ABSTRACT
This chapter examines conflict over tithe payment in the diocese of Canterbury during the sixteenth century and describes strong continuities against a background of many different transitions. It aims to make observations in two sections concerning the significance of tithe extraction as a long-term structuring force for the determination of social relations, firstly, by describing the increase in dispute and the geographical continuities identified and, secondly, by describing some of the enduring forms of resistance to tithe. The payment of tithe was very much concerned with practice and customary modes of behaviour, rather than having a basis in a written discourse. The longer time period studied for this area has permitted the examination of family names for continuity of dispute through different generations of the same family. Many family names from the Romney Marsh parishes occur repeatedly as defendants in tithe suits.
