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Historisk tidskrift 132:4 • 2012

Innehåll (Contents) 2012:4

Uppsatser (Articles)

Huvudtionde, odal och prästgårdar

Johan Runer

Fulltext (pdf)

Summary

Capital tithe, allodium and Church land

The capital tithe was a special type of tithe, which existed in medieval Iceland, Norway and Sweden. In contrast to the regular tithe, the capital tithe applied to the property of the individual rather than the income. It was paid when a church was consecrated and normally also on inheritance. It could also be prescribed for serious transgressions against divine law.

In Iceland, Norway and Sweden, the capital tithe was established early in the Christianization process with the aim to secure endowments for new churches and clergy. In the Nordic countries land was held in allodium by the family working the land. Thus there was no private ownership of land, but the person who held a mandate over the property (óðalsmaðr) possessed only a carefully circumscribed right to it. Land endowed by an óðalsmaðr could be reclaimed by his heirs. In order for the Church to retain the right to the donation, the endowment had to be renewed. This prevented the Church from acquiring land permanently.

In most cases every óðalsmaðr paid capital tithe once in his lifetime, thus renewing the endowment made by his ancestors on the consecration of a church. It was only when a new church was consecrated that new land had to be donated. In time, the Church managed to change the law to allow individuals to donate a minor share of their property to the Church without the consent of the heirs. This change made the capital tithe redundant. The new regulations can be found in the Swedish provincial laws that were codified in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century.

The capital tithe was necessary to allow the Church permanent acquisition of real property in a society where the right to alienate property was carefully circumscribed by existing inheritance law. Once the law was altered, land that had previously required renewed donations in every generation could now be held permanently by the Church.

Keywords

Sweden, high middle ages, capital tithe, allodium, odal, óðal, parsonage, Church land, devise, donation, Church