Chapter II: Parish Finance (1)

Speaking generally of the average parish, Elizabethan churchwardens accounts and vestry minutes show that for the purposes of raising money amongst themselves to meet every-day parish expenditures,[201] the parishioners of the period did not commonly resort to rates, if by "rate" be understood a general assessment of all lands or all goods alike at a fixed percentage of their revenue or value above a minimum exempted.

It must not be supposed, however, that in the case of offerings or gatherings, or of levies to raise a certain sum where each man assessed himself, it was entirely optional for each to give or to refuse. What a man customarily gave, or what he had promised to give, or, again, what the parish thought he ought to give, that the ordinary might compel him to give.[202] From an offering or a voluntary assessment to a rate is often but a short step, and the two former shade off into the latter almost imperceptibly. The justices of the peace and the ecclesiastical authorities usually cast lump sums upon the parishes, leaving ways and means to the parishioners themselves. But it was, of course, optional with the justices to rate each individual separately when it seemed good to them, and for this they had the Queen's subsidy books to guide them. Here, however, we are chiefly concerned with the raising of money amongst the parishioners themselves. How manifold, how ingenious were the parochial devices for creating resources, it is the purpose of this chapter to set forth.

But before proceeding to the parish expedients, properly so called, for raising money, it will be well to say something of parish endowments, whether in lands, houses or funds. According as the revenue from these was available for general, or at least for various purposes, or, on the other hand, was impressed with a trust for some specific object, these endowments may be divided into general and special. Parishes well endowed might be able to dispense with some of the devices for money-getting which we shall have occasion to enumerate, but then, after all, endowments might come and they might go;[203] moreover, the financial policy of any one parish would, of course, differ according to the disposition or the ability of those who shaped it.

Of Loddon, Norfolk, we are told that "no complaint appears about Church Rates, for there were none, as the revenue of the Town Farm ... rendered a tax of that description unnecessary."[204]

Of St. Petrock's, Exeter, we are informed that "the parish became so well endowed by donations of land and houses as to enable the wardens to dispense almost entirely with the quarterly collections entered in the earlier accounts."[205] The editor of the Thatcham, Berks, Accounts, writes: "In the early years of these churchwardens accounts the available funds were derived chiefly from the two oldest charities, one called 'Lowndye's Almshouses,' the first account of which is for the year ... 1561 ... to 1562; the other known as 'the Church Estate,' the first account of which begins in 1566."[206] Summoned by the Bodmin, Cornwall, justices in January, 159-4/5, to make a report as to the parish stock, the representatives of Stratton certify at sessions that their stock "am[oun]ts to the now some of Sixteene poundes, some yeares it is more & some yeares lesse...." And, they continue, "the vsinge of our sayde stocke is by the two wardens & the rest of the eight men w[hi]ch for the same stande sworne, And it is bestowed aboute her ma[jes]ties service, for buyenge of armor, settinge forth of souldiers w[i]th powder & shott.... And likewise for the relievinge & mainetayning of the poore...." They thereupon give the names of the impotent and decrepit persons and orphan children "wholly relieved" by the parish, ten in number, and add that there are upwards of a hundred poor "w[h]ich are not able to liue of themselues, but haue reliefe dayly one thinge or another of the seide p[ar]ish."[207] The little parish of St. Michael's in Bedwardine, Worcestershire,[208] possessed lands and tenements in various parishes, and in 1599 invested £10 in buying two more tenements in Worcester city.[209] Its wardens accounts, we are told by their editor, disclose that there was never any lack of money for parish purposes "in spite of a rather lavish expenditure at times in the luxury of law[suits]."[210] Lapworth, Warwickshire, had many acres of parish land.[211] The churchwardens of St. John's, Glastonbury, Somerset, return in their accounts the rent of the parish lands in 1588 at £9 13s. 10d.,[212] and, as these accounts show, they occasionally received important sums for fines on changes of tenants. The various properties managed by the wardens of St. Michael's, Bath, numbered thirty-seven in 1527, yielding a revenue of £11 8s.;[213] and even in 1572 the rent amounted to £11 8s.[214]

Indeed, though parish lands and houses were generally vested as to title in trustees (often a numerous and cumbersome body),[215] the churchwardens themselves and sometimes other accountants,[216] who like the wardens were appointed from year to year, usually exercised the actual management. The feoffees existed chiefly for the purpose of making it difficult to alienate the parish properties, "and the larger the trust body the more difficult such alienation was supposed to be."[217]

Contenting ourselves with the above examples, which could easily be multiplied, we pass on under this same head of general endowments to an interesting form of personal property, viz., cattle, for not only did the wardens derive receipts from parish holdings of real estate, but also from _Endowments of Cows or Sheep_. The Pittington, Durham, Twelve Men, a sort of parish executive and administrative body, enact in 1584 "that everie iiij pounde rent[218] within this parrishe, as well of hamlets as townshippes, shall gras[219] winter and somer one shepe for the behoufe of this church;"[220] and we are told that these "Church Shepe," as they were called, were here one of the chief means of raising funds for parochial purposes.[221] It was the custom of pious donors, especially among the lowly, to leave one or more sheep or cows to their parish. In the year 1559 twelve sheep were thus given or bequeathed to Wootton Church, Hants, by ten donors.[222] These sheep, as well as the parish cows, were often hired out to parishioners, who gave security for their return. Sometimes they were given to poor men at a reduced rent, and thus they served to support the poor.[223]

That the keeping of cattle was a well-recognized source of parish income is seen by the Queen's Injunctions of 1559 in which she alludes to "the profit of cattle" among other sources of parish revenue to be devoted to the poor, "and if they be provided for, then to the reparation of highways next adjoining," or to the repair of the church.[224]

Leaving the topic of general endowments to take up those sources of revenue destined to defray particular forms of expenditure, we find that _Permanent Parish Endowments_ in lands, goods or money devoted to the defraying of _Specific Parish Administrative Burdens_ or _Utilities_ were very numerous in the local documents of the 16th century. Sometimes a land or fund was set apart by the donor, or by the parish itself, for the support of a parish servant or officer;[225] sometimes its revenue maintained this or that cripple or blind man,[226] or a number of them; sometimes it was used for feeding the poor,[227] or for buying wearing apparel for them;[228] for setting them at work in houses of correction,[229] or for parish education.[230]

