ly conſiſting of the kings of Mercia and Northumberland, the biſhops, dukes, ſenators, and people. Which was a few years later than the time that Charlemagne eſtabliſhed the payment of them in France[1], and made that famous diviſion of them into four parts; one to maintain the edifice of the church, the ſecond to ſupport the poor, the third the biſhop, and the fourth the parochial clergy[2].
The next authentic mention of them is in the foedus Edwardi et Guthruni; or the laws agreed upon between king Guthrun the Dane, and Alfred and his ſon Edward the elder, ſucceſſive kings of England, about the year 900. This was a kind of treaty between thoſe monarchs, which may be found at large in the Anglo-Saxon laws[3]; wherein it was neceſſary, as Guthrun was a pagan, to provide for the ſubſiſtence of the chriſtian clergy under his dominion; and, accordingly, we find[4] the payment of tithes not only enjoined, but a penalty added upon non-obſervance: which law is ſeconded by thoſe of Athelſtan[5], about the year 930. And this is as much as can certainly be traced out, with regard to their legal original.
2. We are next to conſider the perſons to whom they are due. And upon their firſt introduction (as hath formerly been obſerved[6]) though every man was obliged to pay tithes in general, yet he might give them to what prieſts he pleaſed[7]; which were called arbitrary conſecrations of tithes: or he might pay them into the hands of the biſhop, who diſtributed among his dioceſan clergy the revenues of the church, which were then in common[8]. But, when dioceſes were divided into pariſhes, the tithes of each pariſh were allotted to it's own particular miniſter; firſt by common conſent, or the appointments of lords of manors, and afterwards by the written law of the land[9].
