puch a Saxon Noble man that had built
in a hand of about Henrie the fifth in the Booke of Osney which would as well giue light to the course of Arbitrarie Consecrations before largely opened as to these Infeodations if it were of sufficient credit but you shall first haue it compendiously deliuered and then iudge of it This title is put to it Qualitèr Laici ad id priuilegium peruenerint quod locis Religiosis illas Decimas conferre possint Then sayes he that writes it he had heard from a good Ciuill and Canon Lawier that had been present at the Disputation of the point in a case happening between a Religious house and a Parson for Tithes in the Parsons Parish who claimed them iure communi that the Aduocat for the Religious house being put to make a speciall title against the Parsons common right told the Court a long storie of Easterne holy Warres about Pipins time and interposed somwhat of Charles Martell and concluded that the Pope and the Church euery where graunted in reward to the Christian Princes for their Barons Knights and Gentlemen that spent their blouds labours and estates in those Warres the priuiledge of arbitrarie disposition of the Tithes of their lands by reason of which Graunt they afterward made not only Arbitrarie Consecrations of them but also Infeodations into Lay hands according as the common opinion among the Canonists is too confidently receiued at this day Then he tells vs that before rememberd of the Tithes in Bampton and cites some texts out of the Decretalls that touch Infeodations Next he relates that among the Princes of the holy Warre about Martell and Pipins time the Duke of Normandie was a speciall one whence hee had also that priuiledge touching Tithes pro se ac suis as the words are And lastly to bring it into England hee thus concludes Et cum Dux Normanniae Willielmus ad conquisitionem Angliae venisset quidam Miles eius Robertus d'Oylleye nomine malens suas Decimas Deo commendare quam contra naturalem Ecclesiae consuetudinem ipsis vti eas Ecclesiae S. Georgij quam in Castria Oxenford construxit contulit Et posteà ad Monasterium Osney per Diocesanum Capitulum Lincoln ac etiam per Aduocatum Canonicè deuenerunt But it all tasts of nothing but ignorance For what touches Martell and his time generally enough alreadie is said And see but what a bold ignorance here was to tell vs that the Duke of Normandie was one of the greatest personis Regum exceptis as his Language is that went in the holy Warre in succursum Ecclesiae Romanae in those times of Pipin and Martell I would he durst haue told vs also who had then been Duke of Normandie Neither that title of Dignitie nor that name of the Countrey were till about CL. yeers after Martell at all known The Territorie being then vnder the French Kings who long after gaue it to the Normans and erected it into a Dukedome Indeed the Duke of Normandie had good place in the later holy Warres about M.XCV. but did not that make this Aduocat say that the Duke of Normandie was a speciall Prince in the other also of Martell's time Such of the later midle times stand not much vpon the mingling of Stories that differ in themselues euen many whole ages Besides he tells vs of strange Princes names of the East that made the Warre against the Church Plainly the most pretended cause of the rest that erre herein as much as hee doth is the Saracenicall Warre in Martell's time and that out of Spain not from the East And had it been so vnder Martell's time as it is vsually affirmd what had that been to England But you see his prouidence for that matter where he deriues it from the Duke of Normandie But what though there had been some such Duke of Normandie whose Successor had afterward either conquered or enherited England had therefore the old supposed priuiledge of retaining or disposing of Tithes been thence communicated to his subiects of England and that to the losse of the Church here that neuer could haue gotten good by the supposed cause of the priuiledge All the Canon and Ciuill Law that the Aduocat had could neuer haue proued such a consequent It will still remaine most probable if not cleere that what Infeodations were in England had their originall as well out of the right of arbitrarie disposition of Tithes challenged by the Laitie without the grant of the Pope or Church as out of Compositions or Conueyances from the Clergie according as in other States For no sufficient Storie no credible Moniment no Passage or Testimonie of worth can iustifie that generall right of retainer or disposition to haue been giuen by the Clergie or Pope vpon any cause whatsoeuer though the Canonists and others that follow them cry against it vsque ad rauim The vse of Infeodations before those later holy Warres we haue alreadie shewd And that no vse of them could be about Martell's time is not lesse apparant by what is also before deliuered But beside this blind testimonie of the ground of Consecrations or Infeodations for England especially you may take that as it is also of Lindwood who thus speaks touching the Portions which Religious houses had Hae Portiones saith he potuerunt peruenisse ad locum Religiosum de concessione etiam Laici cum solîus Diocesani consensu de Decimis vel prouentibus quas Laicus talis ab Ecclesia alia habuit in feudum ab antiquo according to that in tit de his quae fiunt à Praelatis sine ass cap. c. cum Apostolica And hee addes that this is only true if those Tithes were infeodated before that Councell of Lateran of MC.LXXIX And then concludes with Nam ante illud Concilium bene potuerunt Laici Decimas in feudum retinere eas alteri Ecclesiae vel Monasterio dare Non tamen post tempus dicti Concilij For his interpretation of the Councell enough before towards the ends of the VI. and X. Chapters But doth not Lindwood here suppose ancient Infeodations of Tithes at least created by Churchmen in England Doth he not thence fetch the originall of Portions belonging to Religious houses in England commonly though he writ as a Canonist yet he addes the speciall custom of England if he speak of any Canon Law which he thinks had not place here but he excepts not England in this but implies it therefore doubtlesse he supposed a common vse of ancient Infeodations among our Ancestors but I doubt he had not better ground for it then what he found in others of his profession that had rememberd the frequent vse of Infeodations in other States before that Councell and he so applied it equally to his own Countrie and with them takes the Infeodations to haue had originall only from the Grants of Church-men therefore I value his testimonie here but as of a common Canonist and not sufficient to satisfie vs touching our
