CHAPTER XXVI.

THE “VALOR ECCLESIASTICUS” OF HENRY VIII.

It is convenient to take into consideration here another survey of the Church which was taken about two centuries later.

When Crown, Parliament, and Church, in the sixteenth century, determined to throw off the patriarchal supremacy of Rome, for which its monstrous pecuniary exactions in one shape and another was one prominent motive, the clergy no doubt fondly expected that they would get rid for ever of the burden of first-fruits and tenths, but found themselves grievously disappointed. One of the political motives of the king in the complex series of events which we sum up under the general name of the Reformation, was the diminution of the power and wealth of the Church. The property of the monasteries, which he confiscated, the manors of the sees, which he compelled the bishops to surrender, did not suffice him. A subservient Parliament, passing one Act in 1532 and another in 1534, put the first-fruits and tenths into his hands. It was a considerable addition to the royal revenue, and the king took measures to secure the full advantage of it. A commission was appointed to make a new survey of the income of the Church. The commissioners by themselves and their agents went carefully through every diocese, archdeaconry, rural deanery and parish, and required every person to state on oath what was the income which he derived from his benefice from every source. The returns were sent in by 1534.

The result, so far as it concerns us here, was a return of the condition of the Church at the close of the mediæval period of great historical value. The returns are not given with the same fulness from every diocese, but where they are given fully they give not only the general return of the value of each benefice, but also the names of the clergy and in several dioceses a schedule of the sources of their income.[423]

The first thing to which attention is naturally directed is the number of parishes, and a comparison with the number in the “Taxatio” two centuries before. The enumeration is not free from difficulties, but the figures given may be taken as approximately correct.

We make out that the totals are as follows:--Total number of parishes, 8838; of vicarages, 3307; of chapels, 536; of chantries, 1733.[424]

Comparing these figures with those of the “Taxatio,” it will be seen that the total number of parishes had increased very little in the interval, though the population of the country had increased from about 2,200,000 to about 4,350,000 souls.

This may be accounted for partly by the fact that the growth of population had caused the creation of few new centres of population, but only the increase of the populations of the existing centres. There were very few, if any, new towns or new parishes in the towns, but the old towns had grown larger; there were few new rural parishes, but the villages had a larger population; so that there was little increase in the number of parish priests, but each priest ministered to a larger flock; where new centres of population had sprung up, their wants were supplied by a chapel and its chaplain. The increase in the means of supplying the spiritual wants of the increased population had taken the form of the employment of Domestic Chaplains and Gild Chaplains, and the foundation of Chantries, which we shall have to deal with in subsequent chapters.

The next question to which we turn is the income of the Church as a whole, and of the parochial benefices in particular, and a comparison in this respect also between the “Taxatio” and the “Valor.”

The ostentation of minute accuracy on the part of the taxers is almost ludicrous, the princely income of the Bishop of Lincoln is returned at £1962 17_s._ 4½_d._ In dividing a sum of money among the minor canons of that cathedral, the accountant points out that a farthing remained over, which was indivisible; and in dividing the gross income of the benefices by ten, it was constantly recorded that there was a remainder of so much, which was “undecimable.”

Very few new religious houses were founded after the thirteenth century; the cause was not so much that the Statute of Mortmain interposed a check to the free action of pious munificence, as that there was a general recognition that enough had been done in this direction. The two thousand chantries which had been founded in the two centuries probably did not average £5 a year income, and did not swell the general income by so much as £10,000 a year. The parochial benefices are seen, by actual comparison of the figures, to have increased in nominal amount of income, but the purchasing value of money had decreased, so that the real value of the benefices was probably somewhat less. The produce of the annual tenths would seem to indicate that the income of the Church had largely diminished, for whereas we have seen that by the “Taxatio” of 1291 it amounted to £20,000, we learn, from a letter of Henry VII., to the Bishop of Chichester, that it had fallen by that time to £10,000; the Bishop of Oxford[425] attributes this to the multiplication of exemptions, especially of livings under ten marks.

One valuable feature of the “Valor” is the schedules of incomings and outgoings of the livings, and the incidental notices contained in them, which give glimpses of the economy of the parishes.

We give first one example, which is expressed in English, at full length, as a clue to the meaning of the more abbreviated form in which some others are given.

From the “Valor Ecclesiasticus,” vol. vi. p. 2:--

Compotus of Wm. Richardson “Vicegerent” of John Emott rector, of his benefice of Brancaster in 1535.

