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Peter's Pence is payment made voluntarily to the Roman Catholic Church. It began under the Saxons in England and is seen in other countries. Though formally discontinued in England at the time of the Reformation, a post-Reformation payment of uncertain characteristics is seen in some English manors into the 19th century. In 1871, Pope Pius IX formalized the practice of lay members of the church – and "other persons of good will" – providing financial support to the Roman See. == The ancient payment (1031–1555)== The term Peter's pence, in its Latin form, first appeared in 1031, and the payment may not have had a single origin under the Saxons. Whether seen as a pious contribution, or merely a levy, it evidently underwent various changes both before and after the Norman conquest. It was applied by the Normans to Ireland as a 'penny per hearth' annual tax in the later part of the twelfth century under the Papal Bull ''Laudabiliter''. The traditional scholarly view is summarized in Jacob's ''Law Dictionary''〔quoting from 1762 edition〕 Peter-Pence (''Denarii Sancti Petri'') Otherwise called in the Saxon ''Romefeoh'' (the fee due to Rome), it was a tribute or rather an alms given by Ina, King of the West Saxons, in his pilgrimage to Rome in 725. The like was also collected by Offa, King of the Mercians, throughout his dominions, in 794. However, it was said to be not a tribute to the pope, but for the sustenation of the English School or College at Rome. It was called Peter-pence because a penny from every house was collected on 1 August, the feast day of St. Peter ad Vincula. King Edgar’s Laws contain a sharp Constitution〔sic, meaning as yet unclear〕 touching this money (Leg. Edg 78 c 4). Some sources give the Anglo-Saxon term ''Romescot'' instead of ''Romefeoh''. The Offa story is elaborated in later accounts of unknown reliability:
The earliest documentary evidence concerning it is found in a letter written from Rome by King Canute to the English clergy in 1031. It was then a levy of one penny on each hearth or household with an annual rental of thirty pence or more. Regarded as a tax rather than an offering, payment was apt to be avoided, the more so as time went on. Indeed, in the 13th century, the revenue arising from it had been stabilized, on the basis of the assessment of a much earlier day, at the annual sum of £20 1s. 9d for the whole of England. Pope Clement V pressed to have the levy paid on the (more rewarding) ancient basis of a penny from each household. By the 14th century, a standard sum, typically 5s. per manor or parish, was being given to local church authorities for forwarding. It appears that new tenants entering on a property which had historically been subject to a Peter's Pence levy did not always accept the obligation to pay.〔The Minchinhampton Custumal, in Transactions of the Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 1932〕 Older sources are often unclear in their references to Peter's Pence, and there was (and remains) a degree of local confusion between it, various hearth taxes (sometimes called smoke-money or smoke-farthings), and other ancient payments. By the end of the 12th century, the English population had increased, so the ecclesiastical authorities were collecting more than the stabilized sum, and keeping the surplus.〔Robert E Rodes, quoted in Clegg, ''Economic Decline of the Church in Medieval England'', Simon Fraser University thesis, 1991 ()〕 It ceased to be remitted to the pope after 1320,〔M.McKisack, ''The Fourteenth Century'' (1959) p. 283-4.〕 but seemingly this was not permanent. The exact reason for the 'prohibition' by Edward III is unknown, but the threat of withholding payment of Peter's Pence proved more than once a useful weapon against uncooperative popes in the hands of English kings. In 1366 and for some years after, it was refused on the grounds of the pope's obstinacy〔Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911 edition〕 Evidently, however, the payment survived or was revived in some localities, because it was one of many payments abolished by Act of Parliament in the 25th year of Henry VIII's reign. The 1534 Act ("An Act for the exoneration of exactions paid to the See of Rome") specifically mentions Peter's Pence. Along with other payments, it was "never more to be levied … to any person", indicating that the payment was to be extinguished completely and not diverted to crown use. Under Queen Mary, Henry VIII's reformation legislation was overturned. On 16 Jan 1555, royal assent was given to "An Act, repealing all Statutes, Articles, and Provisions, made against the See of Rome, sithence the 20th Year of King Henry the Eighth; and for the Establishment of Ecclesiastical Possessions conveyed to the Laity" (1 & 2 Philip & Mary c.8). This did not mention Peter's Pence specifically. There is isolated evidence that in some parishes, payment of Peter's Pence did indeed resume during Mary's reign, for instance in Rowington, Warwickshire, where the church accounts for 1556 record the collection of 54s. 4d., a considerable sum.〔'From Hroca to Anne: being 1000 years in the life of Rowington', Joy Woodall (1974)〕 Mary's Act was in turn repealed by the 1559 Act of Supremacy, under Elizabeth. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Peter's Pence」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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