man euer referre them to Charles Martell before Martinus Polonus Archbishop of Cosenza and Penitentiarie to the Pope who wrote about M.CC.LXXX Ecclesias saith he of him spoliat Decimas militibus conferendo and this being through many hands receiud hath to this houre abusd many mens credulitie But thereof enough alreadie They are as farre out that deriue them all from gifts made by Churches or impositions by Princes yet that most common opinion that they all came first out of Churches is elder then the other and as ancient at least as Frederique Barbarossa For in the controuersie twixt him and Pope Vrban the third about Inuestitures Scimus are the word Decimas oblationes à Deo Sacerdotibus Leuitis Primitias deputatas sed cum tempore Christianitatis ab Aduersarijs infestarentur Ecclesiae easdem Decimas Praepotentes Nobiles Viri ab Ecclesijs in beneficio stabili acceperunt vt ipsi defensores Ecclesiarum fierent quae per se obtinere non valerent There is no question butt his opinion had soon Autors enough among the Clergie For the pretence of it was like enough a great perswasion to some Lay men to giue in their infeodated Tithes to the Church and this the Canonists for the most part and generally the Lawiers of most States take for a cleer truth which I much wonder at seeing that while they take it so yet they interpret that Canon Prohibemus which is the principall prouision against Feudall Tithes and was made by a Councell that best knew the practice of the neer former times against such as were created by Lay men to Lay men to haue been the stay only of further Infeodations into Lay hands that is euery lay Infeodation that hath force they suppose to be of before the time of that Canon as if the Infeodations from Lay to Lay there forbidden were those from which such for the most part as continue had their originall and therein doubtlesse they are right and the later Canonists that would apply it to all Infeodations then in esse are grosly deceiud or wittingly striue to deceiue for in that respect the Canon is in no State in force Neither was it anciently so interpreted by the Canonists but in the other that is touching new creations of Feudall Tithes in preiudice of the Church by Lay men to Lay men it hath been euer admitted and is in practice both in France and Spain and what better interpretation of it can be then the continuall practice vpon it since the making of it and so how can it then be supposd but that Lay men before were chiefly the originall Autors of them But some Lawiers here to iustifie their receiud opinion bring this argument Had they not come from the Church they say then had the Tithes themselues which are now possessed by Lay men through Infeodations paid Tithes also to the Church by reason of the many Canons made for paiment out of all yeerly increase But this reason cleerly moues nothing for the selfe same might haue been obiected against the known beginning of Tithes created and consecrated to Monasteries by Lay men plainly by the Canons notwithstanding such consecration the Parochiall right to the Euangelicall Priesthood could not be diminished and by them also aswell a Tithe out of the Tithe consecrated as out of the Nine parts of the Parishioner might for aught can be proued against it be demanded by the Parish Rector But wee see cleerly both the originall of those consecrations to haue been from Lay men and also that no Tithe was or is paid either out of them or out of the rest of the profits of the Nine parts How then can the other argument touching Infeodations better coÌ„clude here beside it insists vpon Canons and would conclude practice from Law which course of proofe vsd by most men that write of these things is grosse and ridiculous For who euer but indifferently obserues the storie of the elder time together with the Laws shall soon find that in the Canon Law especially an argument from debere fieri to factum esse is scarce so sound as that so hist at among children à posse ad esse The truth seemes to be that both in Consecrations and Infeodations and Appropriations of Tithes there was not any other thing thought on then the name of Tithe and the right of Tithes generally due to the Church as if euery thing being the Tenth and by that name as it were specificated were presently the Clergies so that whatsoeuer was by that name giuen away to meer Lay men or to Monasteries by new creation in either Consecrations or Infeodations was it seemes taken alwaies to be the selfe same indiuiduall Tithe which was supposd due to the Clergie which also doubtlesse was a cause why many Infeodations hauing originall only from Lay men were falsly supposed to haue first come from the Church for how easie was it that that which out of its own name only of Decima was presently taken as to be due to the Church should be titled an Ecclesiastique right and then in the passages of them which would haue had it so be reckond among such things as the Church had a title to by a former possession and cleerly many of the Laitie also could not but be very inclinable to that opinion for so long as that held it is likely they resolud they needed not to pay any more to the Church for when the Church would not keepe the feudall Tithes when it had them they thought it once had them al they conceiued doubtlesse there was no reason why they should pay it any more or other Tithes Thus perhaps vpon diuers grounds and causes both the Laitie Clergie deceiud themselues in thinking of the originall of these Infeodations But herein that which we haue toucht before to be considered in Consecrations and Appropriations is also considerable for what could such Infeodations by Lay men to Lay men hurt the right of tithes which was in the Priesthood especially if due either iure diuino morali or by any positiue Law ancienter then the Infeodation But we haue not affirmd that no Infeodations came originally from the Church Questionlesse some did and beside the examples alreadie noted you may see that of Racherius who Ecclesiae de Hauchis in France about the yeer M.C.XX. Decimam laicali vsurpatione tenebat as Iuo's words are and he gaue the Church to an Abbey of S. Martins and minutas in praesentiarum Monachis demittendo concessit Decimas Decimam de Culturis Monachorum eis concessit haâ—endam post sui decessum here it seems he had inheritance in the Tithes For that other coniecture that they came first froÌ„ Impositions made by Princes I doubt it hath no kind of probabilitie Indeed it appears that anciently in Turingia the people were driuen before theiriâ— Christianity to pay Tithes to the Kings of Hungarie both of thein annuall increase and of