Building on Selden’s seventeenth-century History of Tithes, Clarke traces the custom of giving a tenth from the ancient world before Christ, through the early Church councils and the Roman mission to England, to the charters and canons on which the English clergy’s claim was based. He disputes the old reading of King Ethelwulf’s grant and argues sharply with other writers on the subject.
A detailed, combative study for readers of English church and legal history. Download the free EPUB.