First in glebe land, x acr’, by the yearly value of vj.

Item in wheté, xx cūbe [cumbes].

Item in myxteleyn, xl cūbe.

Item in barley, xx cūbe.

Item in pes, fetches, and oots (pease, vetches, and oats), xvj cūbe.

Item in woll, xvj ston.

Item in lambs, l.

Item y{e} offering of iiij days, xxiiij_s._

Item in odyr offerings of other days, xx_s._

Item in lactage and p’vy (privy) tythes, xxxvj_s._

Item in hempe, hony, and waxe, iiij_s._

Item in pygyns, vj_s._ viij_d._

Item in gyse and chekyns, iij_s._ iiij_d._

Item in tythe piggs, iiij_s._

Item in eggys, iij_s._

Item in saffron, j li.

Theys ben y{e} pcells y{e} wych y{e} sayd John Emott ps̄ūn̄ of Brancast’ aske y{e} allowance of

_s._ _d._

Fyrst in porcions to the monastȳ of Ramsey xl

Item to ps̄ūn̄ of Bebdale xxvj viij

Item to sexton in y{e} monastȳ aforsaid xiij iiij

Item in p̄ōx̄ys (proxies) vij vijob.

Item in sinage (elsewhere senage and synage, vol. v. 182, probably payment at synods) ij

William Richardson Curat’ there affirms the said rectory to be of the annual value altogether of:--

GALFŪS̄ WORLE Const’ } £ _s._ _d._ GILBTŪS̄ SMYTH} } Affirm _xxix_ _ii_ _xiob._ RIC CLERK } Parishioners } as _xxvi_ _ii_ _xiob._ JOHĪS̄ CRANE } } above. xxviij ix vijob.

Here are some examples taken from various localities; first, a country rural deanery:--

Deanery of Pershore. Diocese of Worcester. (“Valor,” iii. p. 263.)

Rectory of Kington, glebe, 3_s._ 4_d._; private tithe at Easter, 10_s._; oblations on the 4 principal feasts, 2_s._ 8_d._; tithe of corn and hay, £6 13_s._ 4_d._; various small tithes, 17_s._; total, £8 6_s._ 4_d._

R. of Broughton Hakett, tithe of corn and hay, £7 2_s._ 8_d._; lambs and wool, 5_s._ 6_d._; other tithe, 11_s._ 6_d._; 4 days, 2_s._ 10_d._ (no pasch.); total, £8 2_s._ 6_d._

Vicarage of Hymulton, glebe, 6_s._ 8_d._; tithe of hay, etc., £2 6_s._ 0_d._; Easter, 42_s._ 2_d._; 4 days, 20_s._; pension from prior of W., 53_s._ 4_d._; total, £8 8_s._ 10_d._

R. of Churchelenche, glebe, 32_s._ 4_d._; tithe, £5 14_s._ 11_d._; Easter, 33_s._ 11_d._; 4 days, 13_s._ 6_d._; total, £9 14_s._ 8_d._

V. of Byshampton, glebe, 20_s._; tithe, 54_s._; pension, 40_s._; Easter, 30_s._; 4 days, 13_s._ 4_d._; total, £7 17_s._ 4_d._

R. of Segebarowe, glebe, 30_s._; tithe, £15 11_s._ 6_d._; Easter, 12_s._ 3½_d._; 4 days, 6_s._ 3_d._; total, £15 0_s._ 0½_d._

R. of Grafton Flyford, glebe, 66_s._; tithe, £16 14_s._ 5½_d._; Easter, 21_s._ 5_d._; 4 days, 7_s._ 7_d._; total, £20 10_s._ 5½_d._

Next to take a town--Droitwich.

Town of Wyche. (“Valor,” vol. iii. p. 268.)