In particular, lands or funds were frequently set apart as special and permanent endowments for the repair of bridges.[231] In fact, the proceeds of parish lands or other endowments might be appropriated to alleviate any tax burden whatsoever. In 1549 it was stated by the wardens of North Elmham, Norfolk, that the net proceeds of the five and thirty or forty acres which they rented out were devoted exclusively towards the paying of the fifteenths due from time to time to the king and his successors.[232]

To illustrate the variety of purposes for which parish trusts were created, I cannot do better than quote part of the preamble of the 43 Eliz. c. 4, known as the Statute of Charitable Uses: "Whereas Landes, Tenements, Rentes ... Money and Stockes of Money," it is there rehearsed, "have bene heretofore given, limitted ... and assigned ... some for Releife of aged, impotent and poore people, some for Maintenaunce of sicke and maymed Souldiers and Marriners, Schooles of Learninge ... some for Repaire of Bridges, Fortes, Havens, Causwaies, Churches, Sea-bankes and Highewaies, some for Educac[i]on and p[re]fermente of Orphans, some for or towardes Reliefe, Stocke or Maintenaunce for Howses of Correcc[i]on, some for Mariages of poore Maides, some for Supportac[i]on, Ayde and Helpe of younge Tradesmen, Handiecraftesmen and p[er]sons decayed, and others ... for aide or ease of any poore Inhabitants conc[er]ninge paymente of Fifteenes, settinge out of Souldiers and other Taxes [etc.]...."[233]

As for money and goods left by testators or given _inter vivos_ for _Temporary Expenses_ or _Special Occasions_ (as opposed to the creation of permanent trusts and endowments), we find a constant stream of such benefactions throughout the Elizabethan period.

By the Queen's Injunctions of 1559 parsons are diligently to exhort their parishioners, "and especially when men make their testaments," to give to the poor-box, the surplus of which, after provision for the needy, might be devoted to church and highway repair.[234]

Bequests made to the highways or bridges were considered as donated _in pios usus_. "I thinke," wrote a prebendary of Durham Cathedral in 1599, "it also a deade of charitie and a comendable worke before God to repaire the high-wayes, that the people may travaille saifely without daunger. I therefore will to the mending of the highwayes [etc.]...."[235]

Noblemen and wealthy men were expected to help maintain the local poor in particular. Elizabethan ballads celebrate the liberality to the destitute of an Earl of Huntingdon,[236] of an Earl of Southampton,[237] or of an Earl of Bedford.[238] At the funeral of George, Earl of Shrewsbury, in 1591, eight thousand got the dole served to them, and it was thought that at least twice that number were in waiting, but could not approach because of the tumult.[239] The churchwardens and overseers of the poor accounts, especially in London and the larger cities, abound with receipt items of gifts from great personages or wealthy merchants.[240]

Owing to the difficulty of investing money because present-day intermediaries were absent between capital seeking employment and would-be borrowers; and because the medieval stigma attaching to money loaned at interest had by no means wholly disappeared,[241] there grew up in Elizabethan parishes a system of laying out money, raised by the parish or donated by benefactors, in various trades, such as wool-spinning, linen-weaving, the buying of wood or coal to sell again at a profit,[242] etc. Sometimes well-to-do parishioners with good credit would themselves borrow parish money, returning ten per cent. for its use.[243] Usually, however, parish money was loaned gratis, the parish taking sureties for its repayment and sometimes articles of value, being, apparently, not always above doing a little pawnbroking business.[244] On the other hand, when the parish itself had occasion to borrow money it would occasionally give its own valuables as security. Thus the Mere, Wiltshire, wardens record in 1556 that they have redeemed on the repayment of 40s. to one Cowherd, "borowed of hym to thuse of the Churche," "certeyn sylver Spones of the Churche stocke."[245] Finally, parishes would now and then make some cautious speculation in real estate, such as the buying of a local market or fair with a view to profit.[246]

Leaving the subject of endowments we shall now take up in order the measures which may be called _Parish Expedients for raising money_.

Of all means ever devised for obtaining large sums of money for parish uses, the most popular, as certainly the most efficacious, was the _Church-ale_. Widespread during the first years of Elizabeth's reign, church-ales, for reasons hereafter to be mentioned, ceased to be held in many parishes towards the end of the reign. They constitute, nevertheless, at all times during the 16th century an important chapter in the history of parochial finance. In some wardens' accounts the proceeds of these ales form a yearly recurring and an ordinary receipt item; in others ales were resorted to when some unusually large sum had to be raised, or some heavy expense was to be met, such as the rebuilding of the church tower, the recasting of the bells, the raising of a stock to set the poor to work, or the buying of a silver communion cup.[247] Frequently, also, funds were raised by means of ales called clerk-ales, sexton-ales, etc., to pay the wages of clerks, sextons and other servants of the parish. "For in poore Countrey Parishes," writes an early 17th century bishop, "where the wages of the Clerke is very small, the people ... were wont to send him in Provision, and then feast with him, and give him more liberality then their quarterly payments [or offerings] would amount unto in many years." Indeed, he continues, since these ales have been abolished "some ministers have complained unto me, that they are afrayd they shall have no Parish Clerks for want of maintenance for them."[248]

