Tithes Quotes
Even thought Iceland had an official church, it was not favored by requiring citizens to donate to it. All religions were treated equally and the official amount could be paid to whatever church the citizen belonged to. They even made provisions for atheists who would not have to donate to a religious organization.
Many of the Church wanted Wycliff excommunicated, but the King and Parliament seemed to like his writing and sermons. So he was protected in his lifetime. He died at the age of 60 of a stroke. After his death the Church burned all his books that had been banned, and exhumed his body. That was burned at the stake and his ashes scattered in a river. Martin Luther did not try to reform the Church in a vacuum. There had been various critics of the Church before Luther and Wycliff was one. The last statement in this quotation was the one that really hit the then mostly corrupt clergy where it hurt.
In Ireland at the time the established church—the Protestant Anglican Church of Ireland—had the legal right to collect annual Tithes from the population in order to fund the activities of the Church. One difficulty however, was that the majority of the population were Roman Catholics. The poorest of them could not afford the tithe payments to any church. Whereas in the past, the Protestant Church officials did not force the issue of tithe collection from the poor, in about 1830 they changed and seized the property of the poor (Protestants and Catholics) and auctioned it off to pay for the tithe. The Cardinal organized this campaign of using the technicalities of the laws to combat the Tithe. For example, the poor Catholic farmers gave title to their cattle to the Catholic Church and the Archbishop then had them feed and care for “his” cattle in exchange for their ability to use the milk for drinking and cheese.
Gregory the Great. “Emoluments” included the income from all lands and other church property, gifts and tithes, and income of any sort. This formula characterized the division of resources for the better part of Christian history. By today’s standard, the proportion for these Bishops (there were those who chose poverty) and his household seems astoundingly high—his income and sustenance was the equal of all the priests in the bishopric. It illustrates the affluence of the bishops who were major forces in their territories. One of the rationales for such an affluent bishop (the assets were not all personal but he had control of them) was that he should be at least the equal of any in the area including kings and nobles for he was to have as much influence as they. It is difficult today to look at modern bishops and realize how their role, power, relative wealth, and influence has changed. Bishops had their own armies, judiciary, accountants, attorneys and were a government unto themselves.
Clerics of the age were often combinations of fund raisers and tax collectors.
In Ireland at the time the established church—the Protestant Anglican Church of Ireland—had the legal right to collect annual Tithes from the population in order to fund the activities of the Church. One difficulty however, was that the majority of the population were Roman Catholics. The poorest of them could not afford the tithe payments to any church. Whereas in the past, the Protestant Church officials did not force the issue of tithe collection from the poor, in about 1830 they changed and seized the property of the poor (Protestants and Catholics) and auctioned it off to pay for the tithe. The Cardinal organized a campaign of non-violent civil disobedience to combat the Tithe. See {639227}.
There were other Roman Catholics who used violence including physically attacking the Tithe Collectors. In Ireland at the time the established church—the Protestant Anglican Church of Ireland—had the legal right to collect annual Tithes from the population in order to fund the activities of the Church. One difficulty however, was that the majority of the population were Roman Catholics. The poorest of them could not afford the tithe payments to any church. Whereas in the past, the Protestant Church officials did not force the issue of tithe collection from the poor, in about 1830 they changed and seized the property of the poor (Protestants and Catholics) and auctioned it off to pay for the tithe. The Cardinal organized a campaign of non-violent civil disobedience to combat the Tithe.
In Ireland at the time the established church—the Protestant Anglican Church of Ireland—had the legal right to collect annual Tithes from the population in order to fund the activities of the Church. One difficulty however, was that the majority of the population were Roman Catholics. The poorest of them could not afford the tithe payments to any church. The Irish Protestant clergy lived in a particularly sumptuous style and were much more interested in politics and maintaining the Protestant ascendency than they were in ministering to the poor and had no interest in aiding the Catholic poor.
Tyler and his movement of peasants also wanted all priests to have just enough wealth and property for their own sustenance with the remainder divided among the peasants just like the Bishops’ properties.