Rectory of Whitton in the town of Wyche, glebe, 14_s._ 1_d._; tithe, 75_s._ 8_d._; In libro compot pascal,[426] 8_s._ 8_d._; 4 days, 4_s._; total, £5 2_s._ 5_d._

R. of St. Andrew in the town of Wyche, tithe, 19_s._ 6_d._; Easter, 40_s._; 4 days, 14_s._; total, £3 13_s._ 6_d._

R. of St. Nicholas in the town of Wyche, tithe, 46_s._ 8_d._; Easter, 33_s._ 4_d._; 4 days, 10_s._; total, £4 10_s._

Vicarage of St. Peter in the town of Wyche, tithe, 75_s._; Easter, 40_s._; 4 days, etc., 1_s._; £6 7_s._

V. of Bromsgrove with chapel of Norton, in the town of Wyche, farm of a garden, 2_s._; tithe, etc., £7 5_s._; Easter, £12; 4 days, 40_s._; mortuaries, 1_s._; chapel tithe, £4; Easter, £16; total, £41 8_s._

It is worth while to note the proportion which the offerings bear to the other sources of income, and to make a few notes upon them. We find the customary offerings at the four seasons and at Easter, as enjoined in Saxon times (see p. 71); only in some places, instead of the “oblationes quatuor festorum,” we find that the times had been reduced to three, as in the rural deanery of Irchingfield, in the diocese of Hereford (“Valor,” iii. p. 19), where we find “oblationes ibidem III bus temporibus anni usualibus”; or to two, as at Leeds, in the diocese of York, “oblationes duo’ dierum ibid’ consuet’.” The Easter offering was the more important; it is spoken of in various ways, “Decima privata in Festo Paschæ,” “Decimæ personaliæ vocatæ Lenten Booke,” “Decimæ personaliæ voc’ le Estre Booke,” “In libro Paschali,” “In Rotulo Paschali,” “In Rotulo Quadragesimali,”[427] “Lent Decimæ,” and “Oblationes in Pasch’.”

In settling the vicarages these fees were usually assigned to the vicar, and in town parishes the appropriators often left the vicar very little besides to live upon. We give a few examples taken at random in illustration of these remarks:--

The Vicarage of Leeds, a house and garden valued at 15_s._ 8_d._; tithes of lambs and wool, £13; Lent tithes and oblations in Pasch’, £26; oblations of two days _ibid’ consuet’_, £4 10_s._; oblations within the church, £4 6_s._ 8_d._; oblations of a chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 3_s._ 4_d._; total, £48 15_s._ 8_d._[428]

The Vicarage of Sheffield, a house and garden valued at 10_s._; tithe of wool and lambs, 36_s._; oblations, £6 18_s._; Easter Book, £4; small tithe, 2_s._ 8_d._; total, £13 6_s._ 8_d._[429]

The Vicarage of Huddersfield, house and garden, 3_s._ 4_d._; tithes of wool, 60_s._; of lambs, 64_s._; oblations, £4 11_s._ 8_d._; small and private tithe, £9 18_s._ 0½_d._; total, £20 17_s._ 0½_d._[430]

The Church of Doncaster, at the end of the thirteenth century,[431] was a rectory, held in two medieties; but in the course of the following centuries both medieties had been appropriated to the Abbey of St. Mary at York, which appointed a vicar. The vicar had a house and garden, valued at 6_s._ 8_d._, and an annual pension from St. Mary’s, _in pecunia numerata_, of £33 6_s._ 8_d._[432]

The income of the three churches in Nottingham--[433]

St. Mary. Mansion and glebe, 30_s._; tithe of bread and ale, 26_s._ 8_d._; tithe of wool and lambs, £4; tithe of geese, pigs, and fowls, 20_s._; of fruits, 20_d._; in Easter tithes, 60_s._ In the whole, £10 18_s._ 4_d._

St. Peter. Mansion, 6_s._ 8_d._; personal tithes, £6 13_s._ 4_d._; oblations, 26_s._ 8_d._; tithe of bread and ale, 13_s._ 4_d._; of fowls and eggs, 14_d._; of pigs, 6_s._ 8_d._; of chrisom cloths in _pannis crismalibus_,[434] 3_s._ 4_d._; oblations on the feast of the Purification, 3_s._ In the whole, £9 14_s._ 2_d._

St. Nicholas. Mansion and garden, 8_s._; a house, 8_s._; oblations, 13_s._ 4_d._; Easter tithes, 36_s._; tithe of bread and ale, 2_s._ 6_d._; tithe of pigs, fowls, and geese, 6_s._; of fruits, 3_s._ 7_d._; tithe of flax and hemp, 3_s._; eggs _et pannorum crismalium_, 3_s._ In the whole, £4.

