CHAPTER VI

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_THE FIRST PUBLIC LAY LAW FOR THE PAYMENT OF TITHES._

The first law making the payment of tithes legally imperative was enacted in 779 by Charles, King of France, in a general assembly of his estates, spiritual and temporal, viz., “Concerning tithes, it is ordained that every man give his tithe, and that they be distributed by the bishop’s command.” [De decimis, ut unusquisque suam decimam donet, atque per jussionem pontificis dispensentur.][49]

Charles’s civil law had only enforced by coercion the existing ecclesiastical law or custom of payment of tithes; and the ecclesiastical law was founded upon the Levitical law; but I hold that the Levitical law, as regards tithes, was not binding on Christians. In the New Testament there is no reference whatever to tithes to be given to the Christian priesthood. None of the apostles claimed tithes from their followers.

“The growing habit,” says Kemble, “of looking upon the clergy as the successors and representatives of the Levites under the old law may very likely have given the impulse to that claim which they set up to the payment of tithes by the laity.”[50]

The establishment of the right in England followed the same course as that in France.

It is important to give Milman’s observations on the working of the above law.

“On the whole body,” he says, “of the clergy, Charlemagne bestowed the legal claim to tithes. Already, under the Merovingians, the clergy had given significant hints that the law of Leviticus was the perpetual law of God. Pepin had commanded the payment of tithes for the celebration of peculiar litanies during a period of famine. Charlemagne made it a law of the empire; he enacted it in its most strict and comprehensive form as _investing the clergy in a right to the tenth of the substance and of the labour alike of freemen and serf_.”

“The collection of tithes was regulated by compulsory statutes; the clergy took note of all who paid or refused to pay; four or eight, or more, jurymen were summoned from each parish as witnesses for the claims disputed; the contumacious were three times summoned; if still obstinate, they were excluded from the Church; if they still refused to pay, they were fined over and above the whole tithe, six solidi; if further contumacious, the recusant’s house was shut up; if he attempted to enter it, he was cast into prison to await the judgment of the next plea of the Crown. The tithe was due on all produce, even on animals. The tithe was usually divided into three portions, one for the maintenance of the Church, the second for the poor, the third for the clergy; the bishop sometimes claimed a fourth. He was the arbiter of the distribution; he assigned the necessary portion for the Church, and appointed that of the clergy. This tithe was by no means a spontaneous votive offering of the whole Christian people. _It was a tax imposed by imperial authority and enforced by imperial power._ It had caused one, if not more than one, sanguinary insurrection among the Saxons. It was submitted to in other parts of the empire, not without strong reluctance. Even Alcuin ventured to suggest that if the apostles of Christ had demanded tithes, they would not have been so successful in the propagation of the Gospel.”[51]

PAPAL LEGATES IN ENGLAND, A.D. 787.

For 190 years no papal legate appeared in England since Augustine landed on our shores in 597. When Pope Gregory sent his missionaries to England, he thought the whole country was inhabited by English, and so ordered that there should be two provinces, each containing twelve Episcopal sees and governed by two Metropolitans, one at London and the other at York.[52] Still Gregory must have been aware of the existence of a British Church in the island, for British bishops were present at the Synods of Arles, A.D. 314; Sardica, 347; and Rimini, 359.

The following historical facts should be carefully noted. Each of the several divisions of England—call them the Heptarchy or anything else—owed its evangelization to a source not exclusively of the Roman mission. Kent and Essex had certainly remained Christian under the successors of Augustine; but Wessex, with Winchester as its capital, was converted by Birinus a missionary from Northern Italy; East Anglia by Felix, a Burgundian; Northumbria and Mercia by Irishmen; Essex by Cidd and Sussex by Wilfrid. Therefore the Roman mission, after the death of King Ethelbert whose successors relapsed into heathenism, was rather a failure.[53] Augustine was narrow-minded and sectarian, attached to everything Italian. There were seven British bishops then in England. In 602 a meeting was held at which representatives of the Italian and British Churches were present. Augustine demanded that the Celtic Church should change the time of keeping Easter in order to adopt the Roman time. The British bishops declined to do anything of the sort, and then Augustine lost his temper and rebuked them. His conduct thus exasperated the members of the Celtic Church. The Italians were looked upon as foreigners seeking to lord it over the native Church, and the Scots and Britons were determined to yield their independence to neither threats nor entreaties.

Augustine claimed metropolitan power, but the Celtic bishops haughtily rejected such a proposal.