Church-ales were usually held at or near Whitsuntide, hence they were also called Whitsun-ales or May-ales in the accounts. If the occasion were an extraordinary one, and it was sought to realize a large sum, notices were sent to the surrounding parishes, say to ten, fifteen, or more, to be read aloud from the pulpits of their respective churches after service, which notices contained invitations to any and all to come and spend their money in feasting and drinking for the benefit of the parish giving the ale. As the day approached for the opening of the ale, which, if it were a great one, would be kept for four or five days or more, all was bustle in the parish to prepare for a feasting which often assumed truly Gargantuan proportions. Cuckoo kings and princes were chosen, or lords and ladies of the games; ale-drawers were appointed. For the brewing of the ale the wardens bought many quarters of malt out of the church stock, but much, too, was donated by the parishioners for the occasion. Breasts of veal, quarters of fat lambs, fowls, eggs, butter, cheese, as well as fruit and spices, were also purchased. Minstrels, drum players and morris-dancers were engaged or volunteered their services. In the church-house, or church tavern, a general-utility building found in many parishes, the great brewing crocks were furbished, and the roasting spits cleaned. Church trenchers and platters, pewter or earthen cups and mugs were brought out for use; but it was the exception that a parish owned a stock of these sufficient for a great ale. Many vessels were borrowed or hired from the neighbors or from the wardens of near-by parishes, for, as will presently be seen, provident churchwardens derived some income from the hiring of the parish pewter as well as money from the loan of parish costumes and stage properties. When the opening day arrived people streamed in from far and wide. If any important personage or delegation from another village were expected, the parish went forth in a body with bag-pipes to greet them, and (with permission from the ecclesiastical authorities) the church bells were merrily rung out. At the long tables, when the ale was set abroach, "well is he," writes a contemporary, "that can get the soonest to it, and spend the most at it, for he that sitteth the closest to it, and spendes the most at it, hee is counted the godliest man of all the rest ... because it is spent uppon his Church forsooth."[249] The receipts from these ales were sometimes very large. So important were they at Chagford, Devon, that the churchwardens were sometimes called alewardens.[250] At Mere, Wilts, out of a total wardens' receipts of £21 5s. 7-1/2d. for the two years 1559-61, the two church-ales netted £17 3s. 1-1/2d.,[251] thus leaving only £5 2s. 6d. as receipts from other sources for these two years. At a later period, on the other hand, this relation of receipts was entirely reversed. For instance, in 1582-3 the wardens secured only £4 10s. 4d. from their ale, while proceeds from other sources amounted to £17 9s. 7d.[252]

In the thirty-one years from 1556-7 to 1587-8 in this parish the recorded wardens' expenditures had more than doubled. In the first-named year they had been but £8 I2s. 5d.;[253] in the latter year they had swelled to £18 14s 3-1/2d.[254] This characteristic is true of all Elizabethan church budgets, and the writer has seen a number of them.[255] The Wootton churchwardens enter under the year 1600 the following: "Rec. by our Kingale, all things discharged, xij li. xiiij[s]. jd. ob.," an important sum for the day.[256]

Besides the churchwardens other wardens or gilds sometimes busied themselves with the selling of ale for the benefit of the church. One of these gilds at South Tawton, Devon, records in its accounts for 1564: "We made of our alle and gathering xl l. viijs. viijd."[257]

So important a source of parish income had to be carefully looked after. A church-ale with its attendant festivities for drawing visitors was an important business matter. Accordingly we find the parishioners of St. John's, Glastonbury, making an order in 1589 "that the churchwardens shall yearly keape ale to the comodeti of the parishe upon payne of xxs. a yere."[258]

In Ashburton, Devon, in 1567 Christopher Wydecomb had to pay 20s. to the wardens "because he refused the office of the drawer of the church ale."[259] At Wing, Bucks, those refusing "to be lorde at Whitsuntyde for the behofe of the church" were fined 35. 4d. apiece.[260] In some places these masters of the revels were called Cuckoo Kings, and the office seems to have gone in rotation like other parish offices.[261]

When invitations had been sent out to surrounding parishes, interparochial courtesy seems to have required the attendance either of the churchwardens or of some other more or less official representatives of the neighboring communities. These representatives carried with them some small contribution made at the expense of their respective parishes ('ale-scot').[262]

Because of the alleged drunkenness and disorderly conduct attendant upon some of these ales, the justices of assize and the justices of the peace attempted in some shires to put them down on various occasions.[263] More effective, perhaps, in doing away with them was the gradual growth of Puritanism.

In conclusion it should be remarked that church-ales seem to have obtained only in Central and Southern England. The huge and thinly populated parishes of the North did not favor the development of an institution so essentially social in its character.

_Church Plays, Games_ and _Dances_ were allied in a measure with church-ales, partly because they were sometimes held concurrently with them, partly because they served as a substitute for the ales when these fell into disrepute. Miracle plays and other pageants were given by certain parishes from time to time, too frequently in the churches themselves, in which case the wrath of the ordinary was called down upon the parish if he heard of them.[264] Some parishes kept various costumes and stage properties, which were hired out to other parishes when not in use.[265] May games, Robin Hood plays or bowers, Hocktide sports and forfeits, morris-dances and children's dances were all turned to the profit of the church, collections being taken up at them.[266] Morris coats, caps, bells and feathers were frequently loaned out for a consideration by wardens to other parishes.[267]

_Church-house_. Here were the brewing kettles and the spits, and here was stored church grain or malt for beer making.[268] Here, too, presumably, the pewter ale pots, trenchers, spoons, etc., which figure in the accounts, were kept. These were hired out to other parishes for their ales.[269] While ale was brewed and drunk in the church-house for the benefit of the parish, and that apparently on other occasions than church-ales, it does not seem probable that the place was often allowed to degenerate into a common ale-house, even though in some parishes it may have borne the name of "church tavern."[270] When not required for parish purposes the church-house was rented out, and rooms in an upper story were used for lodging.[271]

As church-ales fell into disfavor _Offerings_ or _Gatherings_ in church or at the church door became more frequent[272] and more systematized. As time went on these collections were regularly taken up in many parishes every quarter, usually at Easter, Midsummer, Michaelmas and Christmas.[273] Hence the name quarterage.[274] When the proceeds went to general church furnishing and repairing, the gatherings wrere sometimes called in the accounts "church works."[275] As the sum given by each was often noted down in "quarter books" or "Easter books,"[276] and was, on denial, occasionally sued for before the official (together with dues for other purposes--clerk's wages, pew rents, etc., presently to be noticed), an "offering" might become virtually an assessment or rate.[277]

We come now to _Communion Dues_, or _Collections_ taken up at the time of communion.

