Tithe

A tithe, from an old word meaning a tenth, was a taxation system in which peasants gave one tenth of their produce to the church.

The practice of giving tithes was mentioned in the Bible, beginning with the gift from Abraham to Melchizedek (Genesis 14:20). Adam Smith criticised the system in his Wealth of Nations (1776), arguing that a fixed rent would encourage peasants to farm more efficiently. The Dissolution of the Monasteries led to the transfer of many tithe rights from the Church to secular landowners, and then in the 1530s to the Crown. The system ended with the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836, which replaced tithes with a rent charge decided by a Tithe Commission. The records of land ownership, or Tithe Files, made by the Commission are now a valuable resource for historians.