On the death of Ethelbert, and when a difference arose between his son who succeeded him and Laurentius the archbishop, Laurentius, Mellitus and Justus, were about to throw up the Italian mission in England and retire to Gaul.[54] London was lost, and the whole aspect of the Roman mission was gloomy in the extreme, when the second Archbishop died in 619. Mellitus the third died in 624. Justus who succeeded him had consecrated Paulinus on the 21st of July, 625, as the first Archbishop of York. In 627 King Edwin held a Witenagemót in a _room_ where the introduction of Christianity into the Kingdom of Northumbria was discussed. The result was that the king and his nobles were converted to the Christian religion.[55] The fact that a room was capable of accommodating the Witenagemót has led to the conclusion that the number must be small. Paulinus had fled from York in 633, eight years after his consecration, and after the battle of Heathfield. But his place was taken by Bishop Aidan, a missionary from Columba’s Irish monastery in Iona, who had established an Episcopal see in Lindisfarne.

There is a letter of Pope Boniface V. to Archbishop Justus, written between April, 624, and October, 625, conferring on him the primacy of all Britain and ending with these words, “Hanc autem ecclesiam utpote specialiter consistentam sub potestate et tuitione sanctæ Romanæ ecclesiæ.”[56] [But this Church as specially remaining under the power and instruction of the Roman Holy Church.]

In 634, Pope Honorius I. conferred on Archbishop Honorius, seven years after his consecration, the primacy of all Britain.[57]

But there is no evidence to show that the Celtic bishops acquiesced in this power of metropolitan over all England conferred by the Pope on the Archbishop of Canterbury. It was therefore an arbitrary assumption of ecclesiastical authority exercised by the Pope of Rome over the Anglo-Saxon Church, simply because a Roman mission was sent to Christianize the Saxon heathen. But other missionaries were at work in the same field, who were quite unconnected with Rome or its bishop.

The time of keeping Easter was the terrible stumbling-block in the way of a union between the Roman and Celtic missionaries.

In A.D. 664, a synod was held at Streaneshalch; the subject of the proper time of keeping Easter was discussed in the presence of King Oswy of Northumberland by Bishop Colman and Wilfrid. In the same year Deusdedit, Archbishop of Canterbury, died. The result was that the king espoused the Roman style.[58] Then followed an interregnum of four years. Wilfrid’s strong opinions about Easter kept him out of the archiepiscopate.

It is vitally important to note this turn of the tide to Rome. I take all

## particulars from Bede’s Ecclesiastical History. If this turn had not

occurred there would have been two separate and independent Churches in England, the Celtic and the Roman.

In 664 a synod was convened in the monastery of Streaneshalch (Whitby) presided over by King Oswy, who was at first a follower of the Celtic ritual, for the discussion of the proper time for keeping Easter. Bishop Colman spoke for the Celtic Church; Priest Wilfrid for the Roman time. The latter had previously gone to Rome to learn the ecclesiastical doctrine. Colman traced the Celtic time to the teaching of St. John the Evangelist; Wilfrid traced his to St. Peter, and then quoted, “Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it; and to thee I will give the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.” This quotation turned the scales, as will be seen from what followed. “Is it true, Colman,” said the King, “that these words were spoken to Peter by our Lord?” “It is true, O King!” “Can you show,” said the King, “any such power given to your Columba?” Colman answered “None.” “Then,” added the King, “do you both agree that these words were principally directed to Peter, and that the keys of heaven were given to him by our Lord?” They both answered, “We do.” Then the King concluded, “And I also say unto you that he is the door-keeper, whom I will not contradict, but will, as far as I know and am able in all things, obey his decrees, lest when I come to the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven, there should be none to open them, he being my adversary who is proved to have the keys.” The King having said this, all present resolved to conform to the Roman ritual.[59] This was not the first nor the last case in England in which St. Peter and the power of the keys did good duty for the Church of Rome. The result of this discussion turned the scales from Irish to Roman Christianity as the religion of England.