"_Paschall money_" is defined in a vestry order of Stepney parish, London, in 1581 as a duty of 1d. paid by each communicant at Easter "toward the charge of breade and wine over and besides theyre offering mony due unto the vicar." These paschal dues, the order further informs us, had long been farmed by the vicar for 40s. yearly. But now the yield of a penny from each communicant was "thought a thing so profitable and beneficiall," that only as a special mark of favor was the vicar to continue to farm it, but at £4 thenceforth instead of at 40s.[278] "_Easter money_," an expression found not infrequently in the accounts, may have referred to the same payment, or it may have designated the offering which generally followed the celebration of communion,[279] taken up, doubtless, from all those present, whether communicating or not, the proceeds of which might go to the minister or to the parish according to agreement or custom.

Though the Second Edwardine Prayer Book (1552) provided that the elements were to be found by the curate and the wardens at the expense of the parish, which was then to be discharged of fees, or levies on each household, nevertheless, we meet with _Communion Fees_ or with house-to-house levies to defray the cost of bread and wine in many parishes during Elizabeth's reign.[280] In order to ensure payment of the communion fee, tokens (or as we would say today, tickets) were provided in some parishes which were first to be handed in before the ministrant admitted the applicant to reception.[281]

In a number of parishes a fine wine such as muscatel or malmsey was provided for the better sort, or the masters and mistresses, while the servants, or poorer folk, were served with claret.[282] Indeed where all were compelled to communicate thrice yearly the cost of wine was a very serious item.

_Collections for the Holy Loaf_, that is, blessed but not consecrated bread, which went to defray the costs of administering the Eucharist, occur in some of the earlier Elizabethan accounts.[283] Surplus communion fee money, or communion offerings were devoted to the care of the poor and other expenses.[284]

The heading _Clerk's Wages_, which is so often met with in the wardens' receipt items, frequently serves (as do several other special headings) as a mere peg on which to hang a collection for various or even for general parish expenses.[285]

_Pews_ and _Seats in Church_ were often made a source of revenue. Thus at St. Mary's, Reading, it was agreed in 1581 by the chief men of the parish, in order to augment the parish stock and to maintain the church, because "the rentes ar very smale," that those sitting in front seats in the church should pay 8d., those behind them 6d., the third row 4d., and so on.[286]

At St. Dunstan's, Stepney parish, London, a book was made by the wardens "whearein was expressed the pewes in the whole Church," distinguished by numbers. "Also there was noted against everie pewe the price that was thought reasonable it shoulde yeeld by the yeare.... The w[hi]ch rates by this vestrie is allowed and confirmed to be imploied to the use of the parish Church." When a few months later it was determined to build a gallery because the congregation needed more seats, it was also settled that the cost should be met by a year's pew rent in one payment down, over and besides the usual quarterly payments for seats.[287] Sometimes the seats were sold outright and for life only.[288]

_Mortuary Fees_ were a source of revenue in almost all parishes, and sometimes an important one.[289] Consequently tariffs of fees were drawn up in various places. So much is charged for interment within, so much for burial without the church; so much for a knell according to duration and according to size of the bell; so much for the herse--a sort of catafalque--so much for the pall, the fee varying from that charged for "the best" to that charged for "the worst cloth"; so much if the body is coffined or uncoffined, most of the dead being buried in winding sheets only, though the parish provided a coffin for the body to lie in during service in church and for removal to the graveside.[290] So, too, one fee was charged for interring a " great corse," another for a "chrisom child."[291] All, in fact, is tabulated with minute precision, the minister getting certain fees for himself alone, and sharing others with the parish; and so of the clerk and of the sexton, if any. Among other reasons alleged by the vestry of Stepney parish for dismissing their sexton in 1601 was because he made "composic[i]on with diu[er]s & sundry p[ar]ishoners for the duties of the church to the hinderannce & great damage of the bennefitt of the church & p[ar]ishoners."[292]

_Fees_ for _Weddings, Christenings_ and _Churchings_, and for the ringing of the bells (at marriages), together with the _Offerings_ taken up on these occasions, might form a source of revenue to the parish, either going directly into the parish coffers, or being paid in whole or in part to minister, clerk or sexton, who, after all, had to be supported by the parish (or otherwise), being essential officers or servants.[293]

The parish poor and the parish church derived an uncertain, but by no means negligible, income from the product of _Fines for various Delinquencies_.

In the previous chapter fines for non-attendance at church have been alluded to.[294] A contemporary, writing in 1597, refers to these as an important fund for the support of the poor if duly levied. He writes: "Whereunto [he is speaking of various means to alleviate poverty] if we adde the forfaiture of 12 pence for euerie householders absence from Church (man and woman) forenoone and after, Sunday and holiday (according to the statute without sufficient cause alledged) to be duely collected by Churchwardens and other appointed to that end, with the like regard for Wednesday suppers: there would be sufficient releefe for the poore in all places ...."[295]

Ecclesiastical courts sometimes condemned offenders to pay a fine for the use of the poor.[296] Sometimes they commuted a penance for money to go to church-repair or to the parish poor.[297] The churchwardens or overseers of the poor accounts also mention fines received for profanation of the Sabbath and for offences during service time.[298] The Star Chamber often condemned offenders, especially enclosers of cottage land and engrossers of corn, to fines for the benefit of the poor.[299] Finally, most parishes derived some income from fining men various sums for refusing parish offices; for neglect of duty when in office; and for not attending duly called vestry meetings. Sometimes a parishioner would pay down a large lump sum for exemption forever from all offices served by the parishioners.[300]

Yet another irregular but appreciable means of revenue might be classed under the heading of _Miscellaneous Receipts_.

