Henry II, King of England:
The Saladin Tithe, 1188
Since the Saladin Tithe was taken of rent and movables to provide funds for the
Third Crusade, it can be regarded as an ecclesiastical tithe. The co-operation of the
royal odicials of Henry II and of a jury, however, paved the way for future secular
taxation of movable goods. To that extent it can be regarded as the beginning of such
secular taxation in England.
1. Each person will give in charity one tenth of his rents and movable goods
for the taking of the land of Jerusalem; except for the arms, horses, and clothing of
knights, and likewise for the horses, books, clothing, and vestments, and church furniture
of the clergy, and except for precious stones belonging to the clergy or the laity.
2. Let the money be collected in every parish in the presence of the parish
priest and of the rural dean, and of one Templar and one Hospitaller, and of a servant of
the Lord King and a clerk of the King, and of a servant of a baron and his clerk, and the
clerk of the bishop; and let the archbishops, bishops, and deans in every parish
excommunicate every one who does not pay the lawful tithe, in the presence of, and to the
certain knowledge of, those who, as has been said above, ought to be present. And if any
one according to the knowledge of those men give less than he should, let there be elected
from the parish four or six lawful men, who shall say on oath what is the quantity that he
ought to have declared; then it shall be reasonable to add to his payment what he failed
to give.
3. But the clergy and knights who have taken the cross, shall give none of that
tithe except from their own goods and the property of their lord; and whatever their men
owe shall be collected for their use by the above and returned intact to them.
4. Moreover, the bishops in every parish of their sees shall cause to be
announced by their letters on Christmas Day and on the Feast of St. Stephen, and on the
Feast of St. John, that each will collect the said tithe into his own hands before the
Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin; and, on the following day and afterwards,
each will pay, in the presence of those who have been mentioned, at the place to which he
has been summoned.
Source:
William Stubbs, ed., Select Charters of English Constitutional History, (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1913), p. 189; reprinted in Roy C. Cave & Herbert H. Coulson, A
Source Book for Medieval Economic History, (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1936;
reprint ed., New York: Biblo & Tannen, 1965), pp. 387-388.
Scanned by Jerome S. Arkenberg, Cal. State Fullerton. The text has been modernized by
Prof. Arkenberg.
This text is part of the Internet
Medieval Sourcebook. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and
copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history.
Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document is copyright.
Permission is granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational
purposes and personal use. If you do reduplicate the document, indicate the source. No
permission is granted for commercial use.
© Paul Halsall, October 1998
halsall@fordham.edu |