King Oswy had, before the synod met, held the Celtic views. His son, who was present, held the Roman views. The result of this discussion led to serious changes in the Church of England, for in the same year, A.D. 664, the archbishopric of Canterbury became vacant, and Kings Oswy and Egbert sent to Rome Wighard, an Englishman, whom they appointed, there to be consecrated archbishop by the Pope, because there was no metropolitan in England to perform this duty of consecration. He died there, and then the Pope was empowered by the same kings to select and consecrate a suitable person himself. “We have not been able,” writes Pope Vitalian, “now to find a man docile and qualified in all respects to be a bishop according to the tenor of your letter.”[60] Again, “King Egbert, being informed by messengers that _the bishop they had asked of the Roman prelate_ was in the kingdom of France.”[61]

From these two quotations, it is beyond all doubt or question that the English kings did ask the Pope to select a qualified person for the see of Canterbury. And it is absurd for Protestant writers, such as Soames, in the face of these quotations, to assert that Theodore’s appointment was a piece of skilful manœuvring on the part of the Pope. It was nothing of the sort. It is but reasonable to assume that when Wighard died in Rome, Vitalian wrote at once and informed the English kings of the event, and that they then, although we have not their letters, asked the Pope to choose a man for them. He therefore consecrated Theodore, a Greek by birth and education. We all know what followed. In the same year the Pope conferred on Theodore the “supremacy over all England.”[62] He landed in England in 669, and held his see for twenty-one years. The Churches of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were independent of each other up to the arrival of Theodore, who had energetically worked to unite all the Churches under the metropolitan power of Canterbury. Here then we are on solid ground. The Pope’s supremacy over all the Churches in England dates from the archiepiscopate of Theodore.

There is no reference to tithes from the publication of Theodore’s “Penitential,” probably about A.D. 686, until the two legates came to England in 787, or a period of one hundred years, Archbishop Boniface of Mentz, writing to Archbishop Cuthbert between 746 and 749, refers to tithes having then been received by English bishops, “In daily offerings,” he says, “and tithes of the faithful, they receive the milk and wool of the sheep of Christ, but they take no care of the Lord’s flock.” [“Lac et lanas ovium Christi oblationibus cotidianis ac decimis fidelium suscipiunt; et curam gregis Domini deponunt.”[63]] Here is an early instance of endowed bishops neglecting their flocks.

This brief sketch will enable the reader to follow further particulars.

KING OFFA.

Pope Adrian I. had risen from the position of a subject of the empire to that of a sovereign prince through the instrumentality of Charlemagne. Jaenbert, archbishop of Canterbury, thought that by the same person he could exercise sovereign authority, like the Bishop of Rome, over the kingdom of Kent as feudatory of Charlemagne. Offa, the Mercian king, had assumed the title of King of Kent and treated it as a province of Mercia. The King of France was too shrewd a diplomatist to encourage such a foolish idea as that of the Archbishop against the terrible and powerful Offa. But Offa found out this prelate’s intrigues, and instead of sending an army to Kent to crush Jaenbert, he adopted another line of policy of dividing his ecclesiastical province, and having a full-blown archbishop in his own kingdom of Mercia, with his seat at Lichfield, and endowed with the revenues which Jaenbert had drawn from that part of his province.[64]

Offa had thus touched Jaenbert’s pocket, a very sore point with some people. In order to carry out his design of changing the bishopric of Lichfield into an archbishopric with metropolitan powers, he sent a special mission to the Pope, and it was during this negotiation that the shrewd Adrian came on the scene in English history. Adrian had reason to fear Offa’s power, for there is a letter from Offa to Charlemagne, intriguing to depose Adrian, and put a Frenchman in the chair of St. Peter.[65]

Higbert, bishop of Lichfield (c. 779), was made archbishop by Offa in 785; he first signs the charter as archbishop in 788, but could not act as Metropolitan, and so be on an equality with the Metropolitans of Canterbury and York, without the pallium, which it was taken as granted could only be given by the Pope. The pallium is a long strip of fine woollen cloth, ornamented with crosses, the middle of which was formed into a loose collar resting on the shoulders, while the extremities before and behind hung down nearly to the feet. This pallium gave him the power to ordain the bishops of his province, or to summon them to his synod, or to sit on the archiepiscopal throne. It was the sign of the Pope’s confirmation of his appointment as archbishop.

The Roman Curia at first hesitated to comply with the King’s request. Offa was determined to carry his point, and he knew well by what means he could realize his object. He resorted to wholesale bribery among the Roman officials, and thus gained his point.[66] Peter’s pence probably was also part of the bargain.[67]

I have gone into details on this subject on account of the results which followed. Hitherto the Church of England was practically independent of the Roman Church. But here was a splendid opportunity for so astute a diplomatist as Adrian to advance Papal supremacy over the Anglican Church. Certainly, Theodore’s appointment was a great step in the same direction.