Bingham Rectory. Mansion and land, 48_s._; three houses, 18_s._ 8_d._; a pigeon-house, 13_s._ 4_d._; oblations of the three days, 20_s._; Easter tithes, 46_s._ 8_d._; tithe of eggs, 3_s._; pigs and geese, 20_s._; fowls, 3_s._; wool and lambs, 100_s._; hay, 20_s._; corn, £30; flax and hemp, 5_s._ In the whole, £44 19_s._ 4_d._

Here follows a case in which the personal tithe, that is, the Easter offering, due from each principal parishioner, is set forth in detail:--

Vicarage of Cowarne Magna gives Decimis psonalibus an{it} videlīt̄ de Thoma Scull 6_s._, John̄e ap Madoke 4_d._, and four others at 4_d._ each; villat’ de Locatt 8_s._ 7_d._, Villat’ de Hopton 6_s._ 2_d._; Villat’ de Bache 3_s._ 1½_d._ and five other villatæ, amounting to £10 1_s._ 5_d._; oblations at the four accustomed times 14_s._ 8_d._; Lez crysoms 12_d._ Candles offered in die Pur’ Bte Marie; Denar’ oblat’ cum pane benedicta 2_s._ 6_d._[435]

The V. of Frome also mentions “lez crysoms” and offerings both at the Cross at Easter and on the other Paschal days.

R. of Estnor mentions “oblationes tam ad fontem benedict’ 20_s._,” and ad crucem in die Parescheue 6_d._, quam al’ oblac̄ōn’ accustumat’ an{ti} 13_s._ 4_d._ unacum le bede roll’ 16_d._ and debit’ pascalibz 23_s._ 4_d._[436]

The Rector of Streteford[437] was indebted oblac̄īonibus Ste Cosm̄e et Damiane, 40_s._ 5_d._ He probably had a relic of the Physician Saints in his church, and the people resorted to it for cure of maladies.

The compotus of the vicarage of Newark, Notts, is worth giving at full length:--

The Vicar of Newark returns his income from “tiethe chekens, doves, gowse, piggs, apples, peares, worth a yere xl{s} iij; offering daies, viz. All Saynts’ Daie, Xr̄ēmas Daie, and the Sondaie nexte after the feaste of Mary Magdaleyn, iiij{li} vi{s}; personall tithes at Eastor, xxj{li}; offerings at m’iages, purificac̄ōn̄s of women, buryalls, wi{t} other casualties, iij{li} iv{s}.; total, £30 10_s._ Whereof to the archebushopp of Yorke for synage, xvij{s} vi{d}; to the archedeacon of Nottingham for procurac̄ons, xvij{s} vi{d}; for waxe spent in the sv̄īc̄ē time in the churche, xvj{s} ix{d}; for wyne the ole yere and at Eastor spent in the churche, xvij{s} vi{d}; for oyle spent in the lampe in the queyre day and night, ix{s}; for breade and franckingsence, ij{s} viij{d}; for bell-strings, iiij{d}, and for the stipend of thone of the parryshe preistes, v{li}. Total, £21 5_s._ 1_d._”[438]

Some special sources of income which occur here and there are worth notice:--

The Vicar of Leominster has the herbage of the cemeteries of the church and chapels; the tithes of the bakers and taverners within the borough. Mass pennies and candle oblations, and oblations for the blessed bread on the Lord’s days.[439]

The case of Lenton, Notts, has also features of special interest. It was appropriated to the Prior of Lenton:--[440]

Richard Matthew, vicar there. Is worth for his house there, and with an acre of land, by the year, 6_s._ 8_d._; for Easter tithes, 54_s._; for offerings on the three days, 12_s._; for offerings at marriages, churchings, and burials, one year with another, 5_s._; for oblations on Sundays, 1¼_d._, amounting to 7_s._ 4_d._ a year; for a corrody of bread and ale at the Priory of Lenton, every week 1_s._ 6_d._, amounting to 78_s._ a year; and every day for food from the cook of the said prior to the value of 1_d._, amounting to 30_s._ 5_d._ a year; for tithe of wool and lambs, one year with another, 12_s._; for pigs, geese, and fowls, 10_s._; for tithe of flax and hemp, 3_s._; for tithe of fruits, one year with another, 12_s._; for grass and hay for one horse, found by the said prior, 3_s._ 4_d._ a year; in the whole £10 11_s._ 1¼_d._ Thence is paid annually to the said prior and his successors for a certain pension, 28_s._ 8_d._ And there remains £9 2_s._ 6¼_d._

We began with a return from a curate in sole charge of the parish of an absentee rector. Here is the case of a non-resident rector who lets his benefice to farm:--

Tunstall, Kent. The certificate of Sir Symon Jenyns, parson there, made by Symon Spacherst, his farmer:--