As the parishioners were always eager to turn an honest penny for their own benefit, no possible source of receipts was neglected. If, for instance, any part of the church or the church premises might, temporarily or permanently, be rented out without drawing upon the community the censure of the ordinary, the parishioners were happy to do so. Owners of structures of any kind encroaching upon the churchyard, or other church land, were promptly made to pay for the privilege.[301] Occasionally parishes derived more or less large sums from the sale of parish valuables. The sale of costly vestments, embroideries, hangings, images, chalices, pyxes and other church furnishings and ornaments condemned as superstitious by the Anglican church, brought some income to the wardens of most parishes during the first years of Elizabeth. Examples will be found in all the accounts. Now and then, too, a parish would make a large sum from the sale of the wood or other products of parish lands.[302] A fairly common item in city parishes especially were fees paid for licences to eat flesh during Lent and on other legal fast days.[303]

When an Elizabethan parish undertook some work on a great scale, such as the rebuilding of its church, or of the church steeple; or, again, when it had suffered great losses by fire or flood, it solicited through _Begging Proctors_ the _Contributions of Outsiders_, sometimes from all parts of England.[304]

To terminate our enumeration of means of raising money, or of contributions of all sorts on which the wardens could count (as apart from rates, properly so-called), we might mention _Fixed Contributions_, of money or of labor, issuing out of certain tenements; and _Annual Payments to Mother Churches_. Certain lands or houses, generally abutting on the church grounds, had fixed upon them the obligation to repair a certain portion of the churchyard enclosure, Tenement X, so many feet of fence, Tenement Y, such a portion of brick or stone wall, and so forth.[305]

Sometimes also certain houses or lands are spoken of as yielding so much a year for the repair of the church and the support of the poor.[306] Incidentally we might mention--though hardly connected with parish finance--certain payments for church repair, etc., claimed of old by some cathedral churches from the parishes of the diocese. Originally a tax varying from a farthing to a penny for each household (hence the names "smoke farthings," "hearth penny," "smoke silver"), the payments were commuted for a small lump sum exacted yearly. Thus we find in the Elizabethan accounts mention of "St. Swithin farthings;"[307] of "Ely farthings;"[308] of "Lincoln farthings,"[309] etc., according to the _name_ of the cathedral to which they were paid; or, again, of "Whitsun farthings;" of "Pentecost farthings," etc., according to the _time_ of the year at which the payments were made.[310] These payments must not be confused with "Peter's pence," which had before the Reformation been paid by English parishes to Rome.[311]

Lastly the mother parish church, in large parishes requiring chapels of ease, would exact (when it could) contributions from those congregations who frequented for ordinary divine worship these chapels of ease within the parish. And these exactions would be made irrespective of the fact that these congregations were bound to repair their own chapels and possessed their own churchwardens.[312]

When the means or expedients we have hitherto set forth were found insufficient, or impracticable, or too tardy for an emergency, the parish was compelled to resort to _Rates_ or _Assessments_.

Assessments were levied in all sorts of ways and for all sorts of purposes. In an emergency, or if the sum to be raised was not large, a levy might be made by the principal men of the parish upon themselves only.[313] A "rate" might, however, be made to collect a very small sum, as well as a very large one.[314] All kinds of units or rules of assessment were resorted to from parish to parish, and (apparently) sometimes no fixed unit at all was taken, men's ability to pay being roughly gauged, or a man being permitted to rate himself,[315] or give his "benevolence."

In the wardens' accounts are frequently seen long lists of names, each being taxed at a sum varying from 1/2d. to three or four shillings. Such lists may represent an attempt to tax each man at 1/2d. or 1d. in the pound, or, likely as not, it may merely mean a crude sizing up of the ability of each to contribute.

Furthermore, a "rate" might consist in a fixed sum, the same for all, and levied by polls or by households,[316] say 1d. or 2d. each. Or, again, it might be levied by pews at varying sums.[317] Assessments to pay the parish clerk or sexton might sometimes be made in kind, and issue from households, from cottages, or from ploughlands: so much corn at Easter, so much bread, so many eggs.[318]

When it came to the more accurate basing of rates upon lands, or goods at a valuation, the inhabitants of the various communities observed no uniform ratio of taxation from parish to parish, nor even in the same parish, and disputes were always recurring.[319]

It must be borne in mind that parish financiering was largely of the hand-to-mouth variety. Indeed, it was difficult it should be otherwise, for the exigencies of the civil or the ecclesiastical authorities were constantly shifting, now a petty lump sum being required (and to be spent as soon as raised), now a great one to be disbursed in the same manner.

In conclusion, a few observations on the parish as a financial unit in connection with county government may be made. There seems to have been no general treasury at the disposal of the hundred or of the county, but merely certain treasurers charged with the disbursement of this or that special collection for this or that special purpose. A collection is made by order of the justices, for instance, in certain hundreds, or throughout the shire, for the support of the prisoners in the county gaol, and a treasurer for the fund is appointed. Or it may be that this treasurer is a more or less permanent official. And so with collections for hospitals, for houses of correction, for great bridges, etc. If the constables levied more than was sufficient for a parish, or if the contemplated disbursement turned out to be less than originally estimated, the surplus, if the justices had no immediate use for it, might be returned to that parish to go back into the pockets of the rate payers.[320] Furthermore, it seems scarcely accurate in Elizabethan times to speak of any _county rate_,[321] for there was no recognized basis of assessment common to all parishes, unless it were at any given time the then prevailing subsidy rate, and a rating according to the subsidy books by the justices would fail to reach many whom a parish rating might attain. As a matter of fact the justices, when they had a large sum to levy on the county at large, almost always apportioned it in lump sums among the hundreds, or among the parishes of their respective divisions, according to "the bygnes or smallnes of their parishes."[322] It comes, then, to all practical intents and purposes to this: that each parish is left to produce according to its own local methods, or rating, the wherewithal for carrying on county government.

While in local government itself the parishioners have practically no voice, the large measure of freedom they enjoy for the devising of ways and means to meet the demands made upon them (though they have no option whatever in granting or withholding supplies) gives to the parish a vigorous entity and a certain autonomous life of its own, which otherwise it never could have possessed over against the all-regulating and inquisitorial Tudor machinery of Church and State.

As the reign advanced the parish developed a selfish, jealous and exclusive gild life of its own, especially under the operation of the poor laws.

