tithe

(noun)

A one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, the fee is voluntary and paid in cash, checks, or stocks, whereas historically it was required and paid in kind, such as agricultural products.

Related Terms

Examples of tithe in the following topics:

  • Vladimir I and Christianization

    • He also built the first stone church in Kiev named the Church of the Tithes starting in 989.
    • The original stone Church of the Tithes collapsed from fire and sacking in the 12th century.

  • Sculpture in the Greek Orientalizing Period

    • His legs bear the inscription, "Mantiklos offered me as a tithe to Apollo of the silver bow; do you, Phoibos [Apollo], give some pleasing favor in return."

  • The Anabaptists

    • As early as 1522 it became evident that Zwingli was on a path of reform preaching when he began to question or criticize such Catholic practices as tithes, the mass, and even infant baptism.

  • The Ancien Regime

    • Similarly, the tithes (a form of obligatory tax, at the time often paid in kind), which the peasants were obliged to pay to their local churches, was a cause of grievance as it was known that the majority of parish priests were poor and the contribution was being paid to an aristocratic, and usually absentee, abbot.

  • Taxes and the Three Estates

    • Peasants and nobles alike were required to pay one-tenth of their income or produce to the church (the tithe).

  • Establishment of the National Assembly

    • On August 4, 1789, the National Constituent Assembly abolished feudalism (action triggered by numerous peasant revolts), sweeping away both the seigneurial rights of the Second Estate and the tithes (a 10% tax for the Church) collected by the First Estate.

  • Joseph II and Domestic Reform

    • Clergymen were deprived of the tithe and ordered to study in seminaries under government supervision, while bishops had to take a formal oath of loyalty to the crown.