First, the same Symon Spacherst payeth to the said parson yearly £8. Item paid to the priest for his wages, £6 13_s._ 4_d._, making £14 13_s._ 4_d._ Whereof deducted for proxies[441] yearly 5_s._, leaving clear annual value, £14 8_s._ 4_d._

We take up now the question which was postponed from the preceding chapter, of the value of money at various periods during the Middle Ages compared with its value in our times, and especially at the period of the “Taxatio,” A.D. 1292, and at the period of the “Valor,” A.D. 1534. The comparative value of a given income at the two periods depends upon two things: first, upon the purchasing power of a pound at the end of the thirteenth century, and again at the middle of the sixteenth century compared with the present day; and, second, upon the style of living at the several periods.

First, as to the comparative purchasing power, it is not an easy question to determine. The late Mr. Thorold Rogers has given an immense mass of data[442] for its determination, but he has not conferred upon students the advantage of a table of comparative values for certain dates. In default of this, we fall back upon other conclusions drawn from similar collections of materials. Hallam, in his “History of Europe,” arrives at the conclusion that “we can hardly take a less multiple than about thirty for animal food, and eighteen or twenty for corn, in order to bring the prices of the thirteenth century to a level with those of the present day. Combining the two, and setting the comparative dearness of cloth against the cheapness of fuel and many other articles, we may perhaps consider any given sum under Henry III. and Edward I. as equivalent in general command over commodities to about twenty-four or twenty-five times its normal value at present;” and again, “In the time of Edward I., an income of £10 or £20 a year was reckoned a competent estate for a gentleman; at least the lord of a single manor would seldom have enjoyed more.” The same writer says, “Sixteen will be a proper multiple, when we would bring the general standard value of money in the reign of Henry VI. to our present standard.” Dean Milman, speaking of payments in 1344, says, without giving reason or quoting authority, “Multiply by fifteen to bring to present value.”[443] Froude says, “A penny in terms of the labourer’s necessities must have been equal in the reign of Henry VIII. to the present shilling;” and adopts “the relative estimate of twelve to one,” as generally representing the comparative value of money at that period. The Rev. Dr. Cunningham, formerly professor of Economic Science, K.C.L., kindly replying to a question on the subject, says, “For 1535, I should say that a penny was worth at least a shilling in the present day. I could not give a guess of any value as to the change between 1291 and 1535. At the former date I fancy the values were estimates, and that the actual receipts were chiefly in kind.” We have ventured to take, as approximate multiples, twelve times for the date of the “Taxatio” (A.D. 1291), and twenty-four times for the “Valor” (A.D. 1535).

But the comparative position of the parochial clergy, as of all other classes of society, at these two periods, and at the present day, depends not only on the amount of money which they received yearly, and on the quantity of things which it would purchase, but also on the style of living at the periods compared. In those times the houses of the smaller gentry were rudely but substantially built of timber, and did not involve frequent repairs. A little carving on the roof timbers of the hall--the one living room--was a permanent decoration, which never needed renewing; a high table of oak, with a great chair for the master, boards and trestles for the other tables, benches to sit upon, and a few stools, were the sufficient furniture; a little tapestry on the walls, a few bankers (cushions on the benches), made quite a luxurious furnishing; and green rushes strewed upon the floor supplied the place of carpets. The furniture of the rest of the house was rude and substantial. Clothing, among all the middle classes, was durable, and was worn for years; one or two better garments, worn only on great occasions, lasted for a lifetime. The whole mode of life of the middle classes was simple and homely to a degree which we can hardly believe. They were early to rise, and lived an outdoor life, the labouring men in field-work, the farmers not only overlooking the work, but putting their hands to it; the squires looking sharply after their own estates, and spending their leisure in field sports. The food was simple but abundant; air and exercise gave hearty appetites for homely fare, and early to bed saved light and firing.

The result was that a much smaller income enabled a man to hold his position in society.[444] In 1253, Henry III. issued an edict that whoever had estates of £15 yearly value should be made knights.[445] In the second year of Henry V. (1415), an Act of Parliament fixed £20 a-year as the income which qualified a man to be a Justice of the Peace.

A country rector, therefore, could hold his position in relation to his farmers, and his squire, and his country neighbours, on an income which seems to us wonderfully small; and the vicar and parish chaplain with £5 a-year did not seem to his neighbours of any degree to be in a condition of degrading poverty.