the English clergy had been supported by the produce of the lands which had been given to the church by kings and other great men, by a church scot or tax of one Saxon penny on every house that was worth thirty Saxon pence of yearly rent, and by the voluntary oblations of the people. By the laws of Ina, the earliest known enactment for supplying the needs of public worship, the voluntary offerings were commuted for a regular assessment. Every dwelling was to be valued at Christmas, and the rate so imposed was called "church shot," and was payable on the following Martinmas. Money being scarce, the payment was made in produce, usually in corn or seed, but sometimes in poultry. Defaulters were to be fined 40 shillings and to pay the church shot twelve fold. These dues, Soames says in his "History of the Anglo-Saxon Church," seem to be the origin of church rates in modern times. Church shot was considered analogous to the Levitical first-fruits, and it makes repeated appearances among the Anglo-Saxon legislative acts.+ This payment is known by another name in "Les termes de la Ley." It is there called Church esset on the authority of Fleta (1. XLVII.), and the word is understood to signify a certain measure of wheat, which in times past every man on S. Martin's day gave to Holy Church as well in the time of the Britons as of the English. This contribution is also called "church sed" -as one would say, "church seed." || Sir Edward Coke also writes of these gifts of devotion as being called church esset or church seed quasi semen ecclesiæ. In the thirteenth century church scot was both in its institution and in its name traditionary, and this will account for the corruptions found in documents of that period and in the works of legal authorities of the seventeenth century. It would seem that Soames was in error in describing these dues as of a similar character to church rates, and that Bishop Stubbs' (Constitutional See "The Law Dictionary," 3rd Edition, by T. E. Tomlins. Tithes I. p. 86. † See Soames' "Anglo-Saxon Church," 4th Edition, "Les termes de la Ley" (1667), p. 131. Ibid. § Coke on Littleton, 94. History I. viii. 229) definition "a sort of commutation for first fruits paid by every householder" is that which should be accepted.* The primary object, too, of the payment or offering would, it would appear, be for the support of the Clergy. In the parish payment of "scot and lot" the term we are considering has survived to times almost within our own memory. By the payment of scot and bearing lot a qualification was given by an act of George II. to vote for Aldermen and Councillors of the City of London.† Tithes, however, were paid in England at a very early period, notwithstanding the contribution of church shot; and I briefly refer to the early origin of tithes in this country because it would appear that the offering of church scot or church shot was distinct in its origin from the offering of tithes, and because it might be inferred that the offering of church shot preceded that of tithes. There is a curious "common tale" referred to and so styled by Selden, in which a complaint was made to Augustine in visiting "Cometon in Oxfordshire" (this would probably be Compton-Parva in Berkshire, or one of the Comptons in Warwickshire) by the priest of the place that the Lord of the Manor, in spite of repeated admonitions, would pay him no tithes. Augustine excommunicated the Lord, and whilst saying Mass a dead corpse buried at the door of the church suddenly arose. The story goes on to say that Augustine questioned the dead corpse in the Churchyard who he was, who tells him that in British times he was hujus villi patronus, that he too had refused to pay tithes and was excommunicated and died. The Priest who pronounced the excommunication then rises and telis a sad story of the other dead. However, Augustine finds that the sinner had suffered long years; he absolves him and sends him to his grave, where he fell again into dust and ashes. Selden adds as to the risen Priest, who tells of his having lain in his grave 170 years, that Augustine would gladly have him continue on earth again for the instruction of souls, but could not entreat him to remain, so he also returned "to his former lodging." The legend See Murray's Dictionary. + 2 George II., c. 18, sec. 7. "Church Shot." ends with the absolute penitence of the Lord of the Manor, as may be concluded from the circumstances narrated.* Sir Henry Spelman, in his larger work on Tithes, speaks of their being levied in very early times in this country. He mentions that Eadward the Elder and the Saxon and Danish Kings punished the non-payment of tithes by their temporal constitution. I do not follow out his learned remarks on the origin of tithes in this country, but will merely mention that he refers to King Eadgar, who, in a great parliament about the year 959, confirmed the payment of tithes, and assigned certain times in which they should be paid which he sets out.† It seemed to me that the offerings to the Church of Aylesbury in connection with Stoke, and referred to in Domesday, deserve special attention. The Church of St. Mary, at Stoke Mandeville, is situate only half a mile from the centre of the village. It can scarcely be realized that the parishioners deemed this distance a sufficient justification for abandoning their church, and that to perform their devotions it was necessary that a brand-new church should be built in the middle of the village, so that the villagers might step into it, without inconvenience, from their various homesteads and cottages. The old church stands apart in the rich pasture land of the Vale of Aylesbury, and one might have thought that a convenient path could have been made to it through the picturesque meadows. It should be observed, too, that the parish in its entirety should be considered, as it is of remarkable length, stretching above the vale far among the hills and woodlands of the Chilterns. The church is very near to the site of the Manor House, now a modern building known as Stoke House. Very probably, therefore, it was built by the Lord of the Manor for his tenants. An interesting ecclesiastical question arises as to the position of Stoke Mandeville, and the other dependent chapels, to the church of Bierton. It appears clear that St Mary's was a parochial chapel, since it possessed a font, which has been removed to the new church. The font * Selden's "History of Tithes," cap. 10, p. |