The Pope proposed, and Offa consented, that a mission should be sent to England with a view of holding a council in Mercia, and of making such regulations in the disorganized Church as may be found necessary. Thus the Anglican Church lost her independence, and subsequently became a slave to a foreign bishop and the Roman Curia. For what? What was the _quid pro quo_? To convert the bishopric of Lichfield into an archbishopric with metropolitan power from 788 to 801. The price was too much. Higbert was the only person who ever bore the title of archbishop of Lichfield. He died in 801, and his successor bore the title of bishop.

LEGATINE COUNCILS IN ENGLAND.

In 786, the two papal legates, accompanied by Wighood, a French abbot, sent by Charlemagne to assist them, reached England with letters from the Pope to King Offa, Aelfwold, King of Northumbria, and to the two archbishops.

George, Bishop of Ostia, went to King Aelfwold’s court, and Theophylact, Bishop of Todi, repaired to Offa’s. These kings then summoned councils of their chief men, both spiritual and temporal. The Northern Council assembled in 787; Offa’s Council assembled at Calchyth, _i.e._ Chelsea, London, in the same year. The legates placed before each Council the twenty Injunctions, which were drawn up at Rome previous to their departure. After the Injunctions were read out at each Council, they were signed by the two kings, the princes, two archbishops, bishops, and abbots. These ecclesiastical synods, presided over by the kings, were Witenagemóts, and the twenty Injunctions were so many laws regularly and legally passed. The 17th Injunction relates to tithes; therefore the payment of tithes received on this occasion a legal sanction in the two kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. Here then we put our fingers on the first case in which tithes in England had been legally ordered to be paid. Previous to 787 there existed the custom of voluntarily paying tithes. Some paid, and some did not. But in this year and in these two kingdoms only, the custom was made a legal obligation by the two Anglo-Saxon Parliaments.

“What copy,” says Selden, “of this synod the centuriators had, or whence they took it, I find not. But if it be good authority, _it is a most observable law to this purpose_. Being made with such solemnity by both powers of both states of Mercland (Mercia) and Northumberland, which took up a very great part of England; and it is likely that it was made general to all England.”[68] It is most important to note that for 120 years after these legatine councils were held, there is a dead silence in our laws and chronicles as regards the payment of tithes.

The legates, on their return to Rome, made a report to the Pope of their proceedings in England. The document was published in A.D. 1567 at Basle by the Magdeburg Centuriators, from a manuscript of which they give no account.[69] It contains, however, as Lord Selborne admits, abundant internal proof of authenticity.[70] Yet he adds: “But because it is not probable that, if the Injunctions which we now know from this source only had entered into the body of the public law of the three greatest Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of the eighth century, they would, in this country, have entirely disappeared.”[71] When such arguments from negative evidence as to laws are urged, I always think of Mr. Thorpe’s wise remarks, that “what we now possess of Anglo-Saxon laws is but a portion of what once existed.”[72] It contains twenty Injunctions, and was signed by the two kings and all the bishops, including an Irish and Welsh bishop.

In this document the object of the mission is thus stated: “To travel through and visit the island, and to confirm the authority of the Roman Pontiff acquired there formerly through the mission of Augustine.”[73]

FIRST CIVIL LAW IN ENGLAND FOR PAYMENT OF TITHES.

The seventeenth Injunction is this:

“Of giving tithes, as it is written in the law. Thou shalt bring the tenth part of all thy crops or first fruits into the house of the Lord thy God. Again, by the prophet: ‘Bring,’ he says, ‘all the tithe into My barn, that there may be meat in My house, and prove Me upon this if I shall not open unto you the windows of heaven, and pour out a blessing even to abundance, and I will rebuke the devourer for your sake, who eats and spoils the fruit of your land, and your vineyard shall no more be barren.’ As a wise man says, ‘No man can justly give alms of what he possesseth, unless he had first separated to the Lord what he from the beginning directed to be paid to Him.’ And on this account it often happens that he who does not give a tenth is himself reduced to a tenth. Wherefore we solemnly enjoin that all be careful to give tithes of all that they possess, because it is the special part of the Lord God; and let a man live on the nine parts and give alms, and we advise that these things should be done secretly, because it is written, ‘When thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee.’”[74]

“The terms of this article,” says Lord Selborne, “speak for themselves; their character is evident, being that of a _pastoral precept, not legal enactment_.”[75] He therefore rejects this as a civil enactment for payment of tithes.