Non-parishioners, or "foreigners," were viewed with the strongest suspicion. Generally they were discriminated against if they happened to have dealings with the parish. Wedding or funeral fees were doubled in their cases.[323] If the parishioners could have had their will no alien poor could have gained a settlement amongst them--no, not even after twenty years' residence. In 1598 the West Riding, Yorkshire, justices were compelled to interfere in favor of divers poor persons in various parishes, where officers were seeking to expel them as vagrants born elsewhere, though they had been domiciled in their adopted communities for twenty years and upwards.[324]

Already that "organized hypocrisy," so characteristic of parish life in later reigns, shows itself in the many presentments of, and petitions against, persons supposedly immoral--especially single women. Not zeal for morality prompts these indictments, but fear that the community may have to support illegitimate children.[325] Quite typical of the times is the language held by the inhabitants of Castle Combe in appealing to the Wiltshire justices against a townwoman in 1606. They are apprehensive, they say, lest "by this licentious life of hers not only God's wrath may be powered downe uppon us ... but also hir evill example may so greatly corrupt others than great and extraordinary charge ... may be imposed uppon us."[326]

Few laws on the statute book were so frequently enforced as the 31 Eliz. c. 7, which required four acres to be laid to every cottage to be constructed, for there was a powerful local backing behind the law. When John Fletcher, "a meere stranger lately come into this Parish with his wife and children," took certain parcels of land in Severn Stoke in 1593, and was suspected of the intention to build a cottage without laying to it the requisite number of acres, the parishioners immediately complained to the Worcester justices, for they wanted to provide against the contingent liability of having to support the inmates.[327] Four acres was then the quantity considered necessary to maintain a man and his family. It was an indictable offence to sublet, for then there would be two families where only one was before. Nor could lodgers be taken, for such increase of the inmates of the house would surcharge the land.[328]

In short, that feeling of distrust and discrimination against the outside world, which, in the 18th century, led a Lancashire vestry to dub all outsiders "foreigners,"[329] is already fully developed by the end of the 16th century. But we must also recognize that this feeling engendered in the parish itself solidarity of interests, close fellowship and local spirit.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Richard Hooker, _Ecclesiastical Polity_, Bk. viii, 448-9 (ed. 1666).

[2] Coke, 4 _Inst_., 320 (ed. 1797).

[3] See 14 Eliz. c. 5, sec. 16, and 39 Eliz. c. 3.

[4] 37 Hen. VIII, c. 17, re-enacted I Eliz. c. I. "The real effect of the statute was this--that lay lawyers were substituted for the clerical canonists of pre-Reformation times." Lewis T. Dibden, _An Historical Inquiry into the Status of the Ecclesiastical Courts_ (1882), 59. By canon cxxvii of the Canons of 1604 in order to be a chancellor, a commissary, or an official in the courts Christian, a man must be "_ad minimum magister artium, aut in jure bacalareus, ac in praxi et causis forensibus laudabiliter exercitatus_." E. Cardwell, _Synodalia_ (etc.), i, 236. Cf. Blomefield, _Hist. of Norfolk_, iii, 655-6 (Parker's report, 1563. Officials of the archdeacons not required to be in orders). E. Cardwell, _Documentary Annals of the Reformed Church of England_, i, 426 (Complaint in a document of circa 1584 [or later] that excommunication is executed by laymen. In the answer by the bishops it is stated [_ibid_., 428] _inter alia_, "that in later times, divines have wholly employed themselves to divinity and not to the proceedings and study of the law"). To the same effect, but for a later period, see White Kennett, _Parochial Antiquities_ (Oxon. ed. 1695), 642.

[5] Harrison, writing in 1577, says that archdeacons keep, beside two visitations or synods yearly, "their ordinarie courts which are holden within so manie or more of their several deaneries by themselues or their officials once in a moneth at the least." Harrison, _Description of England_, Bk. ii, _New Shakespeare Soc_. for 1877 (ed. Dr. Furnivall), p. 17. Between 27th Nov., 1639, and 28th Nov., 1640, there were thirty sittings in the court of the Archdeacon of London. Hale, _Crim. Prec_., introd. p. liii. Any casual inspection of the visitation act-books reveals the fact that the judge sits either in court or in chambers between visitations, for offenders are constantly ordered to appear again in a few days or in a few weeks. Compulsory presentments were, however, limited by law and custom to two courts a year. See canons 116 and 117 of the Canons of 1604. Also Gibson, _Codex_, ii, 1001.

[6] See p. 18 and p. 20 _infra_. For the duty to read the injunctions or the articles based on them see p. 32 _infra_.

[7] See 5 Eliz. c. 3. _Stats. of the Realm_, iv, Pt. i, 411. Also Visitation of Warrington Deanery in 1592 by the Bishop of Chester in _Lancashire and Cheshire Historic Soc. Trans_., n. s., x (1895), 186 _et passim_. Hereinafter cited as _Warrington Deanery Visit_. Cf. also Grindal's Injunc. for the Province of York (1571), art. 17, _Remains of Grindal, Parker Soc_., 132 ff.

[8] See Visitations of the Archdeacon of Canterbury, _Archaeologia Cantiana_, xxvi (1904), 24 (1602). Mr. Arthur Hussey has published copious extracts from the act-books of these visitations extending over a considerable period in vols. xxv-xxvii of the _Arch. Cant_. Hereinafter cited as _Canterbury Visit_., xxv (etc.). For perambulations see p. 27 _infra_.

[9] Cordy Jeaffreson, _Middlesex County Records_, i, 100-1 (Indictment reciting that John Johnson had had due notice in his parish church, yet had not sent his wain, etc., 1576). Cf. provisions of the statutes 5 Eliz. c. 13, and 18 Eliz. c. 10, _Stats. of Realm_, iv, Pt. i, 441-3, and 620-1 respectively.

[10] Brownlow v. Lambert, C.B., 41 Eliz., I _Croke Eliz. Rep., Leache's ed_. (1790), Pt. ii, 716.

[11] _Canterbury Visit_., xxvi, 23 (1599); _ibid_., 20 (1591). W.H. Hale, _A Series of Precedents in Criminal Causes from the Act Books of the Ecclesiastical Courts of London_, 1475-1640 (pub. in 1847), 190 (Schoolmaster of Stock presented in court for defacing the church "in makinge a fire for his schollers," 1587). This work hereinafter cited as Hale, _Crim. Prec_.

[12] Constables Acc'ts of Melton in _Leicester Architec. and Archaeol. Soc. Trans_., iii (1874), 72-3. Chelmsford Churchwardens Acc'ts in _Essex Archaeol. Soc. Trans_., ii (1863), 225 ff.

[13] Stratton (Cornwall) Churchwardens Acc'ts, _Archaeologia_, xlvi, 200 ff. _s. a_. 1565 and editor's note.

[14] "Sir W.. A.. and I with divers other justices, being met together at Sondon church" (1582). Strype, _Annals of the Reformation_, iii, Pt. ii, 214. This meeting here may have been in the churchyard.

[15] See in the _Antiquary_, xxxii (1896), 147-8, the inquest held at St. Botolph Extra Aldgate (1590), and the coroner's judgment delivered in the church that a suicide should be buried at cross-roads with a stake through her breast.

[16] For the noisy proceedings in Bow Church and in St. Paul's, London, see _The Spiritual Courts epitomised_ [etc.], a satire printed in 1641 at London. For this and similar satires see Mr. Stephen's _Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires_ in Brit. Mus. (1870). Cf. Strype, _Life of Grindal_ (Oxon. ed. 1821), 83 ff. (Proclamation of 1561 for reverent use of churches). Also Augustus Jessop, _One Generation of a Norfolk House_, 15. Sir J.F. Stephen, _Hist. of Criminal Law_, ii. 404.

[17] In the Canons of 1571 the churchwardens are called "_aeditui_," in those of 1604 "_oeconomi_." In the older churchwardens accounts their Latin designations are "_gardiani_" and "_custodes_," sometimes "_prepositi_" (or 'reeves'). English equivalents are churchmen, highwardens, stockwardens (alewardens even), kirkmasters, church masters, proctors, etc. Sidemen are called also questmen, assistants and (apparently) sworn men or jurates. They do not always appear in small country parishes, neither are they generally found before the latter half of Elizabeth's reign. Their Latin appelation was "_fide digni_" and they were chosen from among the parishioners to the number of two, four, six or more to present offences along with the churchwardens, or offences which the wardens would not present (Gibson, _Codex_, ii, 1000). The sidemen went about the parish during service time with the wardens and warned persons to come to church (See p. 23 _infra_). For rector, etc., see p. 30 _infra_.

[18] Toulmin Smith, _The Parish_ (2d ed., 1857), 69 ff., strongly insists that churchwardens "never were ecclesiastical officers." But the authorities he cites are post-Elizabethan. The courts in Elizabeth's time held that the execution of the office "doth belong to the Spirituall jurisdiction" (See Brown v. Lother, 40 Eliz., in _J. Gouldsborough's Rep_., ed. 1653, p. 113). Lambard (_The Duties of Constables_, etc., ed. 1619, p. 70) says that wardens are taken in favor of the church to be a corporation at common law for some purposes, viz., to be trustees for the church goods and chattels.

[19] See "The Othe which the Parsons ... shall minister to the Churche Wardens," of which the text is given in Bishop Barnes' Injunctions and other Ecclesiastical Proceedings, _Surtees Soc_., xxii (1850), 26 (Hereinafter cited as _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_.). The wording of this oath is evidently very similar to, if not identical with, that of the oath administered to the wardens by the archdeacon.

[20] For a number of examples clearly illustrating this point see Visitations of the Dean of York's Peculiar, _Yorkshire Archaeological Journal_. xviii (1905), 202, 221, 222, 224, _et passim_. Hereinafter cited as _Dean of York's Visit_. We have a number of these articles of inquiry formulated by archbishops or bishops. _E.g._, see in T. Nash, _Hist. and Antiq. of Worcestershire_, i, 472 (Wardens of Grimley make answer to the 5th and 6th articles inquired of by the bishop in 1585). Cf. Cardwell, _Doc. Ann._, ii, 13-16 (Whitgift's Articles of 1588).

[21] _E.g., Canterbury Visit_., xxv, 12 (Birchington wardens arraigned in court "for that they have not presented divers faults Committed within the parish." 1591). Act-Books in _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_., 118 (A warden of Long Newton detected to the official because "he refused to present faltes with his fellowe churchwardone, _et fatebatur delationem_, viz., that he wolde not present his owne wief." 1579). _Ibid_., 129 (1580). See also _Warrington Deanery Visit_., 188 ("Departing and not exhibitinge there presentments"). W.H. Hale, _Precedents in Causes of Office against Churchwardens and Others_ (1841), 81 (Wardens of Sarratt [Herts] excommunicated for not exhibiting their "_billas detectionum_." 1577). The last named work hereinafter cited as Hale, _Churchwardens' Prec_.

[22] For numerous examples of excommunication for non-appearance, see _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_., 29 ff. Under the heading of each parish we see "_aegrotat_" or "_excusatur_," or "_nullo modo_" (_sc. comparuit_) placed after the name of each person cited to attend from that parish. Incumbents, wardens and sidemen were almost always in attendance. Schoolmasters usually so when there were such. Delinquent parishioners were of course cited in person, or remanded to appear at the next court day holden elsewhere. Upon non-appearance the formula usually entered by the registrar or scribe in the act-book was "_et omnes et singulos hujusmodi non comparentes [judex] pronuntiavit contumaces et eos excommunicavit in scriptis_." At Alnwick in 1578 fifteen persons were excommunicated for non-attendance. _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_., 41. Cf. Hale, _Crim. Prec., passim_.

[23] Lists of "furniture," implements and books will be found in the metropolitan or diocesan injunctions of the time. A typical one is given in _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_., 25, entitled "The furnitures, implements and bookes requisite to be had in every churche, and so commaunded by publique aucthoritie" (1577). Cf. Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_., i, 287 ff. ("Advertisements partly for due order in the publique administration of common prayers [etc.] ..." Jan., 1564).

[24] _Warrington Deanery Visit_., 184.

[25] That is, Bishop John Jewel's _Apologia Ecclesiae Anglicanae_, published in 1560, and his _Defence of the Apology_, published in 1567, sometimes called in the act-books and wardens accounts (where both works are frequently mentioned) _The Reply to Mr. Harding_.

[26] _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_., 116.

[27] J.L. Glasscoek, _The Records of St. Michael's, Bishop Stortford_ (1882), 63. See also Minchinhampton (Gloucester) Acc'ts, _Archaeologia_, xxxv, 422 ff. ("Allowynge the regester booke." 1575). _Shrop. Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc. Tr_., 2d Ser., i, Ludlow Acc'ts, _s. a_. 1585-6 (Record of the new bible and other books).

[28] Glasscock, _op. cit_., 59 (1578).

[29] Hale, _Crim. Free_., 170-1.

[30] Visitations of the Dean of York's Peculiar, _Yorkshire Archaeological Journal_, xviii (1905), 209.

[31] _Ibid_., 210.

[32] With the exception of the High Commission by the terms of its commission. See the writ of 1559 in Gee, _The Elizabethan Clergy and the Settlement of Religion_, 150. Also Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_., i, 220, for the Commission for York in 1559. As a matter of fact, as will appear from the illustrations cited, fines were virtually inflicted by way of court or absolution fees. Again, while the canons or injunctions forbade the commutation of penance for money, an exception was made for money taken _in pios usus_, such as church repair or the relief of the poor. Examples of the practice will be found in Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 232 (Repair of St. Paul's, London); _Warrington Deanery Visit_., 189 (Poor); Chelmsfofd Acc'ts, _Essex Arch. Soc., ii_, 212 (Paving of church). For fines inflicted for the benefit of the poor see _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_., 122 ("For that he gave evill words" an offender was enjoined by the judge to pay 2s. to the poor and to certify); Hale, _op. cit_., 198 (An offender to pay a rate of 4d., and 12d. more _"pro negligentia_." 1589/1590) _Cf_. Canons of 1585 in Cardwell, _Synodalia_, i, 142.

[33] _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_., 24 (1577). In the case of individuals interdiction or suspension _(i.e_., from service and sacraments) does not differ in effect from excommunication, except that the former are temporary penalties and to terminate upon compliance with the judge's order. See Burn, _Eccles. Law_ (ed. 1763), i, 616 (Interdiction) and ii, 362-3 (Suspension).

[34] Thomas North, _A Chronicle of the Church of St. Martin's in Leicester_ (1866), 116 (1568-9).

[35] _Leicester Archit. and Archaeol. Soc. Tr_., iii (1874), 192 (1567).

[36] _Ibid_., 197 (1594-5).

[37] W.F. Cobb, _Churchwardens Accounts of St. Ethelburga-within-Bishopsgate_ (1905), p. 10 (1595) and p. 12 (1604), respectively. Stanhope was chancellor to the bishop of London.

[38] See p. 46 ff. _infra_.

[39] See _infra_ p. 40, p. 48 (note 169), p. 131, etc. Also Ch. ii, _infra_. _Cf_. note 32 _supra_ (p. 19).

[40] Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 155.

[41] Ordinary is that ecclesiastical magistrate who has regular jurisdiction over a district, in opposition to judges extraordinarily appointed. At common law a bishop was taken to be the ordinary in his diocese, and so he was designated in some acts of Parliament. But as a matter of fact 'ordinary' signifies any judge authorized to take cognizance of causes by virtue of his office or by custom. Such were pre-eminently the archdeacons. These officers, at first merely attendant on the bishops at public services, were gradually entrusted by the latter with their own jurisdictional powers, owing to the vast extent of dioceses, so that "the holding of General Synods or Visitations when the Bishop did not visit, came by degrees to be known and established Branches of the Archidiaconal Office, as such, which by this means attained to the dignity of Ordinary instead of delegated jurisdiction." Edmund Gibson, _Codex Juris Ecclesiastici Anglicani_, or the _Statutes, Constitutions_ (etc.) _of the Church of England_, ii (1713), 998. Cf. Richard Burn, _Eccles. Law_, ii, 101-2. As the ordinary in practice entrusted his office of judge to an official, I have used the two terms interchangeably. In some places exempted from the archdeacon's jurisdiction commissaries acted as judges, Burn, i, 391.

[42] That is, services and sacraments (except baptism) were suspended in it. The words of Burn (_Eccles. Law_, i, 616, quoting Gibson, 1047) are misleading. He says: "But this censure hath been long disused; and nothing of it appeareth in the laws of church or state since the reformation." Of course interdiction _temp_. Elizabeth was no longer the terrible punishment it used to be.

[43] At Shrewsbury.

[44] _Shrop. Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc. Tr_., i (1878), 62.

[45] R.W. Goulding, _Records of the Charity known as Blanchminster's Charity_ (1898), Stockwardens Acc'ts, 68. For other examples of interdiction of churches or excommunication see Hale, _Churchwardens' Prec_., 111-12 (Shoreham Vetera interdicted. 1599/1600), _et passim_.

[46] Except in the city of London and some few other places, the chancel was at the charge of the rector or other recipient of the great tithes. Sidney and Beatrice Webb, _English Local Government_ (1906), 20, _note_. Also W.G. Clark-Maxwell in _Wilts Arch_. etc. _Mag_., xxxiii (1904), 358. H.B. Wilson, _History of St. Laurence Pountney_ (London, 1831), 73.

[47] _Canterbury Visit_., xxvi, 21.

[48] _Ibid_.

[49] _Ibid_., 32. In 1599 the wardens of this parish inform the archdeacon that both church and churchyard need repairs "which we mean shortly to do." The next year, too, they make a report in almost identical words. _Ibid_., 33.

[50] See p. 15 _supra_.

[51] _Dean of York's Visit_., 341.