ABSTRACT
The developments of 1534 in clerical taxation thus grew out of medieval precedents; their chief novelty lay in their magnitude and their association with the doctrine of the royal supremacy.
The English crown's increased taxation of the clergy after 1534 carried both fiscal and political rewards, despite promoting discontent with royal religious policies. Anxious to secure a reliable income sufficient to support royal ambitions without continual recourse to parliamentary taxes, Henry VIII and his councillors found first fruits and tenths a welcome fresh source of revenue. Initially worth nearly £50 000 per annum, the new taxes rapidly fell in value following the dissolution of the monasteries which reduced the clerical tax base considerably. After 1540, however, this decline was partially reversed by the granting of regular clerical subsidies voted by convocation (as during the 1520s) but now confirmed by parliament.5 In total, clerical taxation during the two decades between the introduction of first fruits and tenths in 1534 and the renunciation of royal ecclesiastical revenues by Mary Tudor in
benefice while discharging the first fruits of another, but their poorer colleagues faced considerable hardships. The imposition of first fruits discouraged clergy from resigning one benefice in favour of another, since it might be several years before the lost income would be recouped. Although permitted to compound for the sum due, and thereby pay in several instalments, prospective incumbents nonetheless faced a considerable reduction in income (in addition to obligatory payments to archdeacons, registrars, and patrons incurred in the course of securing presentation and induction to their livings). The dilemma for new incumbents was presented in a sermon delivered at Paul's Cross in 154 7: 'I pray you to loke yf there be any provyso howe the prestes shall lyve for that yere' .9 The plight of poor clergy was particularly acute. John Rote, an ex-monk in Northampton, was assigned a vacant vicarage in the town (valued at only £7 per annum) in lieu of a pension. In their report the local commissioners strongly recommended that Rote's first fruits be remitted 'leste the pore man shuld bege in the meantime'. 10 An allowance for incumbents whose livings did not exceed eight marks (£5 6s. 8d.) in annual value to pay nothing for their first three years offered some comfort to the poorest beneficed clergy, but did nothing to lift the burden for the majority. Prior to the Reformation payment of papal annates had been largely confined to the ranks of the higher clergy, while medieval assessments for royal tenths and other subsidies usually included generous allowances. Both the costs of necessary repairs and curates' stipends (taxed separately) were generally deducted from incumbents' incomes. By contrast from 1535 royal first fruits were paid by all new incumbents (however mean their benefice), while annual tenths affected all beneficed clergy immediately. Furthermore, these taxes were based upon a rigorous new assessment which more accurately reflected clerical incomes.