“There can be no doubt,” says Haddan and Stubbs, “that the legatine canon, approved by the kings and Witan, had the force of law, although it is uncertain by what means the law was enforced, or whether it was enforced at all.”[76]

And Bishop Stubbs says in his history, “In 787 tithe was made _imperative_ by the legatine councils held in England, which, being attended and confirmed by the kings and ealdormen, had the authority of Witenagemóts.”[77]

On the legal aspect of this question, Bishop Stubbs and Mr. Selden are correct. The tithe Injunction was not made legal or imperative by legatine councils _quâ_ legatine councils, but because these councils were actual Witenagemóts, whose consent gave it the force of law in the respective kingdoms of the two kings. They made _legal_ what was before _customary_, without attaching any punishment to its non-fulfilment. It will be seen as we proceed that the Anglo-Saxon laws had only endorsed the custom which previously existed of paying tithe. And as this custom became general, so the law enforced its payment. But this penal enforcement was not carried out in the laws of 787, because the custom of paying tithe was not then general.

It is important to notice here that the Anglo-Saxon ceorls, or churls, or freemen, occupying the social position between the thane and slave, had no voice whatever in the passing of the laws. The Witenagemóts, which sanctioned the payment of tithe, and granted away the national property, called folcland, to bishops, cathedral churches, and monasteries, were composed of archbishops, bishops, aldermen, abbots, priests, deacons, princes, dukes, earls, and thanes. In these assemblies, both secular and ecclesiastical laws were enacted, and charters embodying grants of public lands by kings were confirmed and ratified.

In the 17th Injunction, quoted above, there are references to Scripture in support of tithes. The two main positions taken up by Selden in his history of tithes are (1) that the tithes of the Christian Church are not the continuation of the tithes of the Levitical law as put forth by the Church in support of payment, and (2) that tithes had a legal as opposed to a Divine origin in the Christian Church. These two positions are impregnable, and can never be overthrown. The Levitical tithes were given to the Levites, “for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.”[78] But charity was at the very root of all primitive references to the payment of tithes in the Christian Church. Some writers assent to Selden’s second position as stated above, but will not admit that they were given for different purposes to those given to the Levites, and yet they were. In this respect they indicate inconsistency. They would be consistent if they should assert, which they do not, that the English parsons receive their tithes by _Divine right, and in continuation of the Levitical law_; then all the tithes would go to the parson as they went to the Levites. But the history of the origin of tithes in the Christian Church is quite opposed to all this. Those who uphold the Divine right consider the tithes as private professional incomes, and not as trust funds to be used for the benefit of the people. Most of the sermons preached in the eighth century placed the summit of Christian perfection in the payment of tithes. The people in England reluctantly submitted to a general permanent tribute in the shape of tithes.

The obligation of paying tithes was originally confined to predial or the fruits of the earth. But about A.D. 1200 the obligation was extended to every species of profit, and to the wages of every kind of labour. I have already stated the passage from the Old Testament on which the Christian clergy base their claim to personal tithes.

OFFA’S SUPPOSED LAW OF TITHES IN A.D. 794.

Dr. Humphrey Prideaux, Dean of Norwich, published a work on Tithes in 1709, 2nd ed. 1736. The title is, “The Original and Right of Tithes for the maintenance of the ministry in a Christian Church.”

His main object was to prove the Divine in opposition to the legal right of tithes. He quotes questionable authorities in support of his views.

In reference to King Offa, he says, “And in imitation [of Charlemagne’s Capitulars] Offa made a law about the year 794, whereby he gave to the Church the tithes of all his kingdom, which the historians tell us was done to expiate for the death of Ethelbert, king of the East Angles, whom in the year preceding he had caused basely to be murdered on his coming to his court to marry his daughter.”[79] He quotes as his authority for this story the chronicle of Bromton, abbot of Jervaulx, in Yorkshire, who lived towards the end of the 14th century. Now, in referring to this chronicle, I find that Prideaux made two wrong quotations, viz. (1) that Offa made a law; (2) that he gave tithes of all his kingdom of Mercia. Let John Bromton speak for himself. “This Offa, by the wicked advice of his wife, treacherously (prodicionaliter) put to death St. Ethelbert, king of the East Angles, who was on a visit to him for the purpose of marrying his daughter; in atonement for which sin he brought down his pride to such a degree of humility and penitence that he gave to _Holy Church a tenth of all that belonged to him_.”[80]

Roger of Wendover gives a very graphic account of the murder of King Ethelbert by Offa’s wife in 792, in order to add his kingdom to Mercia. After his death Offa annexed it to his own.[81]

Polydore Vergil followed Bromton, and Holinshed followed Polydore. Selden quotes from Polydore thus: “Offa’s giving the tithe of his estate _to the clergy and the poor_.”[82]

Bromton says that he gave the tithe to Holy Church. Polydore explains what Bromton meant by Holy Church; viz., “The clergy and the poor.” Polydore was an Italian priest sent to England by the Pope to collect Peters pence. He was archdeacon of Wells, and wrote a history of England, which he dedicated to Henry VIII. In this history he explains what was meant by “Holy Church” thus: “He (Offa) gave the tenth part of all his goods to priests and other poor men.”[83] Holinshed says, “He granted the tenth part of his goods unto churchmen and poor people.”[84]

The poor were always considered in grants of tithes or offerings, because charity was, and is, the basis of the Christian religion. And this fundamental principle of Christianity runs through all donations to Holy Church in Anglo-Saxon and Norman times.

