17. TITHING IN EARLY MEDIEVAL IRELAND (CA. 750)
INTRODUCTION
All Christians were expected to give a “tithe” amounting to 10 percent of their income to the church every year. In economies that were not based on capital, these tithes took the form of goods or services. Early medieval Ireland was one such economy. Indeed, the “monetary” value of items was based on a mode of exchange that was somewhat unusual in comparison to the use of the silver penny in England: the standard of wealth in Ireland was linked to the number of cows a kinship unit owned. Therefore, the tithe was in the form of cattle, or other agricultural products.
In addition to the tithe, another traditional grant to the church was known as “first fruits”: the first product of the harvest was donated to the church, for the use of the local priest and parish church or abbot and monastery—in early medieval Ireland, this was often one and the same person and institution.
KEEP IN MIND AS YOU READ
Early medieval Ireland was a very rural society with no urban centers until after the Viking invasions of the ninth century. Land was owned by entire kin groups, rather than by individuals, and the economy was based heavily on pastoral activities: the raising of cattle and sheep. The financial demands of the church on the Christian population could be quite burdensome, which is one reason why the canons might have been written down: to enforce the requirements of the church.
Document 1: The Irish Canons: Collection of the Tithe and First Fruits
1. The jurists say that tithes of cattle should be offered once [in a person’s life]. … But others of the true faith affirm that we should give tithes of living and mortal things to God every year, since every year we enjoy His gifts.
2. Also, [from] all fruits of the soil a tithe ought to be offered once a year to the Lord, for as it is said: “Whatever has been once consecrated to God, will be most holy in the sight of the Lord.” For the tithe should not be offered repeatedly from those things, as the learned COLUMBANUS has taught us. But of the fruits of the soil a tenth part ought to be offered every year, because they are produced every year.
3. Also, tithes are from all living things. So the first fruits of everything, and the animal that is born first in the year should be given. For the first born of animals are like first fruits; and the first born of men and of animals may be offered. [the eldest children should be consecrated to the church]
4. Also, concerning tithes in herds and first fruits. First born are those that are born before any others are born in that year. It should be known how great is the weight of the first fruits, i.e., nine or twelve measures. Hence, the measure of the offering should be sufficient material for nine or twelve loaves. But of vegetables it should be as much as can be carried in the hand. It ought to be paid at the beginning of the summer, just as it was offered once a year to the priests of Jerusalem. But in the New Testament each would offer it to the monastery to which he belongs. And toward this would be especially charitable; of the first-born let males, never females, be offered.
5. Also, if any have less substance than the tithe [own less in value than the standard offering] they shall not pay the tithe.
6. Also, in order that all might find it convenient to offer tithes in some way to God, if they have only one cow or ox, let them divide the price of the cow into ten parts and give a tenth part to God.
Source: Migne, J. P., ed. Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Vol. XCVI. Paris, 1862. Pp. 1319–1320. Reprinted in Roy C. Cave and Herbert H. Coulson, eds. A Source Book for Medieval Economic History. Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Co., 1936; Reprint ed., New York: Biblo & Tannen, 1965. Pp. 378–379. The text has been modernized by Prof. Jerome S. Arkenberg, California State University, Fullerton. Available through the Internet Medieval Sourcebook, http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/source/750Eiretith.asp
AFTERMATH
The church’s income is derived largely from tithes and fees for services such as masses for the dead, the blessing of marriages, and the performance of sacraments such as baptism and last rites (extreme unction). In Ireland, these profits remained very much localized, especially as the monastic and episcopal structures were often intertwined. After the conquest of Ireland by King Henry II in 1173, the Irish church was reorganized along more conventionally orthodox lines, with a diocesan structure based on that of England and Wales and a separation of monastic houses from local parish work. This radically changed the financial relationship between the native Irish people and the church, as the Irish were subject, after the conquest, to the kinds of payments owed by English people, such as Peter’s Pence and the fees due for a far more sophisticated and expanded administrative structure.
ASK YOURSELF
Even though there is the stipulation that those who are too poor to be able to pay the tithe should not have to, could the payment of the tithes, especially the “first fruits,” be perceived as burdensome to the populace in Ireland? What effects could the reduction of family income by 10 percent have on the family?
Why was it considered more honorable to give male animals rather than female animals as part of the tithe? Wouldn’t female cows and sheep be more useful, in that they could provide milk and give birth to young?
What did the church do with all of the income it received as tithes?
TOPICS TO CONSIDER
Consider how popular reaction to the tithing requirements could change depending on the level of prosperity or poverty in a given group.
Consider how tithing would create a level of wealth in the church that could not be matched by the secular leaders in early medieval Ireland. How would the political and social dynamics be influenced by a wealthy institution operating in the midst of a relatively impoverished region?
Further Information
Charles-Edwards, T. M. Early Christian Ireland. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Hughes, Kathleen. “The Church in Irish Society, 400–800.” In A New History of Ireland, volume 1: Prehistoric and Early Ireland, edited by Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, 301–330. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.