Lord Selborne considers Bromton’s statement as regards Offa’s grant of tithes, as a “mythical story,”[85] because other chroniclers do not mention it. Is Lord Selborne consistent in pushing on this theory of ignoring any statement which is not confirmed by some other independent writer? Let us take for example, the Ordinances made at Habam about A.D. 1012. They are found only in Bromton’s work. They are not confirmed by any other writer, but are copied by writers from this source. Does Lord Selborne state that they are “mythical,” because other chroniclers do not mention them? No. He admits them as genuine.[86] So does Mr. Thorpe.[87] If Lord Selborne were consistent, he would have rejected them, because they are not confirmed by other independent writers. No one knows from what source Bromton had taken his text.

Lord Selborne admits the other two statements made by Bromton; viz., (1) King Ethelbert’s murder. (2) The grant of Peter’s Pence.

Now, it appears to me that this so-called “mythical story” was not unreasonable, (1) because King Offa enacted the payment of tithes in his own kingdom in 787; and (2) because it was a tenth of his own property which was granted. It certainly was not a general enactment for the payment of tithes throughout his kingdom.

Kemble says on this point, “I think that in this case he [Bromton] has probability on his side, if we restrict the grant to Offa’s demesne lands, or to a release of a tenth of the dues payable to the King on folcland.”[88] This is exactly my opinion also.

Dean Prideaux is not correct when he states, “This law of Offa was that which first gave the Church a civil right in tithes in this land, by way of property and inheritance, and enabled the clergy to gather and recover them as their legal due by the coercion of the civil power.”[89] This dignitary of the Church, so often quoted, polluted the tithe question with so much fiction and ill-digested conclusions that he has made the true history of tithes very embarrassing. But there is one comfort that the light which the latest researches have thrown upon the whole tithe question has completely dissipated the numerous fictions which surround it.

It is erroneously stated that when tithes originated in England there were no poor, although our Lord says we should always have the poor among us; and that the owner of the soil was bound to support all that were born on his soil; that they worked and lived for him, and therefore there was no necessity for making provision for the poor out of the tithes. Now on this special point we have overwhelming genuine documentary evidence that provision was distinctly made for the poor in the first mention of tithes being paid in England. “It is not lawful,” says Archbishop Theodore, “to pay tithes except to the _poor and strangers_.” This is the first instance in which tithes are mentioned in English writings. It is therefore wrong to say that there were no poor in this country when the custom of paying tithes commenced in England. Theodore’s statement was written not later than A.D. 686. The second reference to tithes is in Bede’s “Eccl. Hist.,” where he states that Bishop Eadbert gave (A.D. 686) _one-tenth of his own goods to the poor_.[90] “Not tithes in particular,” says Lord Selborne, “but all church property of every kind was from early times, and down even to the fourteenth century, described as _the patrimony of the poor_. The poor were always, and almost must be in an especial degree, objects of the Christian ministry.”[91]

In Anglo-Saxon times the State did not provide for the poor. It demanded that every man should be answerable for himself in a mutual bond of association with his neighbour, or should place himself under the protection of some lord. The man without means or protection was treated as an outlaw. This was heathenism and not Christianity. The grand humanitarian, philanthropic principles of the Christian religion were taught the Saxon heathen from the very first by the Christian missionaries. Unquestionably these missionaries found poor, outcast Anglo-Saxons to whom they preached the Gospel, and assisted them with their charity and protection. This was the special function of the bishops and their clergy in their dioceses, and monks in their monasteries. When they appealed to the people for their voluntary offerings of tithes, the strongest point in that appeal was for means to help the poor and strangers, and so tithes went partly towards poor rates, partly towards a church rate to repair the edifice, and partly towards the clerical sustentation fund. These were originally the three distinct functions of tithes in England. There is sufficient evidence for a reasonable conviction on this much-disputed point of the division of